Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell has praised Robbie Fowler’s selfless approach to the game, saying the gun signing is just as valuable creating goals as scoring them.
Having scored nine goals for North Queensland last season, Fowler is yet to open his account for the Glory in a Hyundai A-League match.
But the coaching staff were most impressed by the way the 35-year-old sacrificed his personal game last week in a 2-0 win over Melbourne.
Playing as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 combination, Fowler was forced to play a particularly defensive role as the Victory controlled possession, the Liverpool legend using his nous to disrupt the Melbourne attacks.
Fowler was still involved in both goals scored however. In the 23rd minute his sizzling corner from the right bamboozled Melbourne stopper Michael Petkovic, ending with a Jamie Harnwell goal, while his quality run just after half-time eventually saw the ball break back for Mile Sterjovski to double the advantage.
But Mitchell has also been impressed with the way a world famous player like Fowler has fitted in with his new team-mates.
“He’s a fantastic character in that dressing room,” said Mitchell.
“He’s a cheeky bugger and he’ll try and get other people in trouble you know, he’s a bag of mischief.”
“But the work he’s doing is selfless.”
“People look at him to score goals but he’s taking corners, he’s taking free kicks, so it’s not all about him scoring goals, he’ll create chances for other people.”
“It’s not about how many goals Robbie Fowler’s going to score for Perth Glory this year.”
“Yeah, it’s nice when he does score, but for us, we’re a team, we don’t care, if Jamie Harnwell’s six more and he’s our top scorer this year. I don’t care, but Robbie’s been great, he’s creative and he’s a good lad as well.”
With a draw and win from their first two games, the Glory are sitting on top of the Hyundai A-League table, edging out the surprise packet North Queensland by goal difference.
But despite winning every game against Newcastle last season, Mitchell is certainly not taking the Jets lightly when the two teams clash on Saturday at nib Stadium.
“Newcastle are a very good side,” declared Mitchell.
“Like any team coming here, they’re probably going to defend a little bit and then come out and have a go at us.”
“They’re a good side, so it’s a scenario where we’ve got great home form, we want to continue that obviously and to consolidate on what we did last week would be great.”
The Glory have been boosted by news young defender Scott Neville is fit to play after experiencing some groin soreness through the week.
Mitchell also has defender Josh Mitchell available for this clash after he received a provisional clearance to play from FIFA, although the coach said he was unlikely to change his starting XI from the one that did the job last week.
