Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van’t Schip says his side can’t afford to take the final round of the Hyundai A-League lightly with confidence away from home a key to progressing in the Finals Series.
The Dutchman has used the week to address some of the key issues that were brought up by last week’s loss to Perth and admitted that it may have been a timely wake-up call coming into an important period in the side’s season.
“Looking at the game, we took out a lot of positives as well because first half i think we created about 15 chances,” van’t Schip said.
It’s important to prepare in the way we are to build confidence, to be sure that we are ready the next week whoever we are going to play and full of confidence in the way we are playing so we are going to go there for a result.
“We had a lot of the play but still losing the game was the disappointing part. I think we just gave it away and that’s why I talked about the mindset (during the week),
“Mentally we were not able to recover from going down 2-1 and after the ten men but we took it on board and maybe it was a good wakeup call before we go into these important weeks of the season.”
The side’s attention turns to an intriguing clash with Adelaide United on ANZAC Day with the potential for both sides to face each other the week after in an elimination final but van’t Schip says the situation won’t faze his chargers.
It’s going to be a strange game,” van’t Schip said.
“It is a game for us where we want to prepare well and want to take it very seriously. We’re going to prepare knowing we are going to play our next game either against Adelaide or Wellington so for us, its an important game,
“It’s important to prepare in the way we are to build confidence, to be sure that we are ready the next week whoever we are going to play and full of confidence in the way we are playing so we are going to go there for a result.”
Melbourne City FC face Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night, kick-off 7:30pm. Don’t miss any of the action, live and exclusive on Fox Sports 505.
