Western United coach John Aloisi has hit out at his side’s lack of intensity after their 3-1 loss to Melbourne Victory in the A-League Westgate Derby at AAMI Park.
Taking control of Sunday’s game almost straight from the opening kickoff, Victory led after just nine minutes through Zinedene Machach.
Noah Botic equalised for United against the run of play in the 19th minute but there were to be no repeats of that in the second half as the hosts fell to their third defeat on the season.
Nikos Vergas restored Victory’s lead just three minutes into the second half, and Bruno Fornaroli sealed the result moments after coming on in the 67th minute – to a rapturous reception from the Victory faithful as he gained his most minutes since a round one start.
Without skipper Ben Garuccio, who was a late withdrawal due to a calf injury, it could have been even worse for United, with their rivals spurning a multitude of chances to streak ahead, especially in the opening exchanges.
Cutting a furious figure post-game, Aloisi lamented his side’s inability to match Victory’s intensity
“The first thing is to match the fight, that’s the first thing,” the United coach said. “We’re losing every second ball at the start of the game. That’s why they got on top of us.
“You can have a bad day, you can play a bad game but you can always run and you can always fight.”
After six matches, United has just one match and two draws and sit 13th on the table.
United will host Macarthur next week on Saturday night at Ironbark Stadium and the coach promised a reaction.
“We’ve shown in the first five games of the season that, I don’t care who we put out there, we’re matching it with everyone,” said Aloisi.
“We want effort next game and we will get effort next game because we’ll demand effort.
“It’s not all doom and gloom because one bad performance out of the first six games is not doom and gloom.”
Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo, in contrast, was pleased with his side’s move to immediately take control of the game and their ability to maintain this level across the subsequent exchanges.
He did, however, note that he wanted to see his side be more ruthless.
“We scored some goals, which is good,” he said.
“But I still think we need to keep improving in our final third finishing aspect because we’re getting into some great positions, and it’s great for the players for doing that, but we need to capitalise on that.”
The club’s two women’s sides will face on Sunday after having the week off due to a split round.
