Graham Arnold has played down Sydney FC’s fitness concerns following the frustrating 2-0 home loss to Kashima Antlers on Wednesday night.
The Sky Blues were left with a single point from their three AFC Champions League fixtures after Shoma Doi and Naomichi Ueda scored either side of half-time for the Japanese club.
Michael Zullo was forced off with a recurrence of his hamstring injury early in the match while star striker Bobo only managed half an hour off the bench.
Milos Ninkovic was left out altogether, but Arnold stressed none carried significant problems.
“I made the decision not to take the risk with Ninkovic. At this time of the competition there’s no way we could afford to lose him,” Arnold said.
“Zullo is pretty much the same as what it was two weeks ago. It’s nothing major, just a niggle, a strain when reaching for the ball.”
“Bobo pulled up with a sore back after the Newcastle game. [There was no chance for him] to play 90 minutes.
“We have some great young kids who will provide some great energy so we’ll assess how we sit with the squad soon and possibly give some opportunities to them.”
Arnold is not giving up hope of advancing from Group H despite sitting three points shy of second-placed Suwon Bluewings.
“We’ll fight right to the death. We expect to win every game. We have great character and attitude,” he said.
“It was a tight game [against Kashima] and we conceded two goals from lack of concentration. We’ll learn this lesson.”
