MELBOURNE Heart coach John Aloisi insists he is not feeling any pressure as his side languishes in last place on the A-League ladder after the opening four rounds.
Aloisi, 37, has endured a difficult start to his career as a coach, with Heart just avoiding the wooden spoon last season and currently without a win so far this campaign.
His side played some of their best football on the weekend against Brisbane Roar but went down 3-0 at Suncorp Stadium, sending them to the bottom of the table.
But Aloisi admits the main pressure on him at the moment is the pressure he puts on himself.
“It’s obviously disappointing that we’re not winning the games that we should, or not picking up more points than what we should,” said Aloisi.
“But as a coach I just have to make sure that we keep on creating the chances that we’re creating and stop the mistakes that we’re making, which are only minor but they are costing us at the moment.
“The other day we created enough chances to win two or three games but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. It’s up to me to get that across to the players.
“The pressure comes with the job and I put myself under pressure because I want to win all the time and tomorrow night’s going to be no different.
“But if we keep playing the way we’re playing then we’ll get the results.
“If we were playing poorly, creating no chances then I’d start to question what I’m doing but at the moment I’m not questioning what I’m doing at all.
“I’m happy with the way we’re improving, we’ve got a lot of new players and they’re getting used to each other.
“We knew that was gonna take a little bit of time to get where we want to be but we feel that the results haven’t gone our way just yet.”
Heart will be without their captain Harry Kewell once again this weekend after he picked up an ankle injury after training on Wednesday.
“He was devastated,” said Aloisi. “He wants to be out there playing, be out there helping the team. He’s been working so hard pre-season and the last few weeks just to get back out there.
“It’s frustrating because they’re not major things, but they are little things that are keeping him out and we want him out there as quick as possible. These things you can’t prevent in football.
“Harry’s been fine right through pre-season and it’s these little incidents that have happened. A rolled ankle you can never prevent and it’s one of those injuries that you can’t prevent in footballers.
“We want him out there because we know how much he can give us and we saw glimpses of that in round one and I’m sure once he is out there we will see a lot more of it.
Heart will be looking for their first win of the season on Friday night when they take on Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park.
But Aloisi is well aware that beating the reigning Premiers is far from an easy challenge.
“They’re a very well organized side and the best defensive side in the league,” Aloisi said. “They break very well and in in transition they are the best counter attacking team in the league as well.
“They’ve got players like Hersi, Ono, Bridge that can really hurt you and now they’ve added Juric who’s a player that can score goals from outside the box, inside the box.
“They’ll be hard to break down and we just have to be careful in transition and make sure that we don’t allow them to counter us.
“It’s going to be a tough game but we’re looking forward to it.”
Copyright © FourFourTwo Australia . All rights reserved.
Related Articles

Socceroo-in-waiting seals Championship deal

Fringe Socceroo swerves A-League to remain in Europe after Fulham exit
