Marquee striker John Aloisi remains in doubt for Sydney FC’s top-of-the-table clash against Gold Coast on Saturday night.
Aloisi twisted his right knee scoring the match-winning goal in his side’s 2-0 victory over Wellington Phoenix last weekend.
The in-form 33-year-old is yet to train with the side this week and must prove his fitness at Thursday’s session to retain his place.
Coach Vitezslav Lavicka remains hopeful Aloisi will be available but insists he will take a cautious approach with his star player.
“It’s hard to say in this moment,” Lavicka said of Aloisi’s prospects on Wednesday.
“Johnny is not seriously injured, he had some impact after he scored when he landed on his knee.”
“There is a question mark at the moment regarding Saturday’s game but we hope (he will be available).”
“We have still a couple of days to decide, tomorrow we have tactics training session and Friday (morning) before we leave we need to decide.”
“We don’t want to risk because we have still many games in front of us and we prefer to give chance to the healthy players.”
Meanwhile, Lavicka confirmed he will be without Irish midfielder Terry McFlynn for several weeks due to a thigh injury.
“Terry McFlynn is out several weeks because his (thigh) muscle is torn,” he said.
“(He faces) four or maybe more weeks out. We are not happy but that’s football and many players are available to replace him.”
McFlynn’s most likely replacement, Stuart Musialik, also sat out Wednesday’s session with a stomach virus but is expected to be available for selection.
But Lavicka was typically coy when asked who will partner Karol Kisel in the midfield this weekend.
“Stuey is ready – one of our options is Stuey – (as well as) Rhyan Grant and Stevie Corica maybe can play a little deeper than usual – it’s soon to say,” he said.
The coach was less guarded in his praise of Miron Bleiberg’s men.
“They are a new team but they are very good players … they had a very good start to the season,” Lavicka said.
“We expect a difficult game for us but I think it should be a very interesting game for the spectators.”
While Lavicka concedes the Hyundai A-League newcomers possess threats all over the park, he vowed to stick to the formula which has worked so well in the opening four rounds.
“I have to say all team, yeah,” he said when asked to single out Gold Coast’s danger men.
“We are going to play our style, we have respect for Gold Coast but we are going to continue to play our style.”
