Newcastle Jets manager Gary van Egmond has blamed his team’s inability to carry out pre-game orders against Melbourne Victory.
Newcastle Jets manager Gary van Egmond has blamed his team’s inability to carry out pre-game orders as they succumbed to Melbourne Victory’s decisive opening barrage on Sunday.
Victory scored twice in the opening 15 minutes of their 5-0 win over Newcastle at AAMI Park and had a third goal disallowed soon after as they consistently found space behind the Jets’ back four.
In a frank post-match interview, Van Egmond conceded that his team pushed too far up the pitch, which allowed Melbourne’s speedy forwards Archie Thompson, Marco Rojas and Connor Pain too much space, and the Jets boss made it clear his players had not done as he had instructed.
“We just defended too high and that was what we discussed, we didn’t want to defend that high and we wanted to defend deeper but the defensive line was way too high,” Van Egmond said on Sunday.
“You can’t defend that high when you’ve got (opposition) players getting that much time.
“If you’re going to defend that high, you’ve got to be, obviously, pressing higher up the park.
“But that wasn’t the plan. The plan was to start to put pressure on more at the D or at halfway.
“And the wide players weren’t to get involved until it got to the halfway point and unfortunately that didn’t get carried out.”
Van Egmond did not have any complaints for the two penalties conceded by Taylor Regan, which saw the Jets central defender sent off for two bookable offences, and revealed he had already decided who would replace the 24-year-old.
“Connor Chapman will play for sure,” Van Egmond said.
Van Egmond confirmed veteran forwards Emile Heskey and Michael Bridges will return to the Jets’ starting line-up against Glory having been rested in Melbourne as Newcastle complete three games in 10 days.
Meanwhile, the news was mixed for Sam Galloway and Zenon Caravella, who both missed the match versus Victory due to hamstring injuries.
“Emile will come in, Michael Bridges will come in and Sammy Galloway, depending how he feels, will also come in,” Van Egmond said.
“Zenon, I don’t think he’ll make it with his ‘hammy’.”
