Marco Kurz questions Melbourne Victory’s mettle

Melbourne Victory coach Maro Kurz is ordering his A-League players get back to basics to snap out of their early-season funk.

Adelaide’s Nikola Mileusnic is held back by Victory rival Storm Roux Coopers Stadium on Saturday night Picture: Getty Images

Melbourne Victory coach Maro Kurz is ordering his A-League players get back to basics to snap out of their early-season funk.

Adelaide United trounced Victory 3-1 on Saturday night, leaving the perennial powerhouse languishing with just one win after seven games.

Victory are ninth on the ladder with only five points in their first season under ex-Adelaide coach Kurz.

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“We are not happy,” Kurz said after Saturday night’s loss in Adelaide. “But it is what it is at the moment and we have to keep going.

“At the moment, nobody has to talk about the ladder because we have to perform on the pitch.

“I am sure we have the quality to get points and to get results.”

Victory coach Marco Kurz Picture: Getty Images

But Kurz lashed his players for a lacklustre start against Adelaide which he said cost Victory the game.

“You must start in a better way, (in) a game, if you want to get points,” he said.

“We know we have problems with some injuries or some players who came back after their national trip.

“But in the end you can fight, you can run, you can want to win the duel.

“And it was not enough in the first half and we lost the game in the first half.”

Kurz said the first-half problems were self-inflicted, rather than a result of Adelaide’s play.

“I saw no pressure (from Adelaide), I saw long balls,” he said. “And second balls, they were sharper, they were running more, they want to win the duels.

“And if you don’t win the second balls if you don’t win a duel, you cannot win a game. That is the basics in football and we missed the basics in the first half.

“It had nothing to do with (Adelaide’s) pressure.

“It is only the basics ... we must restart with the basics in football.”

AAP