Markus Babbel lamented the ongoing profligacy which again cost Western Sydney Wanderers during their frustrating 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.
The hosts passed up a series of excellent opportunities at ANZ Stadium and were left with Alexander Baumjohann’s penalty as the lone consolation from a sixth defeat in 11 fixtures, from which they have scored a paltry 12 goals.
Western Sydney registered 24 shots in total but paid the price for their wastefulness as Ola Toivonen demonstrated the value of in-form forward with decisive goals towards the end of each half.
“I feel really sad for the boys because the performance was top,” Babbel said, having seen his side limit the new league leaders to three shots on target.
“I’m very proud of the team. We played a really good side and dominated them, created many good chances.
“This is the biggest problem we have. We had six or seven big chances and we only scored one goal.
“We are very disappointed because I told the boys there is a chance there. If we stay in our structure, if we are disciplined, then I think the match plan is good against them, everything is working.
“[Losing] is hard to accept but it is like it is. We couldn’t take the chances we had, so we have to keep going. This is a team problem at the moment.”
Victory boss Kevin Muscat congratulated his team on a battling result and reserved special praise for Leigh Broxham, who made a crucial goal-line clearance when scores were level in the second half and performed admirably as a makeshift centre-back.
“I thought he was outstanding tonight,” Muscat said of the versatile veteran.
“Leigh Broxham typified the performance that was needed with the conditions and [against] a very spirited Western Sydney team that asked a lot of questions of us.
“It was a different type of win for us; however, ultimately we scored two goals and earned the result.”
