Victory’s Kisnorbo not hiding from his City history
Patrick Kisnorbo isn’t shying away from his Melbourne City history.
But ahead of his first derby as Melbourne Victory boss, the former City captain and coach is determined not to be defined by it.
Kisnorbo will lead Victory in Saturday night’s blockbuster at AAMI Park well aware he’s crossed a massive divide in Melbourne.
“You can’t hide from it, but it is what it is,” he said on Friday.
“So look, at end of the day, it’s a game that has history but also as myself at another club.
“So I’m sure there are talking points about that, but for me, I’ve just got to concentrate on my job here and doing the best we can.
“I have friendships with a lot of people still to this day. But I’m also a professional, and I’ve got a job to do like them.
“If we can make our fans happy tomorrow by working hard, that’d be great.”
Victory will be without skipper Roderick Miranda (red card suspension) but winger Daniel Arzani is available after missing their opening 0-0 draw with Central Coast through suspension.
Kisnorbo left Arzani out of his squad for Victory’s Australia Cup final defeat to Macarthur, with the club denying it was the result of a training ground argument between the pair.
When asked if things had moved on since, Kisnorbo said: “for me it has.
“Again, we’re professional. That’s a couple weeks back now. So in that time, we’ve moved on, he got picked for the Socceroos, which is great, he’s been training well.
“So yeah, we’ll see what involvement he might have tomorrow.”
Kisnorbo didn’t believe Arzani would feel pressure to perform.
“His expectation is just to work as hard as he can. And knowing his talent, his talent speaks for itself,” he said.
“But there’s no pressure from myself towards him, but I’ve just told him just to work as hard as he can.”
City counterpart Aurelio Vidmar, fresh off a 1-0 win over Newcastle, isn’t reading too much into Kisnorbo’s new Victory colours.
“Obviously, he’s crossed the border now, so good luck to PK,” Vidmar said.
When asked whether City felt exposed by Kisnorbo’s knowledge of their players, Vidmar said: “yes and no.”
“It’s probably the same for him and us going into looking at what he does.
“He has a particular way. He knows our style, which is fine. I don’t think he’s changing too much from what he knows and what he’s experienced.
“Hopefully it’s not too much of a chess game. That’d be pretty boring.
“But saying that – it’s a derby for God’s sake, so everyone will be itching to get out there and really have a crack.”
#Victorys #Kisnorbo #hiding #City #history