Melbourne followed up Sunday's 3-0 win over Brisbane with a rather flat 0-0 draw against Wellington on Wednesday night, with Merrick admitting that his players were far from on their game against Phoenix.

Despite another short back-up and a trip to Townsville, Merrick does not believe he has to make major alterations to the line-up for the match against the Fury.

"We won't be making many changes, although we will lose Mate Dugandzic and we will lose Diogo Ferreira who are off with the Olyroos. We've got (Matthew) Foschini, we've got Evan berger, Marvin Angulo. I don't think Robbie Kruse will be available this week, but the following week he will," Merrick said.

"I think it's about us and making sure we are fresh in our mind to have a real go away from home. We will add a couple of players who will be fresh, because in some ways we are forced to, but I don't see the need to make major changes."

The coach stressed that he felt the issue was more of a mental approach than an inability to back-up physically from last Sunday's game.

"Fatigue has two effects, one as a physical one and one as mental one. If we can get up mentally, it overcomes the physical side," he said.

"I think it's a major factor. Being switched on and being sharp in you decision making and firing the ball forward to quality players up forward who will run at defenders. When you are fatigued all of these things are affected."

"I felt there wasn't enough movement for midfielders to hit strikers. It was a bit static. It will help when we have someone fresh to come in."

Merrick said he was pleased with his defence, which kept a second consecutive clean sheet despite the absence of injured skipper Kevin Muscat.

"I think Kevin is always missed, because of his effect as a leader. But defensively I thought Rody (Vargas) and Ado (Adrian Leijer) did a terrific job," he said.

"We defended well. We kept a clean sheet. (Michael Petkovic) did very well. There's a lot of positives to be taken out from the game."

The other positive was the performance of Ferreira in his first start for the club. Playing at right back, the 20-year-old did an excellent defensive job on Wellington danger man Paul Ifill and provided some much needed pace on the flanks going forward.

"The youngster was very impressive," Merrick said. "With defenders, we look for two things, not just their ability to win the ball through tackling and interceptions, but his passing and willingness to go forward. He was a bit nervous early on played some one touches and long crosses, then he settled down. It's a good sign for the future."