Thrust into the Victory hot-seat following the ousting of Marco Kurz, Salvachúa watched on as his new charges were downed 1-0 by Adelaide United on Friday night.

Based on the opening 45 minutes, which saw Victory hopelessly out-run and out-played by the hosts, fans may have been forgiven for thinking that they had made a leap from a Kurz-shaped frying pan and into a Salvachúa-fuelled fire.

However, a much improved second half showed enough to give hope that seeds of change may have been planted.

On Tuesday, those seeds have the chance to become green shoots when Indonesian champions Bali United visit to AAMI Park (or ‘Melbourne Rectangular Stadium’ to give it its AFC-approved title) for the second preliminary qualifying round of Asian Champions League qualifying.

Ola Toivonen is expected to be available for selection if needed, after the Swede trained with a squad which left Adelaide without any new injuries.

The clash with Bali will then be followed by a visit from high-flying A-League leaders Sydney FC on Friday night and a meeting with 2018 ACL Champions Kashima Antlers on Tuesday evening, provising Victory get the job done against Bali tomorrow.

Though presenting obvious logistical and load management challenges, the stretch of games against two of Victory’s biggest A-League rivals and two quality Asian opponents serves as a golden chance for the Salvachúa to quickly stamp his authority on the club and the way they play.

“It affects selection, affects training, affects everything,” he said on the busy stretch. “We are in a tough week and a tough month.

“Sometimes the players, they don’t like to train, they like to play games and we have to put in the focus during the games and during the few training sessions to build up - using the training and the games to build up the game and our style.

“We have no pre-season to build up our team, so we will have to use the games.

“The last game, the second half, I think it was much better than the first half. We need to build up our team and our idea and style because we have no time to train after the game.

“It will be one-day recovery and then one day to prepare for the game against Sydney. We are at this moment and we need to use the games.”

Club legend Leigh Broxham, who was part of the last Victory side that changed gaffers’ mid-season, thinks a run in the ACL could be just what the club needs to get through the challenging stretch

“It is a good feeling for players to have another game to turnaround to so quickly after a loss,” he said. “I enjoy [ACL] games; the style is a bit different and it might suit us. This game, it’s also a different scenario again in terms of the way we have to qualify.

“It’s a different style. Teams sit back sometimes; they’ll give you possession. It’s a more tactical and technically based game as opposed to the way that A-League games are played.”

Champions of Indonesia in 2019, Bali United is a week removed from an extraordinary 5-3 extra-time win over Singaporean side Tampines Rovers in the first preliminary round of ACL qualifying.

Led by Emral Abus – who serves as the club’s boss in Asian competition because the club neglected to provide the AFC with documentation demonstrating regular gaffer Stefano Cugurra was qualified – the club trailed 3-2 heading into the final ten minutes of play at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

However, a dramatic 82nd minute equaliser by Rahmat Syamsuddin forced extras and allowed strikes from Stefano Lilipaly and Sidik Saimima sealed the result for the Indonesians.

“After our [game against Tampines] we really focused on Melbourne Victory,” Lilipaly said on Monday. “We saw they didn’t kick off the season really good.

“We know that they have some problems, they change the coach, so some things are not really good. But we still need to keep the focus, they have a good team with lots of quality so for us it’s really important for us to start really good tomorrow and hopefully, the best team will win.

“They can be really dangerous; they create a lot of chances. We need to be aware of that. We also see some weaknesses so hopefully tomorrow we can get the advantage of that.”

In a blow to the Indonesians, veteran attacker Ilija Spasojevic was not selected for the clash against Victory after only recently returning to the side from dealing with "personal issues".

“It is very important to us, the games in the ACL,” Abus said through a translator. “That’s what we aimed for, by winning the league last year.

“We want to compete and compete well in the ACL. We know that Melbourne Victory is a very tough team but we came here hoping to get a positive result.”