New Perth Glory head coach David Zdrilic identified the selection of “underdone” players in his Round 1 squad as one of the contributing factors to a demoralising 6-1 defeat at the hands of Macarthur FC in the opening round of the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Glory shipped five first-half goals to the rampaging Bulls in a performance that went against the grain of what Zdrilic’s side had produced across a competitive pre-season; the 5-0 scoreline at the break was the equal-biggest half-time margin recorded in Isuzu UTE A-League history.
Perth and Macarthur scored one goal apiece in the second half as the Bulls notched the biggest win in the club’s history and sent Glory – last season’s wooden spooners – straight back to the foot of the Isuzu UTE A-League table after the first round of the new campaign.
Glory have now shipped 29 goals in their last five Isuzu UTE A-League games.
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One game into his reign as Glory head coach, Zdrilic identified several facets of his side’s performance he perceived as contributing factors to the 6-1 defeat – including selecting players “underdone” and not up to full match fitness.
“I just think that there was a culmination, a lot of things just went (wrong) in that first 45,” he said. “At no point in the pre-season did we really have issues like that.
“There (were) other things: like Luis Canga at the back, that’s his first game. He came late (in the transfer window) and clearly, we knew the risk of some players going in underdone, but it is what it is, we had to take that risk – and obviously he doesn’t speak the language as well.”
“In the end we just got caught out and found out with some of the players that were underdone and also in the first 10 minutes (Macarthur) just went bang bang and then a little bit of nervousness crept into it.
“Having said that, in the second half, it’s not easy to come back from 5-0 down and to show something positive. I know the game slowed down, but in general, I thought the young boys that came on under a pressure situation, they handled it perfectly and we had a couple of chances.
“They had a lot of chances, we had some chances, a couple of disallowed goals so we know we can score goals but obviously at the back you know we need to work on a lot of things to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Zdrilic also lamented his side’s lack of composure following Macarthur’s early goal, as what might’ve remained a slender margin turned into an avalanche of goals for the home side.
“When you go back in the first five minutes, we had a couple of half sort-of chances or moments where we were putting pressure on – and normally we’re able to continue with that,” he said.
“But that little bit of nervousness… and a mistake that leads to a goal, and not being able to say: ‘Okay, we copped a goal, it happens, it happened in other games I’ve seen this weekend in the A-League’, and to just settle it down and then go again.
“That ability to not let that one chance or one goal, it didn’t have to turn into a goal but it did, to lead into what happened after where it was bang, bang, bang, bang.
“At least in the second half we regrouped but it’s just something you’ve got to learn from, and with the group that we have I think we’ve got a lot of talent in there, and this will be a big learning experience.”
Glory return home for Round 2 to take on Wellington Phoenix at HBF Park on Saturday, October 26.
