Glory Head Coach Richard Garcia is looking for his side to show greater consistency ahead of Saturday’s home meeting with Newcastle Jets (kick-off at 6.20pm WST, tickets HERE).
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The men in purple picked up a solid point in their most recent outing, battling out a 1-1 draw with Sydney FC on Wednesday and Garcia is keen for that performance and result against the reigning Champions and Premiers to act as a springboard for the remainder of the season.
“It’s tough when things don’t go your way and when you go through a little bit of indifferent kind of form,” he said.
“It’s about getting over this hump and moving forward and I think Wednesday night’s game was the first step towards that.
“We defended as a team [against Sydney FC] and defended with intensity which is something that we probably lacked in the previous maybe two or three games.
“Now we need to grow that and bring back a bit of our attacking play as well.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do.
“The understanding is there; it’s about putting it into practice a lot of the time and doing it for the whole game and not just for 75 or 80 minutes.
“For us, the focus is again on us improving as a group and making sure that we become more consistent.
“I’ve been very pleased with the mentality of the group after the previous month.
“It’s been a difficult month, but their mentality and togetherness has been very impressive and for me, that is another stepping stone to build from.”
The Jets will travel west looking to snap a run of four consecutive defeats which has seen them drop to 11th place in the table, but Garcia certainly won’t be underestimating the threat posed by Craig Deans’ side.
“It’ll be a tough game,” he said.
“They have some experienced guys, but we’re at home and we want to go out and get that win.
“I try not to look at the table.
“I don’t think it makes a difference where you are now; it’s where you end up.”
In terms of injury news, the Head Coach went on to provide an update on the progress being made by long-term knee injury-victim, Chris Ikonomidis
“Chris is getting there,” he said.
“He’s just had the final box ticked for testing and it’s now a matter of him really pushing forward.
“Hopefully he’ll start to come back into the frame within the next three weeks.”
Ikonomidis is one of three confirmed absentees for Glory this weekend, along with Nick D’Agostino (illness) and Sebastian Langkamp (wrist), while new signing Jason Geria is in line to make his club debut after being named in the 20-strong squad.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be without the experienced Nigel Boogaard who is suspended and fellow-defender Johnny Koutroumbis who has been sidelined by a knee injury.
Glory will be out to maintain a strong home record against the Jets who have won on just three of their 22 previous A-League visits to HBF Park.
Match Details
Saturday, 27 March 2021
Perth Glory v Newcastle Jets
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-Off: 6:20pm (Local)(9:20pm (AEDT))
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Manella
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew Southern
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvNEW
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 13.Luke BODNAR, 15.Brandon WILSON, 17.Diego CASTRO (C), 19.Callum TIMMINS, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 21.Bryce BAFFORD, 22.Josh RAWLINS, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 38.Ciaran BRAMWELL, 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 2.Jason GERIA (new signing), 15.Brandon WILSON (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (knee – 2-3 weeks), 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO (illness – 1 week)
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 8.Liridon KRASNIQI, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 11.Ramy NAJJARINE, 14.Ali ABBAS, 15.Tete YENGI, 16.Matt MILLAR, 17.Valentino YUEL, 19.Kosta PETRATOS, 21.Luka PRŠO, 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 23.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 28.Blake ARCHBOLD, 32.Angus THURGATE, 33.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (c), 51.Jordan LENNON
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 19.Kosta PETRATOS (promoted), 14.Ali ABBAS (promoted), 3.Jason HOFFMAN (returns from groin injury), 51.Jordan LENNON (promoted)
Outs: 4.Nigel Boogaard (suspension – 1 week), 2.Johnny KOURTROUMBIS (MCL – 4-6 weeks)
Unavailable: 5.Ben KANTAROVKSI (calf – 2 weeks), 27.Lucas MAURAGIS (ankle – 1 week), 26.Archie GOODWIN (ankle – 1 week)
#OneGlory
