Glory ALM Head Coach Adam Griffiths believes his charges will need to ratchet up their performance levels in Sunday’s Round 10 showdown with Melbourne City at AAMI Park (kick-off at 4pm WST, watch live on Paramount+).
Click HERE to view his full pre-match media conference.
The visit to the reigning Champions marks the first of a two-game away swing for the men in purple who will face Melbourne Victory, also at AAMI Park, on Friday 2 January.
And Griffiths is keenly aware of what is required from his side in order to bounce back from back-to-back unfortunate home defeats and force their way back into the finals spots.
“Every single game in the A-League at the moment is so competitive and tight,” he said, “and if you string a couple of wins together, you can bounce right back up into that top six.
“That’s the focus and the challenge for these next two games; to go away to Melbourne and pick up points.
“Away from home in Melbourne will be a big test for this playing group.
“Every team in the A-League is beatable, for one and every team has different challenges.
“They’re a very powerful team, they’ve got good players in the pockets and they’ve got good speed, so they will be a challenge and it’s something that we have to navigate well.
“Every game and every moment is going to be different, so we have to regroup, look at all the positive things we’ve done in terms of dominating ball possession, dominating final third entries and things like that and then we have to step up and improve.
“That’s on me and the coaching staff to make sure that the players are improving in that area and that’s the focus this week.”
The Head Coach went on to highlight one of those areas which have been focused on in training this week.
“One of the things we will be addressing is that we approach the game in the right mindset,” he said, “and that we tighten up in areas where we’ve been weaker.
“There are still vulnerabilities in our team, so we have to improve in those areas and double down on the areas that we started working on last week but haven’t had the time previously to work on.”
In terms of injuries, meanwhile, Griffiths provided an update on the squad and in particular, midfielder Rhys Bozinovski and skipper Adam Taggart, both of whom missed last weekend’s Adelaide game.
“A few of the players have got niggles, but the majority of the group is looking good,” he said.
“We’re looking to get them [Bozinovski and Taggart] back into full training by Thursday and then we’ll see how they progress from there.
“Hopefully we’ll have one or two players back which makes us more dynamic and more powerful.”
Sunday’s opponents currently occupy fourth spot on the ladder, but are just two points above Glory having won only one of their last four games, scoring a single goal across those outings.
Defensively, they have generally been very sound and have conceded the second-fewest goals in the league thus far, with goalkeeper Patrick Beach keeping five clean sheets.
Other standout performers for Aurelio Vidmar’s side this term include 20-year-old striker Max Caputo who has scored four goals, Japanese attacking midfielder Takeshi Kanamori who has made an instant impact in what is his maiden A-League season and Austrian import Andreas Kuen who has recorded a competition-best three assists.
Sunday will mark Glory’s 25th match-up with City at AAMI Park and the visitors will be looking for a first win since January 2021 to take their overall tally to eight.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 10
Melbourne City v Perth Glory
AAMI Park
Sunday 28 December 2025
Kick-off: 4pm WST (7pm Local Time)
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Preview: Step up required to pass big Melbourne test says Griff
