Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick hailed the performance of last-minute signing Adrian Leijer after the Victory’s 1-0 A-League win over a much-improved North Queensland Fury on Saturday.
Having only arrived from England on Saturday morning after completing his return from Premier League club Fulham, Leijer played a full match to help the reigning premiers post their first win of the season.
Merrick was full of praise for the defender, who was part of the club’s premiership winning side in 2007, while also lauding an improved defensive effort from his side.
“He (Leijer) was really, keen I thought he was outstanding,” Merrick said.
“We conceded five goals in the last two games we have been working on shutting up the shop and Surat Sukha at right back plugged that hole from last week.
“So overall a good defensive performance.
“We could have made it easier on ourselves with Archie (Thompson) being through twice and Mossy (goalkeeper Glen Moss) had to pull off a terrific save in the dying minutes.”
Merrick was not quite so complimentary about the overall team performance that saw Archie Thompson find the net in the 45th minute, after he superbly controlled a Leijer long ball and slotted home.
“We didn’t play good football the first half an hour and we couldn’t string a pass together,” Merrick said.
“Credit to the North Queensland Fury they really closed us down.
“It was one of those ones that you had to grind out I was just impressed with our defence and our goalkeeper kept a clean sheet.”
Fury coach Ian Ferguson was impressed with the way his side recovered from their 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Gold Coast last week.
The Fury looked the better side for most of the match and could have got something from the game had Rostyn Griffith or substitute Dyron Daal converted good chances.
“I thought we had done enough to try and get something out of the game,” Ferguson said.
“A draw would have been a better result but unfortunately Melbourne are a quality side.
“To our credit our boys they came back in the second half and put in a big shift.”
whiskeymac
Guest
liejers "long ball" was fantastic (as was archies control of it) and not of the aimless hit and hope variety. Maybe Neill cld learn from him? agree that those teams playing NQ early on are getting a bit of an advantage.
Midfielder
Guest
Leijer is a brilliant signing
Pippinu
Roar Guru
All true. You might aim a few balls at that tall bloke that came on off the bench, was it Dahl?? Trouble is, he didn't really look all that impressive - maybe just early days for him.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
MVD considering he just hopped off the plane - he well!! It was truly great to see him - we were in for a long season otherwise (might still be). There was a lot of direct play in the game (to put it mildly), but Arch's control of the Leijer pass, and the left foot finish was all top notch. In fact that goal was probably a more difficult chance to the two one on ones' that came his way later in the game - to be honest, any striker worth his salt should be putting those away with their eyes closed.
midfield general
Guest
I think playing in the tropical heat adds an interesting dimension to the A-league....unfortunately Fury doesn't play the style which suit the heat of North Queensland. They played better this week but they looked one dimensional with just too many long balls - what's the point of aiming for Fowler's head? What a waste of a great penalty box poacher. For MV , I think Leijer looks to be the answer to their recent defensive woes. Thai chap looks ok, he can play a bit.
MVDave
Guest
Agreed Pip. At this stage after 2 winless rounds it was the result we needed. Great to see Leijer doing well and setting up the goal. Also well done to the Fury who could have easily got a result in the game.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Very happy to have played there at this stage of the season. A pretty ordinary game, but the Victory desperately needed 3 points, and they got it.
megatron
Guest
Fury aren't as bad as they say. In summer that is gonna be a tough away game.