The Reds coach had caused quite a stir ahead of the win over Queensland Roar but his troops responded - to Vidmar's relief.

He said: "Had we lost everyone would have pointed the finger at what happened last week (his press conference rant) as to why we lost.

"You can't win as a coach all you can do is try and guide the players and try and guide the club ... and that's all we're trying to do."

After Saturday night's win over Roar, United will face their fiercest rivals and finals nemesis Victory in the Grand Final.

The Reds went down 6-0 on aggregate over the two legs of the Semi Finals.

Vidmar said: "Well there is no secret that we lost a lot of confidence out of those two games.

"We did a lot of things poorly, our intensity was poor and the ability to retain possession was certainly the worst we've had throughout the season so we've worked pretty hard during the week to rectify those areas and after (Saturday's) game at least we're moving in the right direction."

The preliminary final was played in front of  the poorest crowd attendance for a finals game in the A-League.

"When things are going well you ride with the wave and ride with the punches and when the times are tough you're going to have to cop some criticism.

"Unfortunately fans are pretty fickle, when you have a really good look at it we've had a pretty consistent season in the A-League and got to an Asian Champions League Final," said Vidmar.