As Canberra loom, Victory looking to add attacking edge to their defensive prowess

Melbourne Victory feel like they’ve got this defending thing pretty much locked in. Now, it’s the attack they’re looking to kick into gear as they look to mount an ALW premiership challenge.

Melbourne Victory feel like they’ve got this defending thing pretty much locked in. Now, as they seek to keep pressure on Melbourne City in the race for the A-League Women premiership, it’s the attack they’re looking to kick into gear.

Defeating Western United 2-1 in their last hitout – completing a first-ever season sweep of their Westgate Derby rivals – Victory will host Canberra United on Sunday having fallen to third in the wake of Adelaide’s win over Central Coast but, crucially, just five points adrift of City and possessing a game in hand on the league-leaders.

With just over a month remaining in their season, Victory will likely have to win out if they are to overhaul their undefeated rivals and snatch the Premiers’ Plate away – a trophy which has gained added importance following the introduction of the Asian Champions League and FIFA Women’s Club World Cup – and for Hopkins, that starts with an improved attacking performance.

Though getting more of their attempts on target than their foes – five to four – Victory were outshot 16 to eight by United in last week’s win, with both of their goals coming from set pieces. Having shipped just 17 goals this season, equal with City for the most miserly in the league, Victory’s defensive organisation did, admittedly, mean that few of United’s efforts were of the sort that will cause them to lose too much sleep. But, all the same, they’d rather pile in the goals, too.

“The game last week we found a way to win it,” said Hopkins. “There were some really good, solid performances defensively; Kayla [Morrison], especially, was excellent.

“Coming out of that, we're looking at ways that we can be a little bit better with the ball. Happy that we found a way to win the game last week and [we] talked about it during this week that there's lots of ways to win the game and we're finding most of them at the moment.”

For winger Nikki Flannery, who will face off with her former side at the Home of the Matildas (she was on the scoresheet the last time Canberra beat Victory in Melbourne, a win in 2016), there’s plenty of talent assembled in the squad to provide more goals, it’s just a matter of them figuring it all out.

“I think it's just decision making that's letting us down,” she said. “We focus so much on our defence; we've really got that down pat and that's a huge strength for us. We have great players... that with the ball, we can be so much more dangerous. And if we get that clicking, I don't think any team can stop us.

“For the forwards, should I cross or should I shoot from this position? We've been getting in our positions not as regularly as we'd like to up front, so I think there's been more pressure to make the right decision.

“We've been working on it at training and just trying to get the repetition in to make the right decision at the right moment. But I have full confidence that that's definitely clicking.”

This focus on decision-making, Hopkins said, had been a key part of Victory’s time on the training track in recent weeks.

“[We’re] trying to put players in situations where they're under pressure and they've got to think,” he said. “Over the past month or so we've done a lot more small-sided possession games to put players in pressure positions, put them in positions where they've got to make decisions quickly.

“It’s not necessarily specific to the [coming] game itself and to what we'll be doing on the weekend but more around making good decisions, keeping possession of the ball, going forward quickly, or coming out and switching play.”

Victory are set to welcome back newly-capped Matilda Alana Murphy back into their squad for Canberra’s visit, while Paige Zois’ return from a nasty knee injury suffered during the last NPLW Victoria season is also imminent. Lia Privitelli was described as a few weeks further back than Zois as she attempts to return from an ankle injury, but the hope remains she will be available before the end of the regular season.

Their 2-0 loss to Victory last December the last time Canberra lost a game inside 90 minutes – their 2-0 loss to Sydney came after the game was abandoned due to unsafe weather in the 53rd minute – Antoni Jagarinec’s side can jump from seventh into fourth spot on the table with a win on Sunday and will move into the top-six if they’re able to pick up a point.

“Canberra are a side in good form,” said Hopkins. “They're unbeaten for quite a while now. I think it was about nine gamesish -- drawing a lot of games -- so they're obviously hard to beat. We had a pretty tough game against them, very physical game against them and we were the last team to have beaten them apart from Sydney in that weird game.

“I think it'll be quite a physical game. They've got strength and they've got speed in several areas. Up top, they've got Michelle [Heyman], who you have to give her respect, she's a goal machine. They've got a solid back four, you can see that just in their results and they defend really well.

“We need to be better with the ball. We need to be able to play through their pressure, play around their pressure, play over their pressure, and get the ball into the areas where we can affect the outcome in the game

“I'm really looking forward to it. It was a very competitive game last game that might even have just gone a little bit over the top. So there might be one or two challenges that we might show the players in the lead up that they got away with last time, to add a little bit of spice to the game, which is always nice.”