New Perth Glory defender Jason Davidson said his teammates are determined to improve their home form as they bid to return to the Hyundai A-League Finals Series.
Perth lost six home matches last term – only bottom-placed Central Coast and Brisbane Roar were beaten in more – and Davidson is one of many fresh faces at the Glory.
New manager Tony Popovic has dramatically overhauled the squad, bringing in a host of former Caltex Socceroos players, including Davidson, Chris Ikonomidis, Matthew Spiranovic and Ivan Franjic.
As a result, expectations on the Glory are high and Davidson, who has enjoyed an eclectic career that has seen him spend time in Portugal, Netherlands, England, Croatia and Slovenia, is raring to go.
“Just hungry – hungry to get out on the pitch,” he said.
“Seeing how many people came out to support us against Chelsea (55,522 watched the June friendly), hopefully when it comes to Round 1, there’s going to be (lots of) supporters.
Hungry for success.@jasondavidson29 can't wait for the @ALeague season to get underway! 👊#OneGlory pic.twitter.com/dDpUGT3H7n
— Perth Glory FC (@PerthGloryFC) October 13, 2018
“Hopefully we can give them something to come and cheer for.
“Hopefully each week they can see how we are performing and more people can come.
“Hopefully we can build that kind of ‘fort’ mentality at home, so when teams come here, they fear us.
“And we have that 12th man in the supporters.”
Davidson and his teammates will come up against a Western Sydney Wanderers side who also have a new manager.
Ex-Bayern Munich and Liverpool defender Markus Babbel, who has managed in Germany and Switzerland, took over from Josep Gombau in May.
Davidson feels confident that the Glory will be able to “enjoy” the season opener, as long as they “implement what we’ve been working on throughout pre-season”.
