Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van’t Schip fronted the media before Saturday’s highly-anticipated Melbourne Derby against Melbourne Victory.
van’t Schip has coached in a number of derbies in the Hyundai A-League and in Europe and understands what to expect from the atmosphere – a match which is expected to be a sell-out at Etihad Stadium – and admitted Saturday’s match will be a special ocassion.
“The game against Victory is special, it’s a derby and we all know that in the past, those games have brought a lot of extra publicity,” van’t Schip said.
Saturday night’s Melbourne Derby shapes as a classic tactical battle between the two Melbourne clubs, but van’t Schip is adamant his side won’t change the way they approach the match.
“We have a game plan, but it’s nothing different from other games,” van’t Schip said.
“We’ve analysed Victory, we know they have a strong team. We have to try and be aware of that and where we know where we can hurt them and we will try to hurt them.”
After dominating the first two matches of the season, Melbourne City FC have only collected two points in as many matches. However, van’t Schip believes that the positive signs from the opening rounds will convert into results.
“I’m very happy with the way we’ve played, of course we are disappointed with the amount of points we have considering the domination, but that’s football,” van’t Schip said.
“The improvement is [converting] the domination into more clear chances and goals. That’s one thing we know we have to improve and it’s not going to change [the way] we play.”
Traditionally van’t Schip keeps his cards close to his chest and did little to give the media a suggestion of who may featured for his side in Saturday’s blockbuster.
“The competition between the players is on, we have a lot of players now fit and able to be ready for selection,” van’t Schip said.
“There is nobody who is really sure for a starting position. We will be looking at every player and it’s not set that the lineup that started last week is the one that starts tomorrow.”
Melbourne City FC take on Melbourne Victory on Saturday night in the 13th edition of the Melbourne Derby. Kick-off 7:30pm.
Follow the game with live match updates on our official Twitter channel and join the conversation with the hashtag #MelbDerby
