Perth Glory boss David Zdrilic admits he has plenty to ponder when it comes to selecting his starting line-up for Perth Glory’s round two clash with Wellington Phoenix.
The Glory will be looking to bounce back following their heavy 6-1 defeat at the hands of Macarthur Bulls in the opening game of their season, a match which saw them trailing 5-0 at half-time.
Following that defeat, Zdrilic said several members of his squad were ‘underdone’ with defensive imports Luis Cangá and Anas Hamzaoui among those yet to get up to speed with life in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
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“That’s the juggling act,” said Zdrilic when asked whether or not he was considering wholesale changes for the Distance Derby with Wellington.
“Anas was one of the guys that (had) the potential to start and he ended up coming on in the second half.
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“But again, he’s come in the back end of the pre-season and (is) one of those guys who hasn’t done the whole bulk of the work.
“Cangá is the same thing. (He’s) improving out of sight but he’s just come in recently and is playing a different style with different teammates and different players around him all of the time.
“We’ve just got to manage that, the situation. Who plays? That’s the key. Who can give us the most out of what they’ve got and who can come on and is ready to play?
“Nikola Mileusnic was raring to go but without the work in pre-season he broke down in that one and I don’t want that happening to other players.”
Keen to look forward rather than dwell on past results, Zdrilic will be out to secure victory in what is his first home match at HBF Park this weekend when they welcome Wellington Phoenix to town.
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“We’ve been here for, what, three months? But we haven’t been at a real home atmosphere. I know we beat (Melbourne) City at the Sam Kerr Football Centre but, our stadium, we haven’t played there.
“For us it’s a great moment. Obviously now, off the last result, we’re raring to go and make sure that we show our true face.
“We still have a lot of positive energy within the group and again, we’re just focusing on being the team at home that’s really on the front foot and always looking to be aggressive – something that we weren’t able to get out last week.”
One player almost certain to feature for the Glory this weekend is club captain Adam Taggart.
After false rumours of the goalscorer seeking an exit away from the club were immediately shutdown by Glory Football Director Stan Lazaridis, Zdrilic was quick to praise the impact last season’s Golden Boot winner is having on his young squad.
“He’s very, very positive around the group. He’s talking to all of the boys, you know we’ve got a lot of young boys and he knows that he needs to help them.
“(We’ve had) a lot of change in the playing squad but he’s embraced that. For me, he’s been fantastic. Take away the scoreline and watch Taggs, he actually had a very, very good game – we just couldn’t find him in the moments that we had created.”
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