Head Coach Alen Stajcic is anticipating a challenging clash on Sunday as Glory take on an Adelaide United side he regards as being very similar to his own.
View his full pre-match media conference HERE.
The Reds will arrive at HBF Park (kick-off at 3pm, tickets available HERE) just one place and three points above the hosts having thumped Western United 4-1 last time out.
And Stajcic believes there are plenty of parallels to be drawn between the two teams in terms of both their strengths and vulnerabilities.
“Adelaide are actually very similar to us,” he said.
“They have a really strong attack, they’re a good football- playing team and I’d have them in the top couple [of A-League teams] in terms of on the ball.
“Off the ball, they’ve been a bit leaky like us, so they’re very similar.
“But they’re very good on the ball.
“Their movement and patterns of play are excellent and they obviously have a goalscoring threat up front in [Hiroshi] Ibusuki and we don’t need to mention how much of a threat [Nestory] Irankunda provides.
“[Zac] Clough’s a top player as well and they’ve still got Isaias running around controlling the game.
“I think they can and have dismantled any team at any point, so from that perspective, it’s going to be a really tough game.”
Sunday’s fixture will be Glory’s third in the space of just seven days and the Head Coach confirmed that he has had to manage his squad carefully in order to help them cope with the high workload.
“It’s been tough, as we knew it would be, but we had a recovery day yesterday and I’ve actually given the team the day off today [Friday] as we need fresh legs for the weekend,” he said.
“They put a lot of effort into that game [v Sydney FC] and unfortunately didn’t get the chocolates… and when you’ve had two travels and then a game, followed by another game, it does take it out of your body, that’s for sure.”
Stajcic went on to discuss Wednesday evening’s draw with Sydney FC, a result which he admitted he was a touch disappointed by having seen the Sky Blues reduced to ten men in the first half.
“Most football pundits would have had Sydney FC at the top of the pecking order over the last month or so,” he said.
“So for us to be disappointed with a draw shows that we did well in the game.
“Obviously they had the red card… but trying to exploit some of Sydney’s weaknesses was something we’d worked on and we did that on a number of occasions [even before they were reduced to ten men].
“We really should have won… and I’m still a little bit frustrated that we didn’t win, but going up against the red-hot team in the league, we still showed that we can fight and compete.
“I hear the word competitive; I think we’ve been competitive this year.
“19 of the 23 matches have been within a goal and four have been two goals [margins].
“We’ve had two wins by two goals and two losses by two goals.
“But being competitive is not enough to build a club.
“That’s for our own fans and to give our young players a real platform for careers in the A-League and beyond.”
In terms of squad news, meanwhile, Stajcic provided an update on the club’s walking wounded.
“Two or three of the players we have injured are probably season [long] injuries,” he said.
“I’m not sure Zimmers [Adam Zimarino] will be available, he’s been out for a lengthy period and Beeves [Mark Beevers] is possibly in that boat as well.
“Cola [Stefan Colakovski] is the one that could come back at any point.
“We’re just waiting on his injury to settle.
“It’s a little bit of a mystery; it could be in a day, two days or five days, so we’re just hopefully waiting on him.”
Prior to their emphatic win over Western United last weekend, the Reds defeated Newcastle Jets on the road to snap a winless streak of seven games.
22 of the 40 goals that they have scored this term have been shared by Ibusuki (9), Clough (7) and Irankunda (6), while Ben Halloran has weighed in with four in addition to providing six assists.
Glory and United fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Coopers Stadium when they last met in early February, but the South Australians have won on only seven of their 26 previous trips across the border.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2023/24 Season Round 23
Perth Glory v Adelaide United
HBF Park
Sunday 7 April 2024
Kick-off: 3:00pm WST
Perth Glory squad: 1.Oli SAIL (gk), 2.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 3.Jacob MUIR, 8.Mustafa AMINI, 9.David WILLIAMS, 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 14.Riley WARLAND, 15.Aleksandar SUSNJAR, 16.Josh RAWLINS, 17.Jarrod CARLUCCIO, 19.Trent OSTLER, 20.Giordano COLLI, 22.Adam TAGGART (co-c), 23.Daniel BENNIE, 27.Jayden GORMAN, 28.Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 31.Joel ANASMO, 77.Bruce KAMAU
One to be omitted
Ins: 27.Jayden GORMAN
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 11.Adam ZIMARINO (injured), 21.Antonis MARTIS (injured)
Adelaide United squad: 1.James DELIANOV, 2.Harry VAN DER SAAG, 3.Ben WARLAND, 4.Nick ANSELL, 6.Stefan MAUK, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Hiroshi IBUSUKI, 10.Zach CLOUGH, 17.Luka JOVANOVIĆ, 21.Javi LÓPEZ, 22.Ryan TUNNICLIFFE, 23.Luke DUZEL, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 37.Jonny YULL, 40.Ethan COX, 43.Giuseppe BOVALINA, 49.Musa TOURE, 55.Ethan ALAGICH, 66.Nestory IRANKUNDA
Ins: 37.Jonny YULL, 43.Giuseppe BOVALINA
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 27.Josh CAVALLO (quad), 51.Panagiotis KIKIANIS (hamstring)
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