Effort, not change needed

MELBOURNE Victory captain Carl Valeri has a message for his underperforming side: it’s put up or shut up time.

Valeri has dismissed the need for wholesale change at the A-League giants, instead saying the side needs to apply its game plan better to get results.

With more than a third of the season gone, Victory has just two wins ahead of a trip to bogey side Brisbane tomorrow, where they haven’t claimed three points since 2015.

Victory had excuses for the first two months of the season, with key internationals away, unhelpfully-timed suspensions and disruptive injuries.

The absence of marquee midfielder Mark Milligan against the Roar won’t help Victory, but Valeri said either way it’s time for Victory to deliver.

“There are areas we can improve on and we will. We’ve been saying that but our actions now need to speak,” a defiant Valeri said.

Valeri includes himself in those needing to lift.

Victory sit seventh but will climb into the top six by beating the Roar. Valeri said hard work — rather than tactical or personnel tweaks being urged by many parties — was the answer to their malaise.

“We believe in our structure. We’re 100 per cent behind each other, the coaching staff and we’re working hard at it,” he said.

“Changes (to the team) will be based on training. The team is picked based on training and how hard everyone is working. It always has been.

“When things aren’t going well, things come under scrutiny and rightly so. We’re going to keep working hard and come up with solutions.

“We have a strong belief in each other and what Musky’s created here.”