Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick blamed two set pieces for the undoing of his side in last night's 2-0 home loss to Seongnam Ilhwa in the Asian Champions League.

The Victory looked well below par after a tough 120 minutes against Sydney FC on Sunday and were beaten twice from dead-ball plays which were rued by Merrick.

"I won't take anything away from Seongnam, they played good football. It came down to two set plays, the way we used to concede goals in the first half of the season," he said.

"I've just came away from a players meeting. I praised the players, I thought they played terrific football and we created some really good goal scoring opportunities inside the 18-yard box.

"Had we put away one or two of those, I think it would have been a different game."

Merrick admitted that the Victory would now need some luck after dropping their first two group matches but said it was not vital to win every encounter from here on in.

"We probably have to go unbeaten from here. I don't think we have to win every game but if we give away another game, I think we'll struggle," he added.

"It's not going to be easy. Seongnam are at least one of the teams that have won two games.

"Hopefully the results will fall favourably for us with the other teams. I always feel you are in with a good chance when you are playing in a group of four where two go through to the next level."