Glory Head Coach David Zdrilic believes that his side are well placed to build on their recent improvements in Saturday’s Round 16 match-up with Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium (kick-off at 2pm WST, watch live and FREE on 10Play and 10Bold).
View his full pre-match media conference HERE
The men in purple enjoyed the bye last weekend having previously played four times in just 11 days, during which time they collected their first home win of the season against Auckland FC and were desperately unfortunate not to secure further points at the expense Western United and Western Sydney Wanderers.
And Zdrilic feels that there is a significantly higher level of confidence in the camp as a consequence of those displays.
“We managed to give the guys a couple of days off which we haven’t been able to do for a while because we’ve had a lot of games in a very short space of time,” he said.
“But then we got straight back into it and obviously we’ve had new players coming in, so it’s been important to bring them up to speed as quickly as we can with the way we’re playing.
“That winning mentality, that feeling that right up until the last minute we had a chance to win the game, which wasn’t always there, has been there in these last few games… and we want to continue that.
“I think we’re more aggressive in the way that we’re pressing now and… in the last few games we’ve had more of the ball and we’ve kept the ball better than we did in the first part of the season.
“It’s important for us to make sure that we bring that into this game.”
Zdrilic’s squad has been boosted by the arrival of four new players in the last week and he confirmed that three of those, striker Patrick Wood, attacking midfielder Lachie Wales and defender Yuto Misao, are all in the mix to play on Saturday.
“Patrick has obviously been playing at Sydney, so he’s fit and Lachie Wales has looked very good [in training], so he’ll play a part,” he said.
“The Japanese boys [Misao and Takuya Okamoto] are a bit different because they’ve come from being off and not actually playing, so it’s really who’s further along and Misao is definitely the one who’s further along and looking good in training.
“If he’s ready to go, he’ll play some part as well.”
In terms of the Jets, they will be familiar opponents for Glory given that the sides met twice in pre-season and also went head-to-head at HBF Park a little over a month ago.
And Zdrilic’s believes he knows what to expect from Rob Stanton’s men.
“Rob wants his team to build up and he’s got very good mechanisms for doing that,” he said.
“He’s got a good structure and he’s going to try and play through whatever we do and we’ll be ready for that.”
The Jets come into the game in indifferent form having won just once since downing Glory at HBF Park back in mid-December.
Among their better performers so far this term have been forward Ben Gibson who has scored four times and added three assists, Thomas Aquilina, who has chipped in with four assists to go with his two goals and goalkeeper Ryan Scott who has started every game, kept two clean sheets and saved a penalty.
Former Glory midfielder Callum Timmins has also featured prominently, making nine starts and livewire forward Lachlan Rose has found the net twice despite only featuring on four occasions due to injury.
McDonald Jones Stadium remains Glory’s most successful current away A-League venue, with the WA side having won on 12 of their 28 previous visits.
Recently, however, the Jets have been a tougher nut to crack on their home patch and have not lost in this corresponding fixture since April 2018.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2024-25 Season Round 16
Newcastle Jets v Perth Glory
McDonald Jones Stadium
Saturday 25 January 2025
Kick-off: 2pm WST
#ONEGlory
