Tara Rushton and Mark Rudan preview the clash between the Jets and the Heart.
Melbourne Heart have to meet expectations after going seven matches unbeaten. Source: News Limited
BEING the form team in the A-League after putting together an unbeaten run of seven matches, Melbourne Heart is now the hunted rather than the hunter.
And coach John van ‘t Schip is as interested as anyone to see how his players deal with that change of mindset against Newcastle on Saturday.
For the first time this season Heart will take on a team it has already beaten after recording a 3-1 win over the Jets at AAMI Park in Round 15 to record its first win.
Melbourne Heart captain Harry Kewell insists his side still have plenty of work to do to progress to the A-League finals and there will be no complacency despite their positive results of late.
“That’s something that we have to see,” van ‘t Schip said on Friday morning.
“It’s true because I think all the teams now are seeing us more now as a team that is in form and playing well instead of a team that is on the bottom of the table and not having a lot of points.
“In their minds things change, in the minds of our boys things change. But for us we continue on playing how we like to do, to improve and get better, and as a consequence of that hopefully we can get a good result again.”
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After five wins on the bounce you suspect that nothing is beyond this Heart team.
And while he didn’t go as far to sprout Fremantle AFL coach Ross Lyon’s “Anywhere, Anytime” mantra, van ‘t Schip is confident that Heart can take all three points at Hunter Stadium for the first time after five winless trips to the venue.
“We should not exaggerate,” he said.
“I think we have showed that we have a good team, that we’re competitive, that we can play any opponent in the A-League and give them a good game.
“We’ve started winning, but there’s still a long way to say that we have a team that’s going to beat everybody and anywhere.
Teenager Ben Garuccio has proven Melbourne Hearts lucky charm, playing six games for six wins and is looking to continue to impress.
“If you look at Brisbane, they achieved three years in a row playing every time for the top positions and so that’s a team that you can say can go everywhere and can beat everyone.
“We are not that far, we have to be humble and work hard and that counts for the game tomorrow as well.”
Aziz Behich is available to return from suspension and although the coach was giving little away about team selection it is likely that he will return to his usual left back position in place of Ben Garuccio, even though the 18-year-old starred in that role against Victory last week.
Fox Sports football commentator Adam Peacock discusses the recent success of Melbourne Heart and all the action from an interesting night in the Premier League.
A fit again Harry Kewell will also push for a starting berth, but regardless of whether or not he comes in, van ‘t Schip will arguably field his best team of the season given he has all of his regular players at his disposal.
Asked if Kewell, who scored after coming off the bench last week, was the ideal second half impact player, van ‘t Schip said the captain had already proven that that could be the case.
“But he’s also showed that he’s important when he’s played from the start,” he said.
“So I’m not looking at it that way, I’m just looking at the team, I’m just looking at the moment and the moment, as we know, can change.
“There can be injuries, suspension, players maybe not having the right form so I will every time judge (each case) at the moment that the game is on.”
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