It may have been a comfortable scoreline last night as Melbourne Victory ran out 3-0 winners over Western Sydney Wanderers but coach Kevin Muscat was not satisfied with his team’s performance.
Goals from Ollie Bozanic, Jai Ingham and German debutant Max Beister were the difference for the home side but Muscat felt the scoreline flattered his team.
“Funny game isn’t it because our performance last week was far better than it was tonight. We lose 2-1 in Sydney and we win 3-0 tonight so I’m gonna go mad trying to work the game out,” Muscat said.
“We were disappointing in that first half structurally, we didn’t get things right too often which allowed them comfortable possession.”
Mitch Austin could have found himself on the score sheet as well but was controversially flagged offside after nodding in James Troisi’s cross.
Here's another look at that offside call against @mitchaustin10 towards the end of the 1st half #MVCvWSW #ALeague pic.twitter.com/4EYlM1rOcm
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) November 12, 2016
Wanderers were on the wrong end of another controversial decision in the second half however, as Jason Geria looked to have fouled Jumpei Kusukami, and even as the Victory coach conceded, a penalty should have been awarded.
“We should’ve been 2-0 up at half-time, granted they should’ve had a penalty but we also had a goal disallowed that was onside,” he said.
“I could be honest with you and the headlines would be ‘Muscat slams referees’… the first one was offside and the second one was a penalty.”
One player that did receive praise from the coach was Leigh Broxham, who starred in the left-back role filling the void left by Daniel Georgievski’s absence.
“I thought the first 20-25 minutes he was finding his bearings but after that he was outstanding.”
“It’s not coincidence you’re in the right place to clear as many balls as he did tonight in the air and on the ground… we know what we’re gonna get for him.”
The win sees Victory jump into fourth place ahead of a trip across the Tasman to face Wellington Phoenix while Wanderers slumped to seventh with just one win in its first six games.