Glory Head Coach Alen Stajcic believes that the club is well placed to build and move forward as they prepare for Sunday’s final game of the Isuzu UTE A-League season against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium (kick-off at 1pm WST, watch live and FREE on 10 Bold).
Watch his full pre-match media conference HERE.
The men in purple will head east looking to end a frustrating run of results by securing what would be a first win over the Sky Blues since 2019.
And while Glory will inevitably go into the game as underdogs having endured a challenging season on and off the field, Stajcic is confident that the club’s future is a bright one.
“As I’ve said all along, the team’s actually been really united and aligned,” he said.
“There are so many positives to come out of a bad situation.
“So many kids have got playing time.
“We had an NPL team that just avoided relegation last year, but in the meantime, seven, eight, or even more of those boys have got good minutes in the [A-League] first team and laid a good platform for the future.
“That’s a crucial step in rebuilding the team internally.
“There’s been alignment throughout the club which there probably wasn’t before, from the youth team to the first team in terms of the way they play and with the coaches.
“That’s been strengthened.
“The way we’ve attacked has been really good.
“There have been plenty of individuals who have done really well, Cola [Stefan Colakovski], obviously Taggs [Adam Taggart], Daniel Bennie.
“There are so many individuals who have stepped up and improved and had really good seasons.
“On the flip side, we’ve been really poor defensively and that’s been our Achilles heel.
“You’ve got to build on the positives and the foundations that have been put in place.
“That’s really imperative to move forward.
“There are a lot of internal things that have ben put in place and now we’ve got to put those pieces together externally to ensure that we can build a solid foundation and build it properly.”
The most recent meeting between Glory and Sydney FC ended in a 1-1 draw at HBF Park, with the visitors having been forced to play for almost an hour with ten men after losing Jake Girdwood-Reich to a red card.
And Stajcic was encouraged by his side’s performance in that rearranged Round 12 clash
“I thought we should have won that game,” he said.
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen a few red cards here and there where the team with the extra player or players haven’t necessarily won or been the better team.
“Sydney played against nine last week and still got beaten.
“But they’re a good team.
“They’re still one of the better teams in the competition.
“They have so many threats and they’ve obviously got their Olyroos boys back this week.
“That night [against Glory] [Anthony] Caceres showed what a skilful player he is and they’ve got players like Joe Lolley and [Robert] Mak, Fabio and [Luke] Brattan.
“They’ve got such a good array of attacking threats and obviously Rhyan Grant has been there forever and still bombs on like he’s 17 or 18 years of age.
“They’re one of the threats for the competition, so it’ll be a good challenge for us.”
Although Sunday’s opponents are already ensured of a Finals berth, they have only won two of their last seven games, scoring just eight goals in the process.
Lolley’s return of nine goals and seven assists, however, renders him one of the most potent attackers in the competition, while Brazilian import Fabio has found the net 11 times and young prospect Jaiden Kucharski has provided three goals and three assists despite making only eight starts.
Of the 16 previous meetings between the two sides at Allianz Stadium, the hosts have won ten to Glory’s four, with the WA side’s most recent victory at the recently redeveloped venue coming in February 2016.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2023/24 Season Round 26
Sydney FC v Perth Glory
Allianz Stadium
Sunday 28 April 2024
Kick-off: 1pm WST (3pm Local Time)
Sydney FC squad: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 3. Aaron GURD, 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 6. Jack RODWELL, 8. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, 9. Fabio GOMES, 10. Joe LOLLEY, 11. Robert MAK, 12. Corey HOLLMAN, 15. Gabriel LACERDA, 16. Joel KING, 17. Anthony CACERES, 19. Mitch GLASSON, 20. Adam PAVLESIC (GK), 22. Max BURGESS, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI, 26. Luke BRATTAN (c), 27. Hayden MATTHEWS, 28. Nathan AMANATIDIS
Ins: 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS (return from Olyroos duty), 8. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH (return from Olyroos duty)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 13. Pat WOOD (injured), 30. Gus HOEFSLOOT (injured)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Oli SAIL (gk), 2.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 3.Jacob MUIR, 7.Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 8.Mustafa AMINI, 9.David WILLIAMS, 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 15.Aleksandar SUSNJAR, 16.Josh RAWLINS, 17.Jarrod CARLUCCIO, 19.Trent OSTLER, 20.Giordano COLLI, 22.Adam TAGGART (co-c), 23.Daniel BENNIE, 28.Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 31.Joel ANASMO, 34.Andriano LEBIB, 36.Khoa NGO, 77.Bruce KAMAU
Ins: 13.Cameron COOK (returns from Olyroos duty), 31.Joel ANASMO, 77.Bruce KAMAU
Outs: 30.Robert COOK (gk)
Unavailable: 5.Mark BEEVERS (injured), 11.Adam ZIMARINO (injured), 21.Antonis MARTIS (injured)
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