(Reuters) – Melbourne City coach Patrick Kisnorbo says he will keep his focus trained on improving his team after leading the reigning champions back to the top of the A-League standings.
City handed Central Coast Mariners a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday to move into pole position as Kisnorbo’s side continue to put a slow start to the campaign behind them.
The win was Melbourne’s fourth in five games and takes Kisnorbo’s side two points clear of Western United, although City have played two matches more than their nearest rivals.
“I just want to get the team better and keep improving our performances,” said the former Leicester City defender, who led Melbourne to their first A-League title last year.
“Honestly, I don’t look at the ladder, I don’t do anything. All I do is try to improve the players, try to get better in performance, try to improve as a coach so you’re constantly trying to improve to get better. That’s what we do here.”
Melbourne’s run has come during a period that has seen the champions play five times in 14 days after a series of COVID-19 outbreaks created a congested schedule that has left Kisnorbo and his counterparts at other clubs juggling resources.
“You have no choice, you have to adapt, that’s the way it is,” he said.
“We do our best and we adapt and we move on. It’s part of what it is. There’s no wrong or right answer.
“We’re not in a perfect scenario in terms of the league. We know there’s a lot of games to play, we know we have to go to Asia, there’s COVID hits, international breaks.
“There’s a lot of things that come in the season but we take it game by game, day by day and we follow our processes towards that.”
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by Robert Birsel)
