SYDNEY FC might appear down and out but Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou is having none of that as he prepares for a possible backlash from the wounded Sky Blues tonight at Sydney's Allianz Stadium.
As much as he is intent on keeping the focus on his own side, Postecoglou is nonetheless warning his players to expect a fierce reaction from Sydney in the wake of last week's 7-2 drubbing by Central Coast Mariners.
"It's human nature that there will be a reaction from them (Sydney)," Postecoglou said at Victory's final training session yesterday as he prepared for his first taste of an A-League Sydney-Melbourne rivalry.
"They'll need to have a reaction from last week."
Sydney, which has been hurt by injuries since the opening match of the season, will have at least four players back tonight, including the influential Alessandro Del Piero, who has recovered from a hamstring injury which forced him to miss last week's debacle.
Defenders Adam Griffiths, Pascal Bosschaart and Fabio are all available, but coach Ian Crook is likely to start with two of the trio, Griffiths possibly coming off the bench at some stage.
Postecoglou believes the return of those players will lift the home side and make it a more formidable challenge for his rapidly improving team.
"They had quite a few players out last week and they'll get a few back for tomorrow," he said. "Whenever you go through something like that, the players coming in haven't been scarred from a loss like that so I'm sure they'll be looking for the players that come in to provide them with some positive momentum.
"Having said that, our focus is on us and it has to be right until we get our game plan right and our structures right.
"There's no point trying to minimise the opposition and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Obviously we'll make slight adjustments."
With Del Piero back, Sydney officials are predicting a crowd of at least 25,000, continuing the national competition's surge in popularity on and off the field.
It's something Postecoglou, who guided Brisbane Roar to historic back-to-back titles before shifting to Victory this season, is excited about.
"It's tremendous. It's a game between two big clubs and there is going to be a massive crowd," he said. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
"Both clubs are in transition periods but there's no doubt it's one of the big clashes in the A-League calendar."
As for his own team, Postecoglou is happy with the progress the players are making after a slowish start to the season that included a deflating 5-0 loss to his old club, Brisbane Roar.
Victory looked to be hitting its straps at the right time in the 3-2 win over Wellington Phoenix on Monday night, though the Victorians surrendered two late goals after playing the Kiwis off the park in the first hour.
"Our last three weeks have been pretty good, pretty consistent -- Adelaide, Newcastle and Monday night against Wellington -- so we expect that consistency to keep going," Postecoglou said.
"It would be good to win a couple of games on the trot and win away from home. I think those kind of things add belief to a group and how we're progressing."
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