Newcastle Jets coach Branko Culina has slammed his side, saying there were too many passengers in their 1-0 loss to Perth Glory on Saturday afternoon.
In a scrappy match at nib Stadium, dominated by the midfield battle, a fortunate goal to Branko Jelic just before half-time proved the difference as Perth earned their second win of the new season.
The Glory, though, probably should have put Newcastle away as they created a number of second-half chances through Robbie Fowler and Branko Jelic.
Newcastle, on the other hand, saw a 39th-minute Marko Jesic free kick crash into the crossbar, but didn’t create a real chance to score in open play until two minutes from time when Jeremy Brockie dragged a late chance to equalise wide.
Although Culina excused lion-hearted defender Ljubo Milicevic, goalkeeper Ben Kennedy and midfielder Ruben Zadkovich, he felt the rest of his players let themselves down with their work-rate and skills.
“We didn’t play well enough,” declared Culina. “But having said, that I didn’t think the opposition was outstanding.”
“When you go away and play against teams like Perth Glory, with the depth that they’ve got, (they) are going to be or should be one of the top teams in the competition.”
“We all need to turn up to play, (but) we didn’t have enough players today who turned up to play.”
“We defended valiantly, but we really didn’t do ourselves justice with the ball because I think we’re far better with the ball than way we showed today.”
Although it’s just three weeks into the new season, Culina refused to use the excuse that his new-look side was still gelling together.
“I think it was two sides that nullified each other,” he said.
“I just thought that Perth in their attacking third did better than what we did in our attacking third.”
“We’re not after excuses. Today was a good test. We wanted to see where we are away from home against a team that’s flying high, confidence sky high and so forth, in front of a decent crowd.”
“And, it’s fair to say that on today’s performance, we didn’t pass with flying colours.”
