Marco Kurz says Melbourne Victory still need time to gel ahead of Saturday night's derby against Melbourne City.
Former Adelaide United stalwart Kurz replacing club icon Kevin Muscat in the dugout headed the off-season of heavy turnover in Melbourne during the off-season.
But it is on the pitch against their fierce rivals where the club's wholesale changes will be highlighted, with six of the Victory starting eleven which drew 1-1 with City back in February now playing elsewhere (Georg Niedermeier, Keisuke Honda, Raul Baena, James Troisi, Terry Antonis and Kosta Barbarouses).
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It means new international recruits Kristijan Dobras (Rheindorf Altach), Tim Hoogland (VfL Bochum), Jakob Poulsen (FC Midtjylland) and Migjen Basha (Aris Thessaloniki) could all be handed a Hyundai A-League baptism of fire.
"We are really confident with our signings but we need time because it was a strong cut after the last season," Kurz said.
"This means that you must restart some automatisms week by week. We are in a good way, we are not in the form we can be but we are ready to improve."
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Kurz added that there was a special feeling about Saturday's blockbuster at Marvel Stadium - which marks the first time in history that Muscat has not been involved with the club in some capacity.
The former Bundesliga manager did, however, make City slight favourites, citing the club's FFA Cup 2019 Final run as the reason.
"City have a little bit of an advantage because they've played more official games with the FFA Cup.
"But I think we have had a good pre-season. I expect two strong Melbourne teams on the pitch and hopefully we can be the better one.
“I watched the derbies last season on the television and it was always a special game. It’s a rivalry and if you play a derby you want to win it.
"I'm really happy that we start with the derby, it's always a special game in front of a fantastic crowd."
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