It may be pre-season but Perth Glory exceeded the expectations of new head coach David Zdrilic in Tuesday night’s friendly in WA.
Zdrilic is ushering in a new era after the arrival of new owners the Pelligra Group and the departure of Alen Stajcic one season into a three-year deal following a wooden-spoon finish in 2023-24.
The 30-time Socceroo is bringing a high-octane brand of football and relentless pressing style – which he helped implement alongside Sydney FC head coach Ufuk Talay last season – through his experience with the Red Bull Group at German Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig, working with the likes of Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick and current Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann.
There were signs of the philosophy Zdrilic is introducing in Perth as the Glory defeated Armadale SC 4-2 in their opening hit-out of pre-season.
“I thought it was a great performance. It’s not easy, the boys have been off for quite some time so that was the first proper hit out we’ve had,” the former Sydney assistant told Glory’s media following the high-tempo hit out.
“The energy and intensity was a lot higher than I expected. That’s just from the mentality of the boys.
“Credit to the opposition too… Exactly the game we needed. A lot of the things we worked on came out tonight, so we can be very pleased with that.”
Josh Risdon – back in Perth having departed Western United – and Jarrod Carluccio scored to give the Glory a 2-0 lead before David Williams made it 3-0 early in the second half.
Hiroaki Aoyama found the back of the net as Perth moved 4-1 clear at Albert Skeet Reserve.
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“I think in general, the principles we’ve been trying to instil in the group came alive in the game. That was the only thing I was looking at,” Zdrilic explained.
“We’ve had two weeks of training and there was a lot of information we’ve given them and they have just gone out and tried to bring it to life.
“For big spells of the game, a lot of things we’re trying to implement, you could actually see it.
“… We want to show them (the fans) a different Glory this year. Hopefully that was the first step tonight.”
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Perth are preparing for next week’s Australia Cup play-off against Brisbane Roar in Darwin on July 23.
“We just need now to take the next steps. Three weeks leading into that game, it’s a short amount of time. We have to make sure we cover as much work as we can,” he said.
“… we have another training week and will be even better prepared for the game in Darwin.”
So far, the Glory have signed Josh Risdon, Brandon O’Neill, Andriano Lebib (first scholarship contract), Khoa Ngo (first scholarship contract), Zach Lisolajski, Anas Hamzaoui, Nathanael Blair, Nicholas Pennington, Taras Gomulka, Will Freney (first scholarship contract), Adam Bugarija, Abdelelah Faisal and Lachlan Barr.
Meanwhile, David Williams, Trent Ostler, Kaelan Majekodunmi, Jarrod Carluccio, Riley Warland, Jaylan Pearman and Joel Anasmo have re-signed following the departures of Daniel Bennie (Queens Park Rangers) Darryl Lachman, Mark Beevers, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bruce Kamau, Antonis Martis, Jayden Gorman, Stefan Colakovski, Salim Khelifi, John Koutroumbis, Josh Rawlins and Adam Zimarino.
