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Victory won`t change style |
Victory won`t change style | 30.09.2008 | |
Melbourne defender Rody Vargas is adamant the A-League club will not change their ways despite a string of suspensions to key players in their past three games.The Victory will go into Saturday`s match against Perth Glory without first-choice goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos, striker Ney Fabiano and attacking midfielder Carlos Hernandez, all suspended.
But Vargas said Melbourne did not believe they had a discipline issue, saying none of the incidents were particularly malicious or crude.
“We`re still adamant we don`t have a discipline problem at the club,” he said.
“We`ve been very unfortunate with the sending offs, the boys that have been sent off have got a very good record.
“Michael the last time he got sent off was as a 12-year-old, Carlos has never been sent off, they`re things that happen and we have to deal with them now.”
The Victory were confident they could cover their losses, despite also having Michael Thwaite (ankle) and Nick Ward (calf) out injured and Nathan Elasi and Sebastian Ryall heading to Thailand with the Young Socceroos.
“We`ll try to stick to pretty much the same formation, we`ve got plenty of depth and we`ve got players that can step in and do a job,” Vargas said.
“If you witnessed training, the boys are still pretty upbeat, there`s no heads dropping, the intensity`s still there.
“A lot of the boys are jumping out of their skin to try to get a place because to get a spot in this team`s been pretty tough and a couple of doors are opening now.”
Vargas felt a bigger issue could be how the core of the team held up physically after playing with 10 men for large portions of their past three games.
“It`s taken a lot out of the boys,” he said.
“I feel it in the backline, I just think about the boys running around in midfield and upfront.
“It`s very taxing on the legs and we`ve done it three weeks in a row, not for 10 or 15 minutes, but for long parts of the game, it`s definitely taken its toll.”
After sustaining their first defeat of the season, a 2-0 loss to Queensland on Sunday, Vargas said the Victory could not afford to take bottom-placed Perth lightly.
“It`s a massive one, a lot of people are probably thinking it`s good we`re playing Perth, but I know Perth can be tough and have always been tough at home,” he said.
He predicted the Glory, who have lost four of their six games and conceded by far the most goals of any club, would be in ultra-defensive mode.
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