Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe says his team will not change their style despite letting in more goals than any other team in the finals.
Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe says his team will not change their style despite letting in more goals than any other team in the finals.
Ahead of Victory-s semi-final against Central Coast in Gosford, Melbourne-s leaky defence and whether it can hold up against a team who put six past them last time has become a hot topic, but Coe isn-t bothered and believes the 1-1 draw with the Mariners in Tasmania is a better reflection of how evenly the teams are matched.
“They have a very strong team and we didn-t do very well last time we went there but I think we played our best football against them in the first half in Tasmania and we take heart from knowing that,” Coe tells footballaustralia.com.au.
“They are a very well set up team and are very organised, while we like to go forward and we score through penetration, it will be a tough game and I wouldn-t be surprised if it goes very late in the 90 minutes before a result is reached. From our point of view we will play the same way and make sure we are running the show.”
Run the show they might but if this game does go into extra-time and possibly penalties, will that favour the Victory?
Coe will then be thrust into action and with the Mariners- well-documented woes from the spot the Victory keeper would have to be confident.
That John Hutchinson was looking around for about 20 seconds for a volunteer to step up against Guizhou midweek, before Mitch Duke finally put his hand up, speaks volumes about the Mariners- confidence from the spot.
And Coe has his up when it comes to stopping them. He may not have saved Shane Smeltz-s but he went the exact right way before that rattled off the woodwork.
“I quite enjoy penalties, it-s a tough situation but the shooter is the one under all the pressure because they are expected to score, but when you do save a penalty it-s quite a special moment, I-ll be happy if it goes there, but it-s never the nicest way to end a final," Coe says.
A winning shoot-out victory is one Melbourne would take though and despite an up and down season, that almost ended last week Coe is taking the company line that the Victory weren-t necessarily lucky but rather always in the game, despite being down early.
“I was pretty confident we would come out of the (Perth) game with the victory. We didn-t get the start we wanted; I made the mistake and put the guys under pressure, but we were always in the game and pushing and copped a crappy goal that killed our momentum a bit but I felt we would still come out on top and it took a lot longer than we thought, but we went on with it.
“We-re the sort of team that will fight to the end and will come back and there have been times where we have been down and out and come back at the end, so I think we have good heart in our team.”
Ironic then that a Victory player is talking about heart, but against the Mariners the Victory might just need plenty. Central Coast stick to rigid structures and are hard to break down; Melbourne are the opposite in defence and despite that Coe is predicting big things for the A-League-s premier club.
“I think the confidence is high, if we doubt ourselves we won-t get too far, but Ange has instilled confidence in us and we believe we can go all the way.”