Wellington coach Ufuk Talay is wary of the scoring threat posed by Newcastle’s “chaotic” style but is equally enthused by the prospect of poking holes in the Jets’ leaky defence in their A-League Men clash.
With new boss Arthur Papas at the helm, Newcastle have scored more goals than any other ALM outfit over the opening three rounds, finding the net five times.
Exciting winger Valentino Yuel has shot to the top of the scoring chart with three goals, including a second-half brace in last week’s entertaining come-from-behind draw with Sydney FC.
But the Jets have also conceded the most goals (six) early in the season and only have two draws to show for their efforts, to sit 10th on the ladder.
“They’re a little bit chaotic, a hundred miles an hour, and want to play the game very quickly,” Talay said.
“They have a lot of possession, they want to run at players one-v-one, so one thing for us is to not fall into the trap and play their game.
“It’s very important that we play our game and exploit the spaces that they leave.
“They want to play an attacking brand of football and throw a lot of numbers forward, so there will be a lot of space for us to exploit in transition.”
Wellington’s 13-match league unbeaten streak, which dated back to last season, ended in a controversial 2-0 defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers last week, with the Phoenix livid at a pair of refereeing decisions they believed went against them.
A second-choice line-up returned to winning ways in an FFA Cup triumph over Western United mid-week, but Talay will revert to his strongest XI against on Friday night at McDonald Jones Stadium.
“Performance is important and we played a good brand of football against Western Sydney, but that’s gone and we can’t change that at the moment,” Talay said.
“Our focus is on Newcastle and getting a result.
“We’ve started off well, a lot better than we have previously, and I think we’ve played some really good football.
“Hopefully we can turn those performances into wins again.”
Meanwhile, Talay confirmed Wellington are on the verge of signing Mexican winger Gael Sandoval on loan from Liga MX club Guadalajara.
The 26-year-old will serve as a replacement for attacking midfielder Ulises Davila, the Johnny Warren Medal winner, who joined Macarthur after two seasons with the Phoenix.
Sandoval will be available to make his ALM debut when the transfer window opens in mid-January.
“Pretty much everything is done, we’re just waiting on one more signature to get it 100 per cent,” Talay said.
“He’s going to help the team move forward and hopefully he can score goals and assist goals in the role that he’s going to play.”
