Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond has called on the Newcastle crowd to get behind the Jets in this weekend’s crucial Hyundai A-League clash with Sydney FC at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The Jets boss will endeavour to get his side’s championship defence back on track this Sunday against their F3 rivals and knows while it is not yet do or die, the Jets need to come away from the match with a win to make a charge for the semi-finals.
“We are getting close (to do or die),” said van Egmond. “We have had 13 rounds and there is only eight games to go – 24 points on offer and we are six points out of the top four, so mathematically it suggests there is quite a bit of time but realistically there is not.”
“We want to start to get some momentum in your season as well. We’ve got Sydney at home this weekend and we are really looking forward to the boys putting on a good show and really looking forward to the crowd getting behind us – if there is ever a time for the home crowd to get behind us it is this weekend.”
Van Egmond also declared he was relieved to be back on the sidelines after serving a two-week suspension in the stands.
“I learnt that I don’t like sitting in the stands,” he said.
“I also learnt that, yes you do get a different perspective and you can see things a little bit easier from up above but I feel being on the sideline is irreplaceable as a coach.”
“You can see the players’ emotions and you can implement tactical switches or ploys on what you have observed. When you are a bit further away you don’t get that actual ‘feeling’ of the game.”
“So I am really looking forward to this game getting back to the sidelines.”
And while he wouldn’t give away the starting line-up, van Egmond hinted that he would go with the same attack as the one that he started with in the 1-1 draw with Adelaide last week.
Youngsters Marko Jesic and Jason Naidovski may be paired up front and Matt Thompson sitting in behind and Jin-Hyung Song, who looks likely to return from an ankle injury, also in an attacking midfielder role.
