Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has revealed he has ‘one hell of a headache’ to contend with regarding his team selection for Sunday’s Hyundai A-League season-opener against Brisbane Roar.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has revealed he has ‘one hell of a headache’ to contend with regarding his team selection for Sunday’s Hyundai A-League season-opener against Brisbane Roar.
The home side have enjoyed a highly-successful pre-season, winning nine of their friendly fixtures, leaving their boss with plenty to ponder ahead of the Grand Final re-match at Patersons Stadium.
“We’ve had a fantastic pre-season and everyone’s done a really good job,” he said.
“It’s been very difficult to pick a starting XI.
“I had a chat with the players yesterday and I told them that everyone has done a great job over the pre-season and they’ve given me one hell of a headache, but what a headache to have.
“I’m going to have to leave some great players out of the starting side and have some of them sitting on the bench and others sitting in the stands.”
Much of the media interest surrounding Sunday’s clash has inevitably focused upon Roar striker Besart Berisha and the kind of reception he can expect following his controversial role in last season’s title decider.
There have even been suggestions that Glory fans have paid for a plane to fly over the stadium during the game towing a banner message directed at the Albanian striker.
Ferguson, however, was very keen to direct his attention solely on the game itself.
“I knew there’d be a lot of hype leading into the game, it’s not come as any surprise,” he said.
“But we know we’ve got to be focused. We’ve got a job to do on Sunday and that is to get the three points.
“We can’t worry about what’s happening on the terraces or whether planes are flying over with banners or whatever.
“I’ve heard there might be a few surprises for Berisha, but we’ve just got to stay focused and make sure we’re ready for this challenge.
“Brisbane did get the better of us last season and we’ve got to now get that monkey off our backs and get the win.
“We have a game plan, hopefully we’ll stick to that and get the three points.”
The Glory boss was also quick to point out that Berisha is just one of a host of dangermen within the Roar ranks.
“Brisbane have a lot of quality in their side, not just Berisha,” he said.
“They’ve got Henrique, (Ben) Halloran and (Mitch) Nichols who can all score goals.
“I watched them in two pre-season games against Central Coast and Adelaide and they are a very good team who can cause you trouble at any time.
“As they showed in the Grand Final, if you switch off, they can punish you in a heartbeat.”
In terms of Glory’s likely starting XI, meanwhile, Ferguson confirmed that star striker Shane Smeltz and key midfielder Liam Miller are fully fit and ready to play, leaving Chris Harold and Evan Berger as the home side’s only confirmed absentees.
“I won’t tell the players who’s in and who’s out until tomorrow,” he revealed.
“We’ll be working on few things today and I’ll assess it after this session and let them know.
“We’ve got one or two slight little knocks and that’s another reason why we’ll delay telling the players what the side is.
“Ryo (Nagai) had a little tweak in his hamstring during the game at Melbourne Heart and he’s been doing his rehab and he came back into the squad again yesterday.
“As long as everything goes OK through the session today and tomorrow, we’ll assess him then.”
