Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond has asked fans not to expect too much too early of star recruit Francis Jeffers ahead of his Hyundai A-league season debut for the club against the Perth Glory on Saturday evening.
Jeffers joined the club two weeks ago and had his visa processed this week allowing him to take part in this weekend’s home clash against the Glory. However, van Egmond urged fans to be patient with the former England international who has not played since being released by Scottish Premier League club Motherwell in June.
“He’s obviously a very good player, but it’s still going to take him some time to hit his straps and get some rhythm as far as games are concerned,” van Egmond said on Thursday.
‘‘For us to expect he’s going to out there play for 90 minutes and be a one-man show is not going to happen. Yes, he’s going to be an important cog, but it’s about the team supporting Francis as well.”
Van Egmond indicated that he would probably start Jeffers up front alongside in-form strikers Ryan Griffiths and Jeremy Brockie.
However, the area of concern for the Jets is the midfield. Ben Kantarovski, Ruben Zadkovich and Skipper Jobe Wheelhouse are all under injury clouds.
To cover for the potential losses van Egmond has named youngsters James Virgili, Jacob Pepper and Chris Payne in his 18-man squad.
“We have had a couple of injuries and niggles, so we will give them one more run and see how they pull up,” van Egmond said.
“The likes of Virgili and Pepper who both did quite well in the Youth Game up on the Gold Coast and Payne has also been scoring in the youth team so they get rewarded.”
The major omission was Marko Jesic, who was given a full-game in the Jets Youth League clash against Perth midweek but looked out of touch.
“It is just on form and I think he needs more games,” van Egmond said.
“We all know he has the talent but it is a matter of him producing it on the training field and in the Youth games. He just needs some confidence.”
The newly appointed Jets coach also said fans shouldn’t read too much into last week’s 3-1 away loss to the Gold Coast.
“I don’t think we played so badly up on the Gold Coast we had the majority of possession and had the second most completed passes from the weekend behind Brisbane. A little bit more luck and we would have had a couple of goals out of the first half,” van Egmond said.
“And there were plenty positives to take out of the match and we are only going to get better. That is the performance we start with and we won’t be expecting less.”
“Perth are a good football team and they have recruited well. They are a real tough team and you have to ensure you compete with them and for us being at home we have to be on the front foot.”
