We need to focus on Victory, says Merrick

Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick wants his players to ignore Gold Coast’s personnel woes ahead of their A-League clash this Saturday night.

Facing a team that will be without nine of their top 22 for the Etihad Stadium clash, the Victory’s emphasis will be on mastering their own game.

United will have six players missing through injury and three because of suspension.

But Merrick is wary of a side that pushed them in a controversial 3-2 win earlier this season.

“This team are third-top on the ladder, they have a lot of good players,” he said.

“What we’ve really done is focused on playing our best football against a really tough opponent and playing to our strengths, defensively and offensively.

“We’ve avoided looking at what the opposition team is going to be.”

While Melbourne are two points clear at the top of the A-League ladder, their home record remains a significant worry.

They have only two wins from eight home games so far this season, something Merrick is determined to improve.

“This is a game where we’ve got to to show that we defend well and we can attack and defend as a group,” Merrick said.

“I feel that we’ve let down our fans, playing at home and conceding goals, just not defending well up front and in the midfield.

“So this is a very important game for us.”

Merrick said the Victory would continue to work on being tighter with their defence around the ground.

“(It’s) a bit of patience and our attacking midfielders and strikers being conscientious – when we don’t have the ball, we’ve all got to fight for the ball,” he said.

“It’s not just the backline – I actually think the backline has been playing very well.

“We’ve all got to ball-win collectively, that’s something we’ve worked on and we showed last week we can do it.”

Saturday’s match will feature reconfigured seating so it becomes a rectangular stadium, rather than the standard oval used for AFL matches.

That will bring the fans closer to the pitch and Merrick hopes that has a direct impact on the match.

“It’s going to be 10 times better with the crowd being brought up close to the touchline, they’ll be able to feel the tackles, they’ll be able to see the fire coming out of (captain Kevin) Muscat’s nostrils,” he said.

“The connect is really important between us and our fans, we feed off of that.

“So to bring the stands in this week will be even better for us … it’s a major factor.”

Muscat did not train on Thursday morning, but Merrick said the veteran was having a day off and would play against United.

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