04 Mar Victory manager opens up on early challenges, still aiming for finals

Melbourne Victory manager Carlos Salvachua says creating change at the club has been difficult due to their congested fixture.

The Spaniard recorded his first A-League win since taking charge in January, a 2-1 win over Adelaide United at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.

Salvachua told SEN's Whateley that it was a tough transition from assistant to head coach.

“It’s never easy when you start in the middle of the season. It’s the same here as in Spain and other countries,” he said.

“The players knew they had to change, and we had to start during training.

“The problem is that we had no time because we played 10 games in 50 days and had just 15 training sessions.”

Victory’s last month has been peppered with A-League and Asian Champions League matches. The 46-year old says the club has been working hard to improve on its poor season and still are aiming for finals.

“We’ve been working hard the last 50 days with a lot of games. We deserved a better result in some of the games,” Salvachua said.

“The first day the message was clear that we have time to go to the finals but we have to improve a lot.

“We want to play the finals, that is our focus and I think we can go to the next round of the Champions League as well.”

Salvachua hasn’t yet thought about continuing in the senior role beyond this season.

“I like the City, I don’t feel estranged here,” he said.

“I know I have to do my job now and create a successful team and this is a process.

“We’ll see what happens in the future, the thoughts of the club and the thoughts of myself, we have to decide at the end of the year.

“You need results. You need to improve the team and create our own identity in this moment.”

The Victory clash with Sydney FC at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night. Football Nation will be covering the match on 1377SEN+ and SEN2.

Listen to Carlos Salvachua's chat on SEN's Whateley in the player below