Newcastle Jets skipper Jobe Wheelhouse doesn’t believe his side will change its attacking style in favour of playing for a draw in Sunday’s crucial clash with Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
Newcastle Jets skipper Jobe Wheelhouse doesn’t believe his side will change its attacking style in favour of playing for a draw in Sunday’s crucial clash with Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
The Jets need a draw or a win against Sydney to progress to the Hyundai A-League finals while a loss will see their F3 rivals leapfrog them to grab the remaining spot in the top six.
However, Wheelhouse said he expects coach Gary van Egmond to stick to their high-pressing attacking style of play for Sunday’s critical match.
“If we sit back and let them control the game that will give them a great advantage to score the goals they need to win the game, so I’d say we will play our normal game and press high and try to force them in to some mistakes,” Wheelhouse said.
“If we should get an early goal in the first the half it will really set us up.”
“The longer the game goes they have to come at us because they have to win the game so it might suit us.”
Wheelhouse admitted the team was deflated somewhat by not getting a result against the Brisbane Roar at home last weekend, but said the players were still feeling positive heading into this Sunday’s match against Sydney.
“We obviously wanted to beat the Roar on the weekend and things didn’t go our way,” he said.
“They had a lot of chances but we had some really good chances to win the game as well, so it was one of those sort of games that ebbed and flowed.”
“I am sure it was great for the fans but it wasn’t what we wanted. The draw wouldn’t have made any difference. We needed to win that game, with the result between Sydney and the Heart.”
“But we will go to Sydney feeling confident and looking for the win and see how the game pans out because we know that a draw might be enough.”
The Jets club captain pointed to the fact the Jets trounced their derby rivals in Sydney just over a month ago 5-2 as a key psychological factor heading into Sunday’s do-or-die battle.
“We will have that in the back of our minds and I am sure they have that in the back of their minds as well,” Wheelhouse said.
“We played them off the park for probably 50 or 60 minutes and we could have had two or three more in the first half so we know we can score goals against them and we know how dangerous they are with the players they have in the front third.”
“They did come back at us in the second half and we only shut the game out late in the game. So if we score an early goal we know that they will come back at us as well but we will be ready for it.”
Sydney’s marquee signing Brett Emerton was missing from the Sky Blues line-up in last month’s clash but Wheelhouse added that if the Jets keep their shape and stick to their game plan they should be able to nullify the effect of the Qantas Socceroo.
“He didn’t play against us last time so they are going to be stronger – he is a good player and any team that has a player of his stature is going to benefit, but we just can’t concentrate on one player,” he said.
“We have to just look after our own game and if we get things right we should beat them.”
