Brisbane Roar Head Coach Mike Mulvey believes positivity on the park will be a key factor in his side’s Hyundai A-League clash with sixth placed Newcastle Jets tonight at Hunter Stadium.
Brisbane Roar Head Coach Mike Mulvey believes positivity on the park will be a key factor in his side-s Hyundai Aleague clash with sixth placed Newcastle Jets tonight at Hunter Stadium.
After last week-s hectic run of matches, which includes two domestic fixtures and one 120-minute AFC Champions League play-off match, the workload and fatigue of the playing squad is still being juggled by the Roar coaching and medical staff, especially with only five days between matches this week.
Mulvey highlighted a positive start and a strong mental attitude from his players as key elements to their second win on the trot and, dependant on other results in the league, a place in the top six.
“I don-t think desperation is the right word but you need to recognise that there is a game to played and you don-t get carried away with the occasion or possible outcomes,” the Brisbane boss said.
“You need to concentrate on your performance from the start of the week in terms of your preparation and then when you get on the park.
“It-s really important to be positive and be on the front foot because we are going to press and push high and take the game to them.
“When you-ve got your backs to the wall as we did after a couple of losses, you need to turn it around and show you-ve got the passion and ability to bounce back.
“We did bounce back last week and now we want to win against Newcastle and that will give us some more self belief.”
Brazilian winger Henrique has recovered from a hip injury and is a possible inclusion in the match day squad, while Ivan Franjic (concussion) and Mitch Nichols (hamstring), who both missed Sunday-s 2-0 win over Wellington Phoenix at Suncorp Stadium, are likely to be back as well.
“It-s a good position to be in, we-ve actually got some choices to make this week,” Mulvey said.
“We-ve got a lot more depth than we have had in recent weeks and everyone is chomping at the bit and there was a real appetite at training this week.”
While he was pleased with the efforts of his side in last week-s win after a long week, the Roar coach knew there were clear areas of improvement that he would address in tonight-s match against the Jets.
“My assessment on the game was we scored a beautiful team goal, Bes scored a clinical individual goal and that was enough to win the game,” he said.
“At times we played some good football, other times we coughed it off way too easy so we want to improve on our retention of the ball.”
Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar
Friday, 22 February 2013
Hunter Stadium, Newcastle
Kick off: 7:30 pm local time, 6.30pm Brisbane time.
Referee: Lucien Laverdure
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben Kennedy (gk), 3. Zenon Caravella, 5. Dominik Ritter, 7. James Brown, 8. Ruben Zadkovich (c), 9. Emile Heskey, 12. Josh Brillante, 13. Sam Gallaway, 14. Taylor Regan, 15. Craig Goodwin, 17. James Virgili,19. Michael Bridges, 20. Mark Birighitti (gk), 22. Adam Taggart, 23. Ryan Griffiths, 25. Mitch Cooper, 26. Andrew Hoole (Two to be omitted)
Ins: James Brown, Andrew Hoole (both promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Connor Chapman (ankle), Ben Kantarovski (knee/season)
Brisbane Roar squad: 1. Michael Theo (gk), 3. Shane Stefanutto, 4. Matt Jurman, 5. Ivan Franjic, 7. Besart Berisha, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 9. Stef Nijland, 10. Henrique, 11. Ben Halloran, 12. Julius Doe, 13. Jade North, 14. Steven Lustica, 15. James Donachie, 16. Do Dong-Hyun, 17. Mitch Nichols, 18. Luke Brattan, 19. Jack Hingert, 20. Matt Acton (gk), 21. James Meyer, 22. Thomas Broich (c), 25. George Lambadaridis, 26. Corey Brown (Seven to be omitted)
Ins: 4. Matt Jurman (promoted), 5. Ivan Franjic (returns from concussion), 10. Henrique (returns from injury), 12. Julius Doe (promoted), 16. Do Dong-Hyun (promoted), 21. James Meyer (promoted), 25. George Lambadaridis (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 2. Matt Smith (hip – season)
