After ‘copping it’ from coach Tony Popovic following their defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers, Nick D’Agostino and Melbourne Victory will look to bring a heightened level of aggression into the season’s first Melbourne Derby this weekend.
Despite riding a wave of momentum after a round one win over bitter foes Sydney FC and being lifted by a large and loud contingent of home supporters, Victory fell to their first defeat of the 2022-23 season last weekend; going down 1-0 against the Wanderers thanks to an unlikely Tomislav Mrcela goal.
Coming up against a well-organised red-and-black low block, Victory consistently failed to create high-quality chances in that defeat and had to wait until second-half stoppage time to produce a shot on target.
Speaking after the contest, Popovic flatly stated that “overall we didn’t deserve to win the game”; a message that was evidently communicated with a bit more enthusiasm with his playing group.
“We’re disappointed obviously, the weekend just gone wasn’t good enough,” D’Agostino told journalists on Tuesday.
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“We’ve copped it from the boss, especially. And, you know, I think we needed that. Especially being so early in the season. I think it’s good to have one of those little wake-up calls.
“It was just disappointing. You can see the fight was there, but we didn’t have the aggression when we went in for tackles.
“We need to lift this weekend because if we play like that we’re going to get battered.
“We didn’t have enough aggression. And obviously, if you’re not winning your tackles, you’re not winning your battles then you can’t let your football shine. So we have to win the battle first. And that’s the most important thing.
“Once we get the ball, we can keep it, we have the quality to score goals at any moment, so just the main thing is the aggression and winning those 50-50s and second balls.”
City, conversely, will enter Saturday’s contest off the back of two-straight wins to start their campaign: easily accounting for Western United and Brisbane Roar in rounds one and two respectively.
While he didn’t know much about his first goal – it ricocheting off his heel after Andrew Nabbout blasted it off his heel – striker Jamie Maclaren’s brace against the Roar brought him to three goals already in the nascent campaign.
The 29-year-old was sporting a bandage on his knee as he spoke to media, something he said was more related to the long drive after copping a knock at training – “bit of mind games, nothing wrong with me”. – but cut a figure that was clearly relishing another game against his cross-town foes.
“I think it just ticks nearly every single box,” he said of the derby. “From the start, the fans, the atmosphere.
“Maybe it’s the first challenge, the first chance, or the first corner – the lift happens and you get momentum in these games and you feed off the crowd, whether it’s home or away.
“We’re going to look to our fans to give us a bit of a lift as well.
“It’s just great, you want to play in these games every week because it means so much.”
Maclaren has had his fair share of success in the derby since landing at Melbourne City, including a memorable five-goal haul during the 2020-21 season.
However, in Popovic’s first season Victory began to turn the tide by securing two draws in their first two match-ups and then broke their City hoodoo in convincing fashion in their final matchup by using a blistering opening 45 minutes to record a convincing 3-0 win.
It was a transformation City’s leading man noted.
“One thing I’ll say about Victory is that they want to win games,” Maclaren said. “There’s nothing worse than playing against teams that want to play with six or seven players behind the ball and just play for the draw or try not to lose.
“Victory wants to win, we want to win. And that’s what makes this such a great spectacle.”
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Header Image Credit: Melbourne Victory
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