Central Coast Mariners assistant Phil Moss has praised absent coach Graham Arnold after his team’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.
Central Coast Mariners assistant Phil Moss has praised absent coach Graham Arnold after his team’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.
Arnold was banned from the touchline following comments he made to match officials during the Mariners match last weekend in Launceston against the Melbourne Victory.
Standing in was Moss ,who heaped praise on the 49 year-old mentor – highlighting his influence in keeping the week as normal as possible.
“Really the week was no different whatsoever, Arnie took all the sessions and had the tactical game plans down pat with all the players,” Moss said.
“Game night was a little bit different. I did my usual job and had to call the shots a bit from the bench.
“I had great support from Arnie during the week and today during the day leading up to the game and also from John Crawley (goalkeeping coach and video analyst) and Andrew Clark (strength and conditioning coach).
“As a staff we do a lot of things together, we think very similar and we shared the load tonight so it was no problem.”
On a wet night, Moss praised his side’s defensive structure after they shut-out the Jets.
“The defensive discipline and the structures were in place tonight and the fight and the determination not to give the game away had Graham Arnold written all over it,” he said.
“We tended to find some good little pockets in midfield when we were playing out from the back, it was the pass after that that probably got us into trouble a few times. Newcastle broke in transition a few times on us in the first half but in the second half I thought we improved that a lot.”
After a busy week of transfer speculation which ended with the departure of Tomas Rogic to Celtic, Moss was enthusiastic despite the loss of the Canberra born playmaker.
“It really is part of football, as a club we are delighted for Tommy Rogic,” he said.
“He has signed his first professional contract a year ago and now he finds himself on the books of Celtic, one of the biggest clubs in Europe, and facing a European Champions League game against Juventus. We are buzzing for Tommy.
“As a club we are very, very proud of Tommy.”
Moss feels the side has adequate cover to handle the last 10 matches of the regular season, and the finals, despite Rogic’s move.
“We have got every faith in our squad, boys like Anthony Caceres can come in and there are other boys who can play number 10,” he said.
