Melbourne Victory midfielder Leigh Broxham summed up the disappointing loss to Wellington Phoenix perfectly last week.
“We let in three poor goals, two set pieces, we’ve only got ourselves to blame for the goals. We took our foot off the pedal a little bit, lost our intensity… credit to Wellington, they were up for it,” he said.
Kevin Muscat’s men have been working hard to fix the mistakes that cost them three points, and sadly, Archie Thompson’s 200th game.
Complacency at least won’t be an issue for the players, as their opponents this week are as though as it gets.
Perth Glory have sat at the top of the ladder for 16 weeks and aren’t showing any signs of budging.
Victory are their best challenge in the race for the Premier Plate, sitting just three points behind them with the knowledge that they are a game behind.
Victory know it can’t afford a repeat of last week’s match to be real title contenders.
Forwards Connor Pain and Andrew Nabbout have been promoted to an 18-man preliminary squad to give the team more coverage, while Muscat works on finding a strong replacement for Adrian Leijer who completed his move to Chinese outfit Chongqing Lifan.
Perth weren’t at their a-game last week either. They missed out on two points when they drew against Brisbane Roar 1-1.
Perth is going through a six-match rut without a win, and with their play not altering much since the start of the season, predictability could be hurting their game.
To get the win, Perth needs to lock down the likes of Besart Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses and create enough chances.
Perth have shown that they’re capable as they were able to secure the win last time the two met.
