Taking charge at AAMI Park on January 15 after the club sacked Marco Kurz, the Spaniard had barely 48 hours to prepare his new chargers before they headed to South Australia to reignite the ‘Original Rivalry’ with Adelaide United.

Suffering a 1-0 loss to that fixture, a resounding thumping of Bali United in Asian Champions League action came mid-week although that, in turn, was followed with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sydney FC in the Big Blue on last Friday.

But in what has the potential to become a defining moment in Victory’s 2019/20 season, a trip to Japan to face 2018 Champions Kashima Antlers in an ACL play-off mid-week didn’t produce the expected shellacking but, instead, a dogged and determined 1-0 win.

Landing back in Australia on Thursday beleaguered but victorious, they are now set to fly across the Nullarbor and face Perth Glory on Saturday – their fifth game in 15 days.

“We arrived 24 hours ago and now we are travelling in an hour to Perth,” Salvachúa said on Friday.

“We will try to recover today, as well during all the day [yesterday] and tomorrow morning, just to prepare for another tough, big game in Perth.

“We know we are in a tough month now and next month will be the same, with a lot of games and few training sessions.

“We know how important the training is to recover the bodies and during the clear weeks, with one game, we have to train with a different approach than we are doing now in these [busy] weeks.

“We are changing some things, but we have not had time to change a lot of things in the first week. We know the situation, but every time we are trying to improve, trying to grow in strength every day with a new step to build up what we want to do.

“I prefer to train more, I always say that I prefer more sessions on the pitch, but now we have to play a lot of games."

Fortunately for Salvachúa, his side appears to have escaped the first four games of his five-game opening stint relatively unscathed; only Leigh Broxham’s suspension and Thomas Deng’s departure for J1 League side Urawa Red Diamonds will reduce the pool of players available to him ahead of the clash with Glory.

“Deng is a big loss for us,” Salvachúa said. “The club is working – of course – in trying to contract, if possible, any [replacement] player.”

James Donachie, suspended for the Sydney FC game, is set to return for the Glory clash and Ola Toivonen, who played eight minutes as Victory shut the door on Kashima, should be available for an increased role. Oft-injured defender Tim Hoogland, a month after he had surgery on his knee, has been named in the squad.

The stage is also set for Marco Rojas to make his much-anticipated return to action in a Victory shirt, with confirmation given that he will be on the plane to Western Australia.

“We know that there is a big risk [of injury] at the moment because some players are playing in all the games and we have to manage this, if it’s possible, their minutes,” the Victory boss said.

“We need to be ready for this situation, we have more risk now of injuries.

"[Toivonen] trained with us all week, the first week after a month out of the squad. He played a few minutes against Sydney as well as the other day [against Kashima] and now he’s more fit.

“[Hoogland] trained today with the team and I think we’ll see. He’s close. We have to know that he had surgery one month ago and he needs time with the team.

“Rojas is travelling with the team. He will be in Perth tomorrow and he will be another option for us to use him in the next games.”