Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond insists he won’t be panicked into making a raft of changes despite his side’s poor showing in their season-opening defeat to Sydney FC.
Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond insists he won’t be panicked into making a raft of changes despite his side’s poor showing in their season-opening defeat to Sydney FC.
The Jets made a disappointing start to the new campaign, with some slipshod defending gifting the home side both goals in the 2-0 defeat at Allianz Stadium.
Despite making a strong start and possessing a wealth of exciting attacking talent they rarely threatened Vedran Janjetovic’s goal.
While the experienced Michael Bridges is set to return from injury next weekend, van Egmond has vowed to give his troops a chance to atone for their opening night shocker.
“We’re not going to make wholesale changes,” the Jets boss said.
“You have to give players who performed tonight a real opportunity. We’re going to stick with that squad and in particular the team.
“I think we have a good team and a real strong squad.
“Tonight we got a bit overawed in those two wide areas and up front and it cost us.
“You can start to dominate a game but unless you’ve got something to show for it the opposition is going to hurt you.”
It was a forgettable night for midfielder Zenon Caravella, whose two errors led to both of Sydney’s goals in either half.
Caravella, who signed a one-year contract extension earlier this week and is the nephew of Sydney coach Frank Farina, gifted possession to Alessandro Del Piero on both occasions before he was hooked by van Egmond with 25 minutes left.
But the Newcastle mentor refused to blame his midfielder for the defeat, lamenting a few missed opportunities while dominating early in the first half.
“We got on top early and we looked extremely dangerous but it comes back to bite you if you don-t take those chances,” van Egmond said.
“Opposition teams are always going to get that opportunity to dominate a game.
“It’s a case where it’s really frustrating because we created our own misfortune (for both their goals).”
Asked what his side needed to improve on for next weekend’s home clash with Perth, van Egmond said: “We really need to work on the front third.
“We need to get their positioning right and get confidence into the two boys (up front).
“The build up play from the back into the midfield was quite good but the next pass into the forward area was a concern.
“It never looked like it was going to stick and then we pushed passes. It never really got there so it’s something we need to work on.”
