Melbourne Victory’s intensity needs to lift according to defender Rodrigo Vargas.

The reigning A-League champions have made their worst start to a season in the club’s five-year history and Vargas admits the players have not been intense enough so far.

"The boys are pretty honest (and) we can see we've been lacking a bit of intensity," Vargas said yesterday.

"That shows on the field. It shows. That's something we have to talk about and make a team effort to lift ourselves.

"When the confidence is down and the team's not getting results, it's easy to think it will change sooner rather than later. But we have to implement things to make it happen.

"It's not going to happen on its own. We need to make it happen."

Vargas said the return of Kevin Muscat to the line-up will help kick off the change in form but added that it shouldn’t be up to him to start things.

"When he's back out there, the boys lift 10 or 20 per cent," Vargas said. "But as a team we shouldn't have to rely on Kevin.

"That says a lot about our team, doesn't it?

"If Kevin's not out there and we can't lift then we have to take a good look at ourselves."

The Victory take on arch rivals Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium this Friday night.