Ernie Merrick admits the Newcastle Jets cannot afford to strengthen their squad and he pledged to stick with his youngsters following the 6-2 loss to Perth Glory.
The Jets went into half-time only 2-1 down in Western Australia but the Hyundai A-League Premiers ran away with the game in the second half as Diego Castro and Bruno Fornaroli hit doubles.
The five youngest starters at HBF Park were all on Merrick’s team, including 19-year-old Angus Thurgate and 20-year-old Patrick Langlois, while Glory’s youngest starters were 25-year-old defenders Alex Grant and Gregory Wüthrich.
Merrick insisted he did not want to make wholesale changes to his youthful roster but conceded he would not able to improve the team in January.
“We can’t afford to bring anyone in that’s the quality that we want,” Merrick said.
“There’s no point in signing just another… I’d rather give the youngsters a go and build players for the future.”
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He added: “We’ve got too many young, inexperienced players and we were up against a side that were very experienced, very dangerous up front and clinical in their finishing.
“The worst thing I can do now is go and criticise the boys because a lot of them tried very hard and get everything but we made so many mistakes.”
Merrick lamented the absence of three key, experienced veterans – Wes Hoolahan, Abdiel Arroyo and captain Nigel Boogard – but explained he could not put a timeline on when the trio will return.
Newcastle have conceded the most goals in the Hyundai A-League this season, 20 in nine games, but the Scotsman is also concerned about his forward line.
“We had the same amount of shots that [Perth] had but we don’t look like we’re going to score a goal.” Merrick said.
“In the second half, even though we were getting close a couple of times, we don’t look like we’re going to score.
“We don’t have proven goalscorer up front and that’s not the fault of the players, that’s the way it is just now.”
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The 10th-placed Jets host a ninth-placed Brisbane Roar side next week with both side’s needing a result to boost their Finals Series aspirations.
“We’ve got three key players out, I’m hoping they will come in before too long,” he said.
“There were too many mistakes [against Perth] that we were punished badly for.
“We have to have a big long think about it for next week because we play Brisbane Roar who are on the same points as us.
“We’re two games behind some teams but we’ve got to score goals and we’ve got to not concede goals.”
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Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar
Date: Saturday, 28 December
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium
Kick-off: 7.30pm AEDT
Match Centre