Melbourne Heart coach John van’t Schip paid tribute to a number of his players after the hard fought win over Perth Glory on the weekend.
Melbourne Heart coach John van-t Schip paid tribute to a number of his players after the hard fought win over Perth Glory on the weekend.
During the post-match press conference, van-t Schip said he was very happy with the way young forward Eli Babalj and experienced defender Adrian Madaschi have been performing.
“Eli is important to us because he is up front. He has to work against almost two players, physical strong players and he-s still only 19,” van-t Schip said.
“He-s not completely at his highest level yet because he comes back from a long period of not playing. But we are happy with the contribution he is already giving to the team.
“We know that he can-t give everything yet for 90 minutes, but we have a great squad with lots of depth and we saw that today.”
After being injured for the first three weeks of the season, Babalj has been a formidable force since coming back into the squad. He scored a powerful header against Central Coast, before scoring Heart-s second goal against Brisbane with a clinical finish.
Madaschi was also complimented by his coach on the way he has seamlessly fitted in with the rest of the team, despite only joining the club in November.
“He-s done fantastic. He-s come in and adapted very well to the group. He-s a professional, you can see that he played in Italy for a long period,” van-t Schip said.
“I think Adrian is another player in the team that really adds something to the team with his experience and coaching qualities. And of course he is really only just starting here after having a long off-season of not playing.
“He-s a leader in the back. We are very happy with his contribution.”
