Departing Head Coach John van ‘t Schip has revealed his depth of faith in Melbourne Heart FC’s young core by declaring the side should target a Grand Final appearance in the next three years.
Departing Head Coach John van ‘t Schip has revealed his depth of faith in Melbourne Heart FC-s young core by declaring the side should target a Grand Final appearance in the next three years.
While disappointed by the nature of Heart-s Hyundai A-League Finals Series elimination, van ‘t Schip was able to draw positives from the experience, saying the team is well placed to take significant strides in the coming years.
“With the experience that all these players had this year and also a lot of good improvement, the next step can be made next year,” he said.
“Hopefully the finals will make them want more, not just qualifying for the finals but qualifying for the Grand Final. I think that should be something in the next two or three years (which) has to be a goal.”
“The team still has a lot of growth in it and with the right players that they can get in I believe there is a big future for the Heart.”
Van ‘t Schip though believes Heart needs to erase its sometimes erratic performances within games, which have conspired to rob the team of points from winning positions.
Although the Ajax legend feels this will eventually arrive with a greater degree of maturity, it remains a pivotal area for improvement.
“We played some good games but we didn’t finish them, we had some problems with really finishing games off,” he said.
“And the team must get more professional in really playing the game for 90 minutes at a higher level.”
Such a theme came to bare in Sunday-s Elimination Final, as Heart seemed to gain the ascendancy in patches only for Perth Glory to reassert its control over the match soon after.
“We didn’t play our game, we didn’t create enough and we didn’t stretch the pitch. We didn’t make it difficult for Perth,” he said.
“To lose is obviously something we didn’t want but not playing the way that we actually can was the most disappointing thing for everybody.
“We went the way of being too anxious and too over-concentrated … we too easily gave balls away, we didn’t win the second ball. We were not switched on.
“Perth, in the end, deserved to win.”
