Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip admits his side will need to start the second half of the season better than it did the first as preparations continue for the Club’s match with Adelaide United.
Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip admits his side will need to start the second half of the season better than it did the first as preparations continue for the Club-s match with Adelaide United.
Van ‘t Schip said his side had moved on from its early teething problems, stating Heart has shown marked improvement over the last two months.
And with 45 points on the line across the second half of the season, van ‘t Schip is keen to consolidate a place in the top six.
“We certainly want to pick up more points because we had a slow start (to the season). We’re coming more into our rhythm now, the boys are getting to know each other better, so we should get more points over the next 15 games,” he said.
“We never should be satisfied with the first half of the season. In my opinion we must start now and it’s important we keep our fitness and the good attitude we have now.”
Van ‘t Schip though hasn-t set a definitive marker for where he hopes Heart will end up at the competition of the home and away season, saying he is simply keen for his side to continue its current rate of progress.
“We will just look to finish as high as possible. We will look to keep playing like we do now and we’ll see what position we come into. If we can end in a good way, physically and in form, it shouldn’t matter that much which position you end up in,” he said.
After a taxing away schedule which saw Heart travel to Port Macquarie, Perth and Townsville in nine days, van ‘t Schip revealed his side had completed a lighter preparation than usual for Friday’s match.
“We had to rest our players this week. You could see in the second half against Brisbane, we had had the toughest schedule over the past three weeks. We gladly did well and got good results, but it cost us a lot of energy.”
