Besieged Melbourne Victory coach Arthur Diles is adamant he has the backing of the club’s board as his team faces a “must-win” clash against Macarthur FC at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday night.
Diles’ men have suffered three straight defeats to sitting at the bottom of the A-League ladder.
With A-League title-winning mentor John Aloisi waiting in the wings, Diles is under mounting pressure to revive the Victory’s season.
The club’s board has this week failed to publicly back Diles, however last season’s grand-final losing coach is adamant he has the support of Victory officials.
“Absolutely,” Diles said on Wednesday when asked if he had the club’s backing.
“I’ve been in this position before. It was 12 months ago that there was noise as well.
“That’s part of the job, that’s part of coaching. We haven’t won for three games – we’ve got to win.
“The noise is there, irrespective. We don’t get caught up in the noise, we get caught up in the process that we need to follow to give ourselves the best opportunity to win a match.
“It’s a must-win game (against Macarthur) irrespective. It’s not about my job. It’s another game for Melbourne Victory that we have to win.
“We’ve had a great week. We’ll finish it off (on Thursday at training) as strong as we can, and get ready for war.”
The Victory’s problems have been all over the park, but particularly in attack, with the team having scored just four goals in six games.
The club’s failure to sign a centre-forward in the off-season has proven costly, with Greek marksman Nikos Vergos and Jing Reec having failed to fire.
However, Diles was confident goals would come.
“And when they come, the floodgates will open,” he said.
“We know nothing’s given, everything’s got to be earned.
“We know that every time someone plays against Melbourne Victory, it’s their grand final, so we’ve got to be up for that
“We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to keep building on our performance. We have to maybe manage moments in matches a little bit street-smart, which is something we’re continuing to work on.”
Diles refused to be critical of midfielder of midfielder Denis Genreau, who has been suspended for two after being sent off in the Victory’s 1-0 away loss to Brisbane last Friday for “violent conduct” after seeming to stomp on Roar substitute Henry Hore.
“He’s only human. Sometimes people react in a way that’s not their typical character. but that shows that he cares, that shows that he’s hurting, and I like that,” Diles said.
“We’re all hurting, we all care, and we’ll all turn this around together.”
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