Melbourne Victory have denied that there is any pressure on new goalkeeper Michael Petkovic, despite the fact last year's Grand Finalists have conceded nine goals in their first five games, including several from set pieces.
Petkovic was signed be Melbourne this year after the off-season departures of Mitchell Langerak to Germany and Glen Moss to Gold Coast United. Capped several times by the Socceroos, the 34-year-old brought with him a decade of experience in European football.
He has taken time to adapt to the Hyundai A-League and has had the finger pointed at him for a few of the goals conceded by Victory this year, including the first goal in last week's 2-0 loss to Central Coast, scored by Rostyn Griffiths from a set piece.
Melbourne assistant coach Aaron Healey admits the defence has not been happy with the way they have dealt with set pieces so far this season, but the blame can not be completely apportioned to the goalkeeper.
"With the goals we have conceded from set plays, it is not as if it has been someone getting a clean header, besides the Rostyn Griffiths one. The other ones have been a penalty, a free kick and couple of scrambles in the box," he said.
"It's really been us dealing with things firstly, dealing with the clearances and dealing with man-marking in that situation. We’ve worked on that and we think we’ve got some good solutions."
Healey felt that while there was room for improvement, Petkovic is performing at a high enough level to warrant selection and that he would only get better with time.
"We think he's been very good. He's certainly got room for improvement, there's no doubt about that. I’d say that about a few of our players," he said.
"I think when you concede goals from set plays the obvious thing is to look at the goalkeeper. In any set play where you do concede, you have always got four or five mistakes which lead to that instance."
"The spotlight is obviously going to go on Petka, but we are really happy with Petka, we think there's a huge upside to him. He's an experienced keeper, he knows what it's about. We’re with him and we think he can turn things around."
"He's got huge experience. He's played in the Turkish league, 100 games against teams like Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, so he is used to the big crowds, the exposure and up against big teams and playing for a big team. I think collectively as a group we need to be better at defending."
Petkovic's transition into the Melbourne team stands in contrast to how seamlessly former Victory stopper Michael Theoklitos has integrated into Brisbane Roar's team. Theoklitos, yet to be beaten in four matches this season, faces off against his old side on Sunday and Healey believes he has benefitted from his previous knowledge of the competition.
"Having experience in the league is going to help Theo a bit. He's a fantastic keeper. What happened overseas, happened overseas and he's back in the A-League. He's done a super job for them so far this year, we just hope he doesn’t do that on Sunday," he said.