Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe has encouraged his players to continue the resolute and winning form they displayed following last week’s massive win over Melbourne City with another top performance against fierce rivals Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
Lowe will have to watch from the stands after he was suspended from the sidelines after his emotional outburst at the referee but he stressed that, with or without him in the dressing room, his squad knew the task at hand.
“The players know what they need to do,” said the passionate Lowe.
“They’ve set the standard for themselves now. They’ve made it difficult for themselves, because they’ve raised the bar and we can’t accept anything less than that level unfortunately, so in a way they’ve shot themselves in the foot by performing like that” he said with a grin.
With many options to choose from this week, including the inclusions of Shane Lowry and Rhys Williams, the Hyundai A-League Manager of the Round admits he possibly has a selection headache on his hands.
“I think we could have but that’s good because that means everyone’s firing and fighting for places.”
“You can see the intensity in our team and the honesty in the team that everyone wants to stay in the team. You can see that in training, but we’ve got a good group as well, everyone understands you can only pick eleven.”
“We’ve got a good mentality around the team so like I say, the lads have raised their own bar, and they’ve set the standard….They’ve created that environment now, that that’s the acceptable level and if they don’t hit that level, then I don’t take them out of the team, they take themselves out of the team.”
While Brisbane only registered its first win of the season last week, Lowe has warned the Queenslanders pose a serious threat.
“Brisbane are a very good team, very very good team. We’ve played them twice already. They spanked us 4-0 in a friendly and I went ‘wow that was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen’, they were absolutely superb” he said.
“Then we had a decent FFA Cup game that could have gone either way so it’s always a good game. They’ve got good players, they play the right way, got a top coach; they’ll be difficult, really difficult.”
The away match to Brisbane will also hold a special place for defender Josh Risdon and goalkeeper Liam Reddy.
Bunbury born and fan favourite Josh Risdon will break a Perth Glory club Hyundai A-League record as he prepares to play his 120th match while his evergreen teammate Liam Reddy will mark his 200th Hyundai A-League appearance.
Lowe was full of praise for both of his milestone men.
“Rizzo, what is he? 92 born same as my lad so he’s 24. That’s a bit scary really isn’t it? It just shows how good he is and how much he’s been selected. Glory MGP, Socceroo, picked in the All-star team. He’s ticked everything off by the time he’s 23. He can chill out now, Riz, can’t he? But it’s great and he’s a WA boy so that’s fantastic.”
“Liam’s been good value for us as well. He’s come in and he’s been absolutely super. He’s certainly not a shy boy you know, which I like, you just gotta to give him a slap every now and then to keep him in line, which I’ll get someone else to do that because he’s a bit big for me but he’s good. He’s been brilliant for us.”
The match kicks-off at Suncorp Stadium at 2pm WA time.
Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Round 4
Sunday, 30 October 2016
Brisbane Roar FC v Perth Glory
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-Off: 4:00PM (Local) (5:00PM (AEDT))
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
Assistant Referee 1: Nathan MacDonald
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Lindsay
Fourth Official: Alex King
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on Fox Sports 505 from 4.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport Pop-Up 2 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: 612 ABC Brisbane, ABC Local Radio Qld, 720 ABC Perth, ABC Local Radio WA, Grandstand Digital, Online & via the ABC Radio Mobile App – A-league Live, EON Sports Radio (eonsportsradio.com)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #BRIvPER
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Corey BROWN, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Brett HOLMAN, 11.Tommy OAR, 13.Jade NORTH, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17. Matt McKAY (c), 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 26.Nicholas D’AGOSTINO, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 33.Joey KATEBIAN
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS (promoted), 26. Nicholas D’AGOSTINO (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Perth Glory FC Squad: 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 4.Shane LOWRY, 5.Rhys WILLIAMS, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (c), 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 13.Nicholas FEELY (gk), 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joe MILLS, 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Josh RISDON, 22.Adam TAGGART, 24.Milan SMILJANIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 4.Shane LOWRY (promoted) 5.Rhys WILLIAMS (promoted), 22.Adam TAGGART (promoted)
Outs: 11.Richard GARCIA (not selected)
Unavailable: nil
Glory Facts and Stats
- The last time Perth played Brisbane it ended in a 6-3 victory for Glory.
- Perth Glory are undefeated in three games this season (2W 1D).
- Perth have won the most penalties this season with 3 spot kicks having been awarded
- Josh Risdon will make his 120th Hyundai A-League appearance for Perth Glory if he plays on Sunday – a Club record.
- Liam Reddy will have amassed 200 Hyundai A-league games if he plays against Brisbane on Sunday.
- Andy Keogh comes into this game on the back of scoring his first hat-trick since October 2014.
- Andy Keogh’s scored the perfect hat-trick last week; Header, right foot and left foot.
- Andy Keogh sits joint top of the Hyundai A-League goal scoring charts after his hat-trick last week. Diego Castro and Adam Taggart are not far behind with 2 goals apiece.
- Andy Keogh has registered more shots on target (10) than any other A-league player this term; four more than any other player
- Andy Keogh has recorded 12 shots in total; one behind Bruno Fornaroli, ten of them on target and 2 of them blocked
- Liam Reddy, Dino Djulbic, Josh Risdon and Rostyn Griffiths have played every minute so far of the new season (270 minutes).
- Perth Glory have had the most big chances in games this season with 13 being created in comparison to Brisbane’s six.
- Brisbane have only converted 16.7% of those big chances compared to Glory’s 46.2%.
- Perth Glory have won the most duels this season with 56.5% compared to Brisbane, who sit near the bottom with 46% won.
- Perth have the best shooting accuracy in the league with 62.2% (37 shots, 23 on Target, 10 blocked). Brisbane have only mustered 35.5%.
- Perth Glory have scored the most goals from set pieces, with 62.5% of them being converted.
- Perth have the third best crossing accuracy with 33.3% of crosses hitting the target.
- Perth are one of three teams yet to have conceded first.
- Chris Harold has won 13 fouls in his first three games this season.
- Dino Djulbic has 20 clearances to his name in the first three games this season.
- Alex Grant won 77.8% of his duels in the victory over Melbourne City last week, while also registering 11 clearances.
- Marc Warren and Rhys Williams have won 100% of their tackles when they have played so far this season.
- Brandon Wilson has a passing accuracy of 89.1% in his 229 minutes on the pitch – the best out of all Perth Glory starters this season.
