Brisbane Roar will welcome back goal shark Besart Berisha and blood impressive youth side playmaker George Lambadaridis when they take on Central Coast at Gosford on Saturday.
Brisbane Roar will welcome back goal shark Besart Berisha and blood impressive youth side playmaker George Lambadaridis when they take on Central Coast at Gosford on Saturday.
After an impotent showing against Newcastle last weekend, where they became the first side to lose to the Jets at home in over a year, the Roar have a hard ask to turn things around in a week and break the Mariners’ 15-game undefeated streak.
But the return from suspension of the competition’s leading goal-scorer, Berisha, is certain to help a side who went into their last match without a striker and with their best playmaker, Thomas Broich, named at the front of the attack.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou said that the passionate Albanian was eager to return to the mix and that his suspension had been a learning lesson for the typically cleanskin club.
“He’s pretty keen to be back out there, and hopefully he’s put everything behind him in terms of the last few weeks,” said Postecoglou.
“He’s just happy to be out there and happy to contribute. Hopefully he bags a couple of goals for us and if there’s a penalty he lets Henrique take it.”
“Watching the team last week, it’s hard for players to miss out when the team loses, because they feel like they haven’t really contributed.”
“It’s a good lesson. We’ve been really disciplined over the past 18 months not to have too many players missing through suspensions and so forth, so it was disappointing to have him out last week.”
Brisbane’s bench addition, 19-year-old Lambadaridis, will join the team to considerably less fanfare than Berisha, but Roar fans will be eager to see a fresh new face unveiled in the midfield.
With Qantas Australian U23s selection for Rocky Visconte and Mitch Nichols freeing some room, Postecoglou is eager to see if Lambadaridis can take his perceptive passing game and net-finding instincts from the National Youth League to the big league.
“He’s in the squad and he’s on the bench, so more than likely he’ll get a run at some point, so it’ll be good to see him,” Postecoglou said.
“He’s been working really hard at training and playing well in the youth team. We’re always trying to develop young players and with a few absences this week it gives him and a couple of others the chance to step up.”
