The Wanderers are approaching Round 10 of the A-League season and take on Melbourne Victory at ANZ Stadium this weekend.

The last encounter between the two ended in a 3-0 win for Victory – a game which Popovic felt was unjust considering the performance.

It has been the story for the Wanderers this season, accumulating just its second win on the weekend after a 4-1 victory over Central Coast Mariners away.

Martinez said he had kept faith in his coach and lauded Mitch Nichols who was “the best” midfielder in the A-League according to the Argentinian.

“He allows us freedom to play, but when we don’t have the ball, we have to be in our position, defend, press… that’s what we work on during the week,” Martinez said.

 “When you work here you have freedom, he gives us advice, but he lets us decide on the pitch and this is good.

“For me (Nichols) is the best because he’s a very smart guy, he know what he’s going to do before passing the ball. Very good technique, clever guy, completely good player.

“Before he receives the ball, he knows where I am or where Jumpei (Kusukami) is.”

Martinez said he felt 100 per cent heading into the 10th game of the season.

“I feel much fitter, very strong, we work very hard every week, you don’t have time to relax and this is good. I’m happy because compared to when I arrived here I’m much fitter now,” he said.

“It’s difficult we’re getting into summer, the dynamic is amazing here, it’s like England.

“Maybe in the beginning it was a bit difficult but I’m getting fitter and getting used to it. We work for points every match, maybe in another matches, we had chances where we didn’t score but now the goals have opened a little bit.

“Now we have to continue in this line. We cannot relax because every match is difficult, every team competes, very hard and physically. That’s why we have to be focused on what we want.”

Red and Black defender Jack Clisby was wary of the danger of Marco Rojas and the speed of Victory’s front third will bring on Saturday.

The 24-year-old said it was fair to say last week’s win over the Mariners kick-started their season adding he was happy with his own defending in the past weeks.

“We played really well in moments of the game especially when we went down to 10-men,” Clisby said.

“We showed resilience and discipline within the team and to hold out and even get a goal with 10-men was really pleasing.

“We actually played pretty well in the last Victory game, there were a lot of positives to take out, but the result wasn’t what we wanted so we’ll be looking to rectify that this weekend.”