Perth Glory head coach Alex Epakis says it’s time for his players to put more heat on the opposition, starting with Sunday’s home clash with reigning Liberty A-League champions Melbourne Victory at Macedonia Park.
Glory sit ninth in the A-League Women ladder after starting their season with two draws and a loss.
Perth twice coughed up a lead in last week’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle Jets.
Epakis feels like his players are doing a lot right, but is urging them to become more aggressive when not in possession.
“A big focus this week has been on the aggression without the ball and looking to be more hungry to win the ball higher up, knowing that if we press aggressively and we don’t win it, we’re also then really ready and comfortable to recover back as well,” Epakis said.
“We want to tidy up that part of our game because it’s something that should be our bread and butter, which is defending aggressively and defending high.”
Seventh-placed Victory lost to Western United and Sydney FC in the first two rounds before opening their account with a 1-0 win over winless Wellington Phoenix last week.
“You look across the field in the squad they have, they’ve got some really experienced players and they’ve got an experienced coach,” Epakis said of the defending champions.
“We have to respect that.
“I’m confident and I say this to the players as often as I possibly can, that if we’re good enough for long enough we can compete and beat anyone, regardless of what form the opposition is in.”
Epakis expects to make changes to his XI this week.
“There will be a few changes, some forced and some performance based,” he said.
“We’re assessing that this week at training. There will be one or two changes potentially.”
