Glory Head Coach Ruben Zadkovich believes that a high-quality defensive display can pave the way to victory over Macarthur FC at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday (kick-off at 2pm WST).
Click HERE to watch his media conference in full.
The men in purple will be out to build upon last weekend’s impressive victory over reigning champions Western United by securing a first ever win over the Bulls in what is the sixth meeting between the two clubs.
And Zadkovich feels that blunting a home attack featuring the likes of Ulises Davila, Craig Noone and Daniel Arzani is vital if three precious away points are to be secured.
“We’d love to follow up the good performance that we had at the weekend in front of our quality Members and fans with a hard-fought win away from home,” he said.
“I’m expecting an interesting one because Dwight Yorke is a coach who’s letting his players play with a real element of freedom which makes them unpredictable.
“They’ve got some high-quality individuals and some real threats and I think we’ll have to be at our best defensively in this game to nullify those threats.
“If we do that, I think we’ll win.”
The Head Coach went on to suggest that having over a month to regroup and refresh ahead of last week’s Western United fixture was of great benefit to the playing group.
“The [World Cup] break came at a good time for us,” he said.
“It reminded us of how hard we have to work on the training pitch and the areas we need to improve in, but the process hasn’t changed.
“The only difference is that we didn’t travel and in our last two home games, we’ve beaten the Premiers and the Champions, so there’s something to be said for how much the travel takes its toll and also how much our players love playing in front of their fans.
“We’re looking pretty solid at the moment [in terms of injuries] and I must stress that there’s a high-performance team that was brought into the club in the off-season and they’re doing a fantastic job at the moment in keeping our assets on the pitch and at the peak of their physical capabilities.
“We’ll take a pretty strong team away to Macarthur and hope to get the points.”
The hosts, meanwhile, will head into the game looking to bounce back from a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory last time out, a game in which they failed to score for just the second time this term.
Currently sitting in seventh spot on the ladder, two points above Glory, Yorke’s men have enjoyed two victories this season, over Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners, but have been beaten by Victory, Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix.
Matt Millar and Lachlan Rose have each scored twice for the Bulls this year, while Noone has contributed three assists.
Match Details
ISUZU UTE A-League 2022/23 Season Round 8
Macarthur FC v Perth Glory
Campbelltown Stadium
Sunday 18 December 2022
Kick-off: 2pm WST (5pm Local)
Macarthur FC squad: Filip KURTO (gk), Jake McGING, Tomi USKOK, Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, Ivan VujVUJICAica, Kearyn BACCUS, Daniel DE SILVA, Ulises DAVILA, Daniel ARZANI, Lachlan ROSE, Al Hassan TOURE, Nick SUMAN (gk), Matt MILLAR, Charles M’MOMBWA, Jake HOLLMAN, Anthony CARTER, Jed DREW, Craig NOONE, Jerry SKOTADIS, Bachana ARABULI
In: Jake HOLLMAN
Out: Aleks SUSNJAR, Isaac HOVAR, Jasper WEBER.
Perth Glory squad: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.John KOUTROUMBIS, 5.Mark BEEVERS, 6.Aaron MCENEFF, 7.Ryan WILLIAMS, 8.Mustafa AMINI (c), 10.Salim KHELIFI, 11.Ben AZUBEL, 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 14.Jack CLISBY, 16.Keegan JELACIC, 18.David WILLIAMS, 19.Zach DUNCAN, 20.Giordano COLLI, 23.Mitch OXBORROW, 25.Matt HATCH, 28.Trent OSTLER, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 37.Jacob MUIR, 43.Adam ZIMARINO
In: 20.Giordano COLLI, 23.Mitch OXBORROW
Out: Nil
Unavailable:Â 1.Brad JONES (gk) (injured), 21.Anthony BURKE-GILROY (injured), 22.Adrian SARDINERO (injured)
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