Richard Garcia is backing Glory to continue the progress they have made in their opening two games in Doha during Friday’s clash with Ulsan Hyundai at Education City Stadium (kick-off at 6pm WST).
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The men in purple were desperately unfortunate not to claim at least a point from their first meeting with the Korean side on Tuesday and also performed well in last week’s resumption opener against Shanghai Shenhua.
The club’s Head Coach has liked what he’s seen so far and is confident that his charges will keep improving as the games continue to come thick and fast.
“There were a lot of positives to come out of both games,” he said, “and we’ve got to continue to build on that and keep progressing and always wanting to get better.
“I thought we controlled the game without the ball [against Ulsan] and then had chances to actually win it and it was lapses in concentration towards the back end of the game which cost us.
“That comes with us being a little bit undercooked fitness-wise and still in our pre-season while they’re at the back end of their season.”
Garcia went on to confirm that he is likely to make a number of personnel changes as Glory resume hostilities with the side that finished second in the K-League last season.
“We’re going to have to manage things carefully to make sure that people’s bodies aren’t breaking down,” he said.
“It’s a tough schedule.
“Playing on Friday and then again on Monday is a tall order, so we have to be pretty tactical in the way we approach this game and hopefully get some fresh bodies in and allow others to rest.
“We’ve got senior professionals who are itching to get out there, but we’re still looking to build them up.
“There will be an opportunity for them to get some minutes, but it’s hard when players are coming back from injury to make sure that you don’t overload them.
“Normally, in the regular season, you can give them minutes and then build them up in the week, but we don’t have that luxury here with the games coming every two or three days.”
The former Socceroos forward also revealed that he is expecting Ulsan to tweak their tactical approach this time around.
“We’ve had a look at them and they’ve had a look at us,” he said, “and I think they will approach it in a little bit of a different manner tomorrow.
“They’ll make slight adjustments and try and counteract what we’re doing.
“They have two tall strikers that they like to play into, so I think they’ll be a little bit more direct, but the proof is in the pudding.
“Once we get out there and see what we’re faced with, we can adjust.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re going to have to play in a little bit of a different style, but without giving too much away, it’s going to depend on how we pulled up from the other day.”
Ulsan remain in pole position to win Group F having picked up seven points from their three games so far and may opt to hand a start to talismanic striker Junior Negrao who bagged what proved to be their winner against Glory on Tuesday.
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