Gold Coast United’s attacking woes have been dealt another cruel blow with confirmation target man Dylan Macallister will miss at least the next six weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain.
Gold Coast United’s attacking woes have been dealt another cruel blow with confirmation target man Dylan Macallister will miss at least the next six weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain.
The towering 29-year-old lasted just 14 minutes in his return appearance against Wellington on Sunday before he had to retire from the game, having been cleared to play after overcoming an earlier hamstring issue.
The earliest United can hope to have Macallister back is early March, when they travel across the Tasman face the Phoenix followed by a trip to Newcastle five days later.
The news is dreadful for the club, who are already suffering in front of goal with both veteran striker Joel Porter (calf) and local league legend Chris Broadfoot (ankle) long-term casualties.
Their lack of attacking options has been highlighted over the past two matches, when they’ve failed to win at home to Melbourne Heart (1-1 draw) and Wellington (1-0 loss) despite bountiful scoring opportunities.
Two weeks ago, coach Miron Bleiberg said he wanted a minimum of four points from those fixtures. He got only one.
That’s because they have structural issues in the final third without their trio of injured strikers, leading to big-name Dutch recruit Maceo Rigters’ inability to fire in recent matches.
“The truth of matter is that Mace has played most of his career on the wing. He’s not an out-and-out centre forward,” Bleiberg said.
“Him and Dylan Macallister is the lethal combination. Him by himself is less. He could be a better centre forward if he had an out-and-out playmaker next to him, which we don’t have either.”
“That’s one of our weaknesses. I wouldn’t put the blame on him but he has to adjust and I’ve spoken to him about it.”
“If Mace can, instead of relying on his (long-distance) shots, sniff around a bit more in the penalty area, that’s what we need.”
“We adjusted at the back and now we’re sound in defence. Now we have to adjust at the front.”
The news of Macallister’s injury further enhances the possibility of the club entering the transfer market for an additional striker that can play off Rigters, Halloran and Brown.
Bleiberg was cagey when asked if he had conversations with billionaire owner Clive Palmer about bringing in a new face to solve their troubles in attack.
“Yes. Discussion happened. That’s between me and Clive,” he said.
“There’s nothing to announce and there is nothing to be said. At the moment we play with what we have.”
“The transfer window doesn’t close until February so there’s still time to go, but that the moment we have three or four games and see how we go.”
The charismatic Israeli pledged to continue to stick by his under-fire strike force, in the hope that their wretched luck reverses and his marksmen start converting their opportunities.
“It’s unheard of, anywhere in the world, that the team with the most shots on goal are on the bottom of the ladder,” he said.
“We’re going to work on our shooting a lot. Probably Con Boutsianis (technique coach) will take a bigger part in our training sessions until we start to hit the net.”