Vargas calls on Victory to lift

Victory worryingly sits just two points off the bottom of the table midway through the competition after being outclassed 3-1 by a resurgent Brisbane Roar on Saturday night.

Roar toyed with Melbourne during a second-half onslaught at Suncorp Stadium which ended the champion's own five-match losing streak and increased the pressure on the visitor.

Melbourne now faces red-hot pacesetter Central Coast Mariners at Gosford on Wednesday and defender Rodrigo Vargas bluntly stressed losing was not an option after just two wins in the past nine matches.

"We have to lift, it's not a question of if we can," Vargas said.

"We're getting to the desperate stakes now. We can't keep saying 'next week, next week'.

"It's over the halfway mark and we have to start collecting points because the end of the year will come soon."

Most concerning for Victory has been the way it has consistently capitulated in the second half of matches this season and it again gave up an early lead in Brisbane.

Harry Kewell finally got the monkey off his back for his first A-League goal in general play with a five-star finish to a Roar defensive blunder in the third minute.

But Victory could not capitalise as Brisbane broke its recent shackles by netting all its goals in a 10-minute blitz either side of half-time, and then should have had more after.

"It was a matter of time for them before they started winning games and to be honest they looked more desperate than us," he said.

"I think in the second half for 25 minutes they just dominated in the midfield and it was an onslaught.

"They were very hard to contain and we couldn't contain them."

The pre-match loss of captain Adrian Leijer was a telling blow to Melbourne's defensive line as a Vargas was rushed back from injury in a back four that was sorely exposed by the speed and passing precision of Roar's attack.

Man-of-the-match Ivan Franjic, moved from defence into the midfield in a modified 3-4-3 structure, continually tormented Fabio while Mitch Nichols, Rocky Visconte and Besart Berisha combined beautifully up front.

Proud Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou labelled Nichols a warrior for playing with a groin niggle and pointed to his 44th-minute header as a massive factor in the result by triggering a return of his side's self-belief.