Western United's Besart Berisha before this weekend's clash with Melbourne Victory. Credit:Getty Images And that's why neither Kurz nor his Western United counterpart Mark Rudan want the rest of their players to get sucked into any emotional overload that might be in evidence should Berisha start this game. ''It's not a game Victory against Berisha, it's a game, Victory against Western United,'' Kurz stressed. ''But he's a good player. He is always a hard worker, a hard fighter and also he has a lot of quality in finishing.

''I know this from the past because I played against him with Adelaide. ''We were warned to defend him well in the box. They have a lot of quality players around him, too.

''(Alessandro) Diamanti and (Scott) McDonald, the midfielders with Panagiotis Kone, and they are very dangerous after set pieces. ''It's a part of United we have to control if we want to be successful.'' Rudan says he expects Berisha to be able to control any emotion he might feel and make his contribution to the United effort. ''Have I spoken to him? The answer is no. I haven't spoken to him about what tomorrow means. ''He's old enough, he's a father, an adult, he has a family, I will treat him as such.

''He knows what's required, what's expected, what we expect from him in the 90 minutes tomorrow if he plays the full game. ''My expectation is that he doesn't let his emotions override his performance and that he does what is expected of him within our game plan and structure.'' As well as Berisha's threat, Kurz is very conscious of the problems Alessandro Diamanti, the former Italian international, can cause. ''You must control Diamanti. He makes the rhythm in the game, he can play very good passes. He made some very good inswinging crosses and he can make the decision with the pass to score a goal. ''It's up to the midfield to control him.''

Western United are sitting mid-table, just next to Victory. Both clubs have a win, a draw and a loss, but it is the hosts who are on the more upward trajectory. They won in Brisbane last week while Western lost at home to Melbourne City. Rudan says there is no need to panic that Western have only taken one point from their past two home games having won first time out in Wellington. ''We have worked hard to come together as a club. We are at a place where maybe we deserve to be. ''There are a lot of improvements required from last week,'' he said, when he pointed out his team's slow start to its past two games. ''We worked on a couple of the important ones for this week. But one thing I stressed after three rounds is that it takes time.