Former Bundesliga winger Nicolai Muller will have the chance to extend Western Sydney’s painful run when he makes his long-awaited Mariners debut in Saturday’s A-League Men clash at Central Coast Stadium.
Muller played 37 games across two seasons for the Wanderers before crossing to the Mariners in July, but a hamstring injury ruled him out of Central Coast’s first four ALM games.
The 34-year-old is now fully fit and set to be unleashed against the Wanderers.
“Pre-season he picked up a hamstring injury that reoccured,” Mariners coach Nick Montgomery said.
“We’ve taken our time to get him back. He’s been champing at the bit to get back out on the pitch.
“We’ve built him up the last couple of weeks, he had an internal game on Monday which he came through unscathed and looked really fresh.”
The heat is on Wanderers coach Carl Robinson after his team was knocked out of the FFA Cup by NPL NSW club APIA Leichhardt 2-1, before suffering a 2-0 loss to Macarthur FC in the league.
Players were booed off the park following the defeat to Macarthur and former Wanderers captain Robbie Cornthwaite even suggested it was time for the club to look for a replacement for Robinson.
But Robinson is having none of it, believing he’s the right man to turn the club’s fortunes around.
“There’s reasons why certain people say certain things and I can’t control that,” Robinson said.
“I don’t read it, I don’t listen to it because I know the way I work, my club and players know the way I work, and I require a certain standard of work ethic from my players and they give me that.
“So I tell them (my players) not to listen to what someone on the outside who possibly might have a reason says. It doesn’t matter to me.”
The Wanderers sit in seventh spot following a win, two draws and a loss from their opening four games.
Robinson knows the club’s fans are hungry for success.
“It’s a results driven business, I know that. We need to get results,” he said.
“Last week was a very difficult week for the club. You can hide away from the fact that it was, or you can accept it, learn from it and be better for it.”
Jack Rodwell and striker Tomer Hemed are a chance to return against the Mariners while midfielder Keanu Baccus is also in line to play after recovering from a knee injury.
