Phoenix’s game against Victory was postponed due to the earthquakes which recently struck New Zealand.

Barbarouses sent out his thoughts to the victims involved, stating it was common sense to postpone the game and was relieved to report his family were unscathed.

Meanwhile, Barbarouses and three teammates – Glen Moss, Andrew Durante and Michael McGlinchey were away for New Zealand last week in the OFC 2018 World Cup qualification reverse fixtures against New Caledonia which finished 2-0 at home and 0-0 away.

The speedster said it was good to get a rest and that he was looking to thwart Melbourne City AAMI Park on Sunday to make amends for their four losses to start the season.

“A few people panicked around the place, but I knew you only have to look as far back as last season with Adelaide (United),” Barbarouses said.

“It’s not like we were playing badly or getting beaten badly apart from one game (6-1 loss to Melbourne Victory), and I think we showed our quality over the past few weeks and it takes a lot of mental strength.

“The boys showed a lot of character, I mean, I think we can really kick on from here. I think this could be the start to our season, a few weeks late, we’re looking good and looking like the team that we think we are.”

Barbarouses said City’s front third remained its biggest threat with Bruno Fornaroli, Bruce Kamau, Fernando Brandan and Tim Cahill.

The 26-year-old said Phoenix could inflict damage on City despite being heavy underdogs.

“I think they’re (City) are doing OK, they’ve got an interesting way of playing but we’ll look at the video this morning and we’ll do a bit more during the week and there’s players as well we can hurt them,” he said.

“It’s going to be a tough match, they overload the midfield and they take risks, we’re going to look to capitalise on it.

“I think they’ve changed the way they play a lot this season, I think they’ve surprised a lot of teams and I think we needed to be as prepared as we can for how we’re counter what they’re going to do, not worry too much what they’re doing the whole game and just focus on how we can hurt them instead of how they’re going to hurt us.”