Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip is adamant his side is capable of competing with the Hyundai A-League’s best despite falling to a second successive loss this weekend.
Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John van ‘t Schip is adamant his side is capable of competing with the Hyundai A-League-s best despite falling to a second successive loss this weekend.
After embarking on a six-game unbeaten streak, Heart has stumbled in recent weeks, failing to overcome Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United at AAMI Park.
However, despite the recent lapse in results, van ‘t Schip remains certain his squad possesses the depth and self belief to challenge the competition-s leading sides, citing Heart-s dominant performance in the first half of the match against Brisbane.
“If you look at the scores it would say (we can’t compete with the top four). I think it’s more a case of just getting through that. We had a good period and now we’ve lost two games. I’m sure and I have the belief that we have enough quality to compete,” he said.
“We showed against Gold Coast, we drew 0-0, we showed in the game against Brisbane, where we could have gone in at half time a 2-0 lead. (With Adelaide), we showed that we are a team who can compete with the top four.”
Van ‘t Schip though acknowledged the importance of Heart reversing its current form on Wednesday night, when the side travels across the Tasman to take on Wellington Phoenix.
The Dutchman said Heart needs to recreate the magic of its unbeaten streak to maintain its current finals position and launch a surge up the table in the second half of the season.
“We have to recapture the momentum and have a good rest and good talk and prepare ourselves well against Wellington,” he said.
“It’s not that we have to change everything, I think the things we have been doing in the past and today are okay, it’s only frustrating if you have to chase in a game and that was the case today.”
