Fitzroy manager Fernando de Moraes says that his team will need to address its game day consistency if it hopes to challenge for a top three place in the Series Futsal Victoria premiership this season.
The famous futsal club has had an indifferent start to the 2016/17 season, having won its first game against FC Collingwood before losing its next three to competition heavyweights Hume, Pascoe Vale and Balwyn.
The addition of international star Rico Zulkarnain two weeks ago almost saw Fitzroy sneak a win over Pascoe Vale, but his influence had less of an impact against Balwyn where they were comprehensively beaten.
De Moraes, currently on manager duties while he recovers from a knee operation, says that his team can’t rely on Zulkarnain to score and need to work on its overall consistency.
“I don’t think we were very prepared in the game against Balwyn,” said de Moraes.
“The boys started off slowly, and that killed us. Balwyn scored a couple of goals and we weren’t able to recover.
“I think we relied on Rico too much against Pascoe Vale. He couldn’t have another cracker game, not that he didn’t play well – the goals didn’t come to him.
“When a player like that doesn’t score, it affects the team, but we can’t rely on him scoring all of the goals.
“We had some good signs, we had a lot of ups and downs. Our consistency was very bad. We played 2-3 good minutes, then 5-6 bad minutes, and in those moments, we lost the match.”
Fitzroy faces up against Ashburton FC this week in a must-win game for both clubs.
De Moraes acknowledges that this is a very important game for his team.
“Yes, we must win this game,” he said.
“Ashburton score a lot of goals, so we have to play simple. We aren’t doing the simple things, and that has let us down. We need to do the basics and get back on our feet.
“We’ve lost three games in a row, and we can’t lose four if we want to stay in touch with the leaders.”