Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe is optimistic ahead of Friday night’s blockbuster against Melbourne Victory.
Perth face third-placed Melbourne away at AAMI Park and Lowe’s strong depth within the squad is already being tested with injuries and suspensions to a number of players including marquee man Diego Castro and Socceroo Josh Risdon.
“We’re no different to any other club. Every other club has these issues you know,”Â
“We’ve just got to deal with it and move on and we will and we’ll endeavour to get something out of the game at the weekend. We’re looking forward to it. I’m certainly looking forward to it, the players are so we’ll go there with lots of optimisim.”
Lowe said while the team would no doubt miss the services of Castro and Risdon and the suspension of Rhys WIlliams, he was adamant there was plenty of depth in the squad to cover their absence.
“It’s opportunities for other people. That’s why I think every squad in the A-League has got 23 (roughly) so people are champing at the bit for a game and now they got a chance to play.”
“We’ve got two players for every position. It doesn’t help when the players that are gonna replace them are also injured. That causes a bit of a problem as well but we’ve got a squad. Everyone wants to play and everyone’s upbeat so let’s go out and play.”
Centre-back Alex Grant will be joining Castro, Williams and Risdon on the sidelines this week.
“He’s tightened up with his hammy,” said Lowe.
“We’ve done it as a precaution cause we could have a team up in the stands this time next week.”
In the past six Hyundai A-league matches Glory has been undefeated against the former champions but Lowe is aware of their attacking line-up.
“Look at their front-line. Troisi has come back to add to that. They are a very good team. We seem to have good battles against them and I’m sure this one will be a good one as well.”
Glory Facts and Stats
- Perth Glory is undefeated in their last six games against Melbourne Victory (W3, D3), last losing in March 2014.
- Perth Glory has aimed exactly half of its shots at goal on target this season (excluding blocks), the equal second most accurate of any team behind only Melbourne City FC (51.5%).
- Perth Glory still rank second in the league for duels won with 51.8%.
- Glory is third in the league for creating big chances (19) – one behind Victory.
- Perth have scored the most amount of goals from headers in the A-League (4).
- Perth have scored the third most goals in the competition – one behind opponents Melbourne Victory.
- Glory is yet to lose a game where it strikes first.
- Glory still has the best cross completion in the competition with 32.8% of crosses being successful
- Both Perth and Melbourne lead the competition when it comes to winning penalties (3).
- Diego Castro (4) and Besart Berisha (3) have scored seven of the last eight goals in previous iterations of this fixture; the only other goal scorer in that period being Andy Keogh (1).
- Liam Reddy has made 19 saves this season putting him equal third in the A-League.
- Reddy is the only Glory player to have played every minute of the season so far.
- Nebosja Marinkovic has created 22 chances – the most in the competition.
- Andy Keogh sits in second position in the A-League goalscoring charts with 6 goals – one behind Bruno Fornaroli
Match Details
Friday, 2 December 2016
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off:Â 7:50PM (Local) (7:50PM (AEDT))
Referee:Â Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1:Â James Tesoriero
Assistant Referee 2:Â Wilson Brown
Fourth Official:Â Jonathan Barreiro
TV Broadcast:Â Live coverage on Fox Sports 505 from 7.00pm (AEDT), SBS VICELAND from 7.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast:Â ABC Grandstand, Crocmedia A-League Live (www.facebook.com/A-leagueLIVERadio), 1116 SEN (Melbourne), EON Sports Radio (eonsportsradio.com)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #MVCvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.aleague.com.au
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Jason GERIA, 4.Nick ANSELL, 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Marco ROJAS, 8.Besart BERISHA, 9.Max BEISTER, 10.James TROISI, 13.Oliver BOZANIC, 14.Fahid BEN KHALFALLAH, 15.Alan BARO, 16.Rashid MAHAZI, 17.James DONACHIE, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Carl VALERI (c), 22.Stefan NIGRO, 23.Jai INGHAM, 40.Matt ACTON (gk)
**two to be omitted**
Ins:Â 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI (returns from injury), 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk) (returns from injury), 22.Stefan NIGRO (promoted), 23.Jai INGHAM (promoted)
Outs: 11.Mitch AUSTIN (ankle – 2 weeks), 30.Lucas SPINELLA (gk) (omitted)
Unavailable: 27.Alastair BRAY (gk) (shoulder – 4-5 months)
Perth Glory squad:Â Â 3.Marc WARREN, 4.Shane LOWRY, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (c), 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 13.Nicholas FEELY (gk), 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joe MILLS, 18.Mitch OXBORROW, 22.Adam TAGGART, 21.Jamal REINERS, 23.Kosta PETRATOS, 24.Milan SMILJANIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)
**two to be omitted**
Ins:Â 3.Marc WARREN (promoted), 6.Dino DJULBIC (promoted),18.Mitch OXBORROW (promoted), 21.Jamal REINERS (promoted), 23.Kosta PETRATOS (promoted)
Outs: 2. Alex GRANT (hamstring 1-week ) 5.Rhys WILLIAMS (suspended – 1 week), 17.Diego CASTRO (hamstring – 4-6 weeks), 19.Josh RISDON (quad – 3-4 weeks)
Unavailable:Â Nil
