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Sport
Anna Harrington

Nani backed to find elusive Victory goals

Nani has had 21 shots but is yet to score in the A-League Men competition. (Jeremy Ng/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Coach Tony Popovic has backed Nani to find his scoring boots and bounce back from his underwhelming start at Melbourne Victory.

The former Manchester United winger is yet to open his A-League Men account while Victory sit 11th with just nine goals from as many games ahead of Friday's clash with Brisbane at AAMI Park.

Nani has had 21 shots throughout the season, the most of any player yet to score a goal, and had three in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Central Coast without reward.

"We're seeing very good signs at training," Popovic told reporters on Thursday.

"He's like any player, attacking players, when their confidence grows they can go through periods where they're confident that if they have one shot a game, it will go in. And other times you can have several shots and it won't go in for them.

"The chances are being created. He could have had a couple of goals definitely against Central Coast, and probably should have from his perspective.

"But if we can get him in those areas once more, I believe that once he gets one it will flow from there."

Popovic hase made several tweaks to get the best out of his stuttering attack.

Nick D'Agostino, along with skipper Josh Brillante, was benched against Central Coast while Bruno Fornaroli was dropped altogether.

"It's just football reasons. It's not about shaking things up," Popovic said.

"Each individual's case is different. They all know why they were in or why they weren't in. There are no issues there. We're trying to get the players in the best condition they can be.

"Bruno is a prime example. He's a fit player, but he's not in the condition that he and we believe can get him scoring the goals that we all want and he's working extremely hard to make that possible. We're very happy with him.

"But it's a process, it takes time. We're seeing some good signs from him."

Popovic was confident his attack would settle and click, especially once he was able to put out a consistent defence.

Matthew Spiranovic returned against Central Coast but fellow centre-back Roderick Miranda is yet to fully train with Victory's main squad and goalkeeper Paul Izzo (thumb) remains sidelined.

"At the back, we have struggled to have any continuity or stability this season. That's the first part, if we can get that right I think that will help the attack," he said.

Only Victory members are permitted to attend Friday's game under interim sanctions from Football Australia for their fans' pitch invasion.

Active areas have been shut down and north end members are barred from the game.

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