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Confident he knows the strengths and weaknesses of whoever his side will play in the A-League grand final, Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick will stay away from Saturday night’s preliminary final.
Merrick revealed he would not head to Adelaide to watch the clash between United and Queensland Roar as he did ahead of his side’s championship triumph two years ago.
Instead he said he would watch the game on television – believing the Victory already have a good understanding of how both their potential rivals play and preferring to fine-tune his own team ahead of the grand final at Telstra Dome on February 28.
“We did that (attended the preliminary final) two years ago for specific reasons. We know those two teams well and more importantly know the coaches well,” Merrick said.
“We know they are good teams and what they are capable of, and we’ll just focus on how we are playing.”
Merrick says he has no preference who his high-flying side meet in the grand final, though a return bout with Adelaide United must surely top the Victory’s wishlist.
The Victory destroyed Adelaide United 6-0 on aggregate in the major semi-final, triggering the Reds’ public implosion post-match as coach Aurelio Vidmar made his now infamous outburst slamming his club.
Melbourne have beaten Adelaide in all five encounters this season and have the added psychological edge of their grand final demolition of the Reds at Telstra Dome two years ago.
While the Victory have beaten the Roar in two out of three matches, Queensland do have the distinction of being one of the few teams to come to Telstra Dome and outplay the Victory all ends up in their excellent 2-0 win last September.
The Victory have lightened off their workload this week as they enjoy a fortnight’s break ahead of the grand final.
Merrick has been able to tailor-make training regimes for his players this week, including a rest from Thursday’s main training session for Costa Rican midfielder Carlos Hernandez.
He was the hero of last weekend’s win over Adelaide, having recovered from an arduous journey home from World Cup duty in central America to step off the plane and prove a match-winner.
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