Newcastle Jets coach Branko Culina said he keeping his team positive heading into Sunday’s Round 7 Hyundai A-League clash against Sydney FC.
After a good start to the season the Jets suffered a demoralising 3-0 home loss to the Queensland Roar last start but Culina said at team training on Thursday that his side is not dwelling on the defeat and were focused on doing well against Sydney.
“We want to make sure we prepare for this game in a positive way,” he said. “We don’t want to make excuses. You can find as many excuses as you want after a loss but we don’t want to make excuses.”
“We have got a good enough squad of players to do the job and we look forward to the challenge of Sydney FC because we have to bounce back after a disappointing loss to Brisbane and for that reason this game is vital to us and it will show the kind of character this team is all about.”
Despite having a host of players under an injury cloud the Jets will also be without the services of youngsters Jason Hoffman, Ben Kantarovski and Sean Rooney, who are away with the Qantas Young Socceroos.
However, Culina said he believed in the ability of the remaining players in his squad and stated if they stayed focused on the game plan they could beat any team in the competition.
“We have done it in patches this year,” he said. “We did it against the Gold Coast when our backs were against the wall after a loss to Perth.”
“We did it again down in Melbourne against the odds but we let ourselves down against Brisbane, but now is the time to stand up and be counted.”
“By getting a good result in Sydney it will prove to our squad we have got what it takes to our squad that we can beat any team at any stage.”
“Again, we have got good enough players to do the job – they have shown it when they have been focused and disciplined and there is no reason why that kind of attitude can’t get us through on Sunday.”
