North Queensland Fury FC coach Ian Ferguson is stunned by the harsh criticism the club has received just three games into its inaugural Hyundai A-League season.
The Fury is sitting on the bottom of the competition ladder after three losses from as many starts.
But Ferguson says many of the barbs thrown his team’s way have been unjust.
“It’s not all doom and gloom like everybody’s making it out to be,” the Scot said.
“I’m absolutely stunned by the reaction that some people are hitting us with.”
“We’ve only played three games … one game we let ourselves down and quite rightly we got our backsides kicked and we deserved what we got…” he said.
“The other two games at home I feel as though we should have maybe got something out of … I want to stay positive, I know I’ve got a good nucleus of players here.”
Ferguson has made two changes to the squad that went down to Melbourne ahead of the club’s clash with Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Striker David Williams has been ruled out with a thigh injury while defender John Tambouras has been left out.
“We’ve got the nucleus of the same squad,” Ferguson said.
“John Tambouras drops out and we’re putting (Paul) Kohler to the back, (Ufuk) Talay will sit in the midfield again, we’ll have Rostyn Griffiths in the midfield with (James) Robinson to the right and (Chris) Tadrosse to the left,” he said.
Chris Grossman comes into the squad and Fred Agius will play his first game in Fury colours against his former club.
“Freddy (Agius) will come in off the bench, we’re really pleased with the effort and the commitment he’s putting in at training … and that’s why he’s got the opportunity to come into the squad.”
The Fury will take some confidence into the clash with memories of their 3-2 victory over Adelaide in the pre-season.
Still, Ferguson’s wary of last year’s grand finalists.
“They’re a good team,” he said.
“There’s not doubt about that. They’ve been one of the most consistent teams over the last four years, it’s going to be a very, very difficult game but hopefully we’ll go down there … and make it hard for them.”
