Perth Glory interim coach Ian Ferguson says he’s looking for some mental steel from his players as he tries to turn around the disastrous slump that’s seen the club lose seven straight matches.
On the back of last Saturday’s heavy 5-0 thrashing by the Mariners, Ferguson has promised more changes to the team for Wednesday night’s clash with Melbourne Heart at nib Stadium.
But more than anything, the coach is looking for his side to remain positive in the face of adversity, saying he’s been particularly disappointed with the way players have responded after conceding the first goal over the past few weeks.
And, it’s no wonder Ferguson is worried by this, as his side hasn’t managed to win one game this season after falling behind, with the closest they have come being a 2-2 draw with Melbourne Heart back in Round 4.
“We want to get a little bit more from players at times,” Ferguson said.
“I feel as though at games, I’ve noticed lately that when the first goal goes in our heads go down a little bit and that’s not what I want.”
“I want players who, when the first goal goes in, start believing in themselves and have hope that we can carry on and keep playing and trying salvage that.”
“But that’s not been the case the last few games. It has a lot to do with how the players react to pressure. It’s difficult at this time.”
“As I keep saying there’s no magic formula and we’ve got to keep going in a direction where we think we’re going to try and get out of it and look positive, be positive and go forward.”
Ferguson will almost certainly bring skipper Jacob Burns directly back into the midfield after he served a one-game suspension for accumulating five yellow cards.
Young defender Scott Neville appears likely to play despite suffering a cork while veteran Jamie Harnwell is struggling with a knee problem.
But Ferguson has said several underperforming senior players may be in the gun, the coach hinting at looking to the Glory’s National Youth League side to provide some spark against the Heart.
Ferguson, though, concedes that too many changes can be unsettling, but says he can’t just accept what happened on Saturday night.
“I’ve got two days to mould the team together,” he said.
“We’ll see what we can do in that time and as I said there will be opportunities for young players.”
“It could be unsettling, but we’ve lost the last seven so we’ve got to do something.”
“I can’t sit on my backside and do nothing and keep going the way we’re going, I’ve got to make a statement that what’s happening is not good enough.”
“It could get a lot worse believe me. There’s still 18 games to go so there’s a long way to go in this season.”
