Melbourne Victory winger Kosta Barbarouses has revealed the secret to the team’s – and his own – blistering start to the 2014-15 A-League season, citing the winning mentality brought into the camp.
Not short on confidence – following a 3-0 away win over the Central Coast Mariners, which kept a nine match unbeaten league run alive – the Navy Blues currently sit second on the ladder, and Barbarouses believes the side are drawing confidence from their lofty standing.
“We waited a little bit, scoring the three goals in the second half, but we could’ve had a few more in the first. That’s the depth in our squad and we’re pretty much full strength now, so we’re full of confidence going into the [Sydney] on Saturday,” Barbarouses said.
“We’re confident knowing we’re the only unbeaten side [in the competition], and we can take a lot of confidence out of last week’s game where it probably wasn’t our best performance but we still came away with a 3-0 away win.”
On a personal note, Barbarouses – who’s contributed five assists this season – has revelled under Victory’s 4-3-3 system, which has seen the winger adopt a fluent position along the right wing.
“I’m feeling strong, feeling confident,” he said on his own form.
“[Kevin Muscat] has given us the license to express ourselves in the final third and I think with the forward runs myself – and whoever’s playing on the other side – make, we have the midfield to find us.
“We’ve been pretty effective in this first run and hopefully we can continue with that.”
The Kiwi also revealed the main motivations for the entire squad for this A-League season, with the signings made by coach Muscat bringing a winning mentality to the outfit.
“We’re playing slightly differently, but obviously we’ve brought in a few different personnel – a lot of guys with a winning mentality,” Barbarouses said.
“That’s helped us and realising how close we were to silverware last year, progressing in the Champions League, we don’t want to feel that again.
“We want to go one better and that’s been the driving force and the mentality going into this season. You can see that in every game we play, we’re very determined and we’re running right until the 92-93rd minute.”
When asked about the perceived dangers of the North Sydney Oval pitch – with a hard cricket table in the middle of the ground the main concern – Barbarouses responded diplomatically, revealing the squad all pulled up fine after the game against the Mariners
“I think obviously it wasn’t ideal but we came away with the three points from that game. I think everyone’s pulled up pretty well.
‘Sunday we had a day off, [Monday] was light and [on Tuesday], we had a good hit-out. We’re just working towards the Saturday and making sure everybody’s fresh.
“Thursday and Friday, we’ll have another good hit-out a lot more sharp stuff and we’ll be ready for the game.