Victory were thrashed 5-1 by Gamba Osaka and paid a heavy price for a dreadful start to the encounter.

"There were no positives," Merrick told the Herald Sun.  "We didn't have a good player on the night. The other team was very good and outplayed us.

"You just can't concede two goals within five minutes of starting.

"We never really got into any rhythm and before we could get into formation we were down three goals.

"We got caught out in defence and couldn't get control of the midfield."

However, the Victory coach said it was back to the training track in a bid to prepare for the next challenge.

"We've lost a point and lost the game badly, but we're not out of the tournament," he added.