Go behind the scenes on a hectic week for out of form Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat talks with Archie Thompson before Thompson walked off. WITH just 120 hours between matches, Matt Windley discovers there's been little time to waste for Melbourne Victory this week. THE final whistle condemns Melbourne Victory to a 2-1 loss to Newcastle, but heralds the beginning of planning for the team's next game, against Perth, in five days time. Head physio Travis Maude and the medical team begin their post-game assessments of each player, which will be repeated again the following morning, while coach Kevin Muscat's review process will start as soon as he's finished his post-match media commitments. The Victory's recovery session starts right after the loss to Newcastle Jets. With the hours between games this week precious there's little time to dwell on the defeat, but defender Adrian Leijer says his post-game routine remains the same despite the short turnaround. He'll eat, get a massage, head to the pool and ice baths underneath AAMI Park then drive home. "You'll have a protein shake after the game and a little protein snack which is provided by our sponsor, Bounce," Leijer says. In the changerooms we've got pizzas and burgers, stuff like that, a bit of fruit as well if you can get that down, but sometimes it is pretty hard straight after a game. I end up just going home afterwards and having a bit of a chicken and rice dish and that's that. A good night sleep is always the No.1 priority after games, but goalkeeper Nathan Coe says that isn't always possible. THE players in need of medical treatment after the previous night's game begin to arrive back at AAMI Park early. Everyone else is due at the club no later than 10am. In the mean time strength and conditioning coach Peter Cklamovski is, along with Maude, plotting the morning's recovery session based on post-game findings from the medical team. Individual management is crucial for Maude and Cklamovski, particularly when the turnaround between matches is as short as it is this week, and nothing is left to chance when assessing the wellbeing of the players. There's GPS monitoring, jumps testing _ which Cklamovski says "monitors fatigue levels" _ and saliva cortisol testing _ which is "another form of monitoring the physical status of players." "We use all of that information to decide how we implement the week's preparation," Cklamovski says. All that information is like a weapon then it's up to us to decide how we use it. If there's any players that have an area of concern we'll hone in on it specifically and treat the player where needed. Melbourne Victory's Mark Milligan getting tapped up before training. As Muscat, whose review of the Jets game is continuing in earnest, says, playing professional sport is not as easy as rocking up for a game each week. "There's a lot of work that goes in to it and a lot of work that goes in to individual management of players to get them up to full speed," Muscat says. The process that we go through is pretty thorough. At about 10am the players are in the gym beginning their recovery. Most start on the bikes to get their legs moving, while Coe and the keepers crew join goalkeeping coach Steve Mautone on Gosch's Paddock to jog some laps and do some ball handling. When they re-join their teammates in the gym, the team is split in to three where, under the watchful eye of assistant strength and conditioning coach Dom Trimboli, they perform a circuit of exercises including Pilates and stretching. "From there we go to the pool and it'll be set out for us what it is we need to do," Coe says. When we hop out we stretch then get in to the ice baths and repeat. Melbourne Victory's Adrian Leijer in the ice bath during the pool session. MUSCAT stands at the front of the AAMI Park theatrette looking out at his players and coaching staff. A video clip sits on pause behind him. This is the weekly video review session and a full stop is about to be put on the loss to the Jets. "I don't need to go in there and tell the players that we didn't perform to our capabilities, because I'm pretty certain that they're already aware of that," Muscat says. So it's not a matter of going in and stating the obvious, it's a matter of going in to an in-depth analysis of why we weren't as successful as we want to be and why we weren't as good as we have been in previous weeks. A lot of time and thought has gone in to that and it's presented to the players accordingly. Victory players normally have Wednesday's off. Melbourne Victory's Nathan Coe getting tapped up before training. Before Friday night games that day off becomes Tuesday, but this week, because of the little time they have between games against the Jets and Glory, the players are required to report to the office for the review. "There will be some times when the preparation period is too short and we need to train, but that's part and parcel of the job," Coe says. There are a lot worse things we could be doing with our lives though. Coming in to do the video is something that's important. Leijer said the short turnaround is a positive. "The worst thing if you have a poor performance like that is if you have a long break to think about it the whole time," Leijer says. Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat barking out orders during training. With a short turnaround it's good because you can put that to the back of your mind and really focus on Friday night. From that point of view it's been good to have the game come up so quickly. As the players then go home, Muscat and his assistants feverishly start preparations for Perth. "Video will be prepared for me, clips of the Glory, and I'll sit down and analyse that with the staff and then that video is sent away and prepared and I'll present that to the players on Thursday," Muscat says. THE players are back out on the park for the first time since Sunday, but Leijer says they are still feeling the effects of the Jets game. "You do feel sore from Sunday," he says. Today's session is sort of the one where it's good to get the legs going again, you've always got a few knocks and bruises somewhere which you generally find once you get out there and start moving around they tend to loosen up. Archie Thompson joins his teammates on Gosch's Paddock and completes about 80 per cent of the session. Peter Cklamovski talks with Melbourne Victory's James Troisi during the pool session. He's trying to prove his fitness after missing last week's game with a hamstring complaint, but tomorrow's training run at AAMI Park is more likely to determine whether or not he is picked. Coe describes the session as "pretty short and sharp" _ a warm up, small games working on defending a set area, 3 v 2 situations and then warm down _ then it's back to the pools for recovery. Cklamovski says, with Asian Champions League matches potentially being added to the schedule in the back-end of the season, preparations are already underway to help the players cope with a high volume of games in a short amount of time. Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson pulls up before the end of training. "We try to do everything at intensity," Cklamovski says. Whether it be a 40-minute session on the first day back after a game or a conditioning session, we try to keep the intensity nice and high and game specific. Today was a shorter session, yes, just being the first day back on the park. It will be short and sharp again definitely tomorrow and then run over the top of Perth Glory on Friday night. At the pools Cklamovski is seen engaging James Troisi in a lengthy discussion. Cklamovski says, with all the forward planning the club does, it feels like he's living in a world two weeks ahead of time. Melbourne Victory's Leigh Broxham talks with assistant coach Jean-Paul de Maringny. "I definitely talk to the players about where they're at physically and what's coming up for them week-to-week and also looking further forward," Cklamovski says. With every player I talk to them to give them an understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it in order to get the best out of them for themselves and also for the football club. IT'S the day before the game and again the players have filed in to the AAMI Park theatrette. This time they're looking forward and Muscat is briefing them on the coaches' findings about Perth. "The reality is I've watched their games," Muscat says. Yes, you're focusing on your own game, but I've watched their game from last week and they look to be a dangerous side. Melbourne Victory's Adrian Leijer during the pool session. They've got a bit of pace going forward in their final third so again we're going to have to be at our best. But from my point of view this week I just think it's about us. Even in the Newcastle game, when we were disciplined and structured, we looked very good. There were times in that game, albeit not for long enough, that we were very dangerous, so the majority of the week has been set up to focus on what we do and do what we do best for longer periods. Coe says the closed training session on AAMI Park that follows is all about implementing the ideas spoken about during the video preview. "We work on a little bit of shape, a little bit of set piece stuff and maybe a game at the end," Coe says. Melbourne Victory's Nathan Coe during training. It'll be pretty short and sharp again. Thompson again joins his teammates on the park and again looks free in his movement, but he fails to complete the session and is later ruled out. Connor Pain will keep his place in the side. LEIJER will have this morning, hopefully, woken free of any fatigue or niggles carried from last weekend. Even in a normal week the defender says he won't feel 100 per cent fresh until game day because with a traditional six-eight day break between matches the team would be put through a rigorous conditioning session midweek which he says "puts the body under a bit of stress." "You don't always feel great after that but then on game day, with the planning that Pete and all those guys put in, you're fine," Leijer says. Sometimes the day before a game you'll say 'mate, I'm not feeling very well, I'm feeling heavy or sore' and they'll say 'don't worry, you'll be all right'. You tend to find that by game day, if you've done all the right things, that that's the day you feel good. Today Leijer will simply relax until he heads up the road to AAMI Park for the Round 10 opener against the Glory. "I tend to try and sleep in," he says. That doesn't always happen because you get in to the routine of getting up pretty early. Broxy (Leigh Broxham) and I live five minutes away from the club so we usually pop in and have a swim. You just try to kill a bit of time because otherwise you just sit around all day and get pretty bored. After the swim I'll go home, have lunch, this week I'll probably watch the cricket for an hour or two and try to get an hour nap in. Then it's get up, have a pre-game meal and head to the ground. Once you find what routine works for you tend to keep it pretty normal and stick with it.