Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg is unlikely to make a move in the January transfer market despite conceding there is “something missing” from his bottom-placed side.
Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg is unlikely to make a move in the January transfer market despite conceding there is “something missing” from his bottom-placed side.
The Glitter Strip club’s strikeforce failed to capitalise on a swathe of goalscoring chances for the second consecutive week, falling to Wellington 1-0 on Sunday.
Big-name Dutch import Maceo Rigters, and the dynamic duo of Ben Halloran and James Brown, each worked themselves into good positions at Skilled Park but were unable to pull the trigger when it counted.
With Joel Porter (calf) and Chris Broadfoot (ankle) both long-term casualties and Dylan Macallister re-injuring his hamstring less than 15 minutes into his return appearance, Bleiberg admits his stocks are thin up front.
But a lack of senior vacancies, combined with the stringent equalisation rules of the Hyundai A-League, mean his hands are tied despite this month presenting the opportunity to bring in new players.
The charismatic coach said he would speak with billionaire backer Clive Palmer about recruitment, but questioned the value of doing so given the limitations.
“There is no good striker running around in January without asking for a lot of money. We’re limited with the salary cap,” Bleiberg said.
“Maybe as a guest player? I’m not sure if it’s worth it.”
“I’ll discuss it with Clive and it’s up to him but I’m happy to stick with the boys I have and hopefully justice will prevail.”
“Statistics show we’ve taken more shots than any other team. We’re shooting a lot, we’re defending well but we’re losing.”
“We have to go back to (young striker) Chris Harold, what can we do?”
Bleiberg was “disappointed” with the output of Rigters, and said promising pair Brown and Halloran needed to be less selfish and shoot more often.
He also revealed Macallister could be out for up to four weeks, having barely had time to make an impact in his first match for Gold Coast since Boxing Day.
Injury has been one of many sources of frustration for United in what has been the season from hell, with borderline referee decisions and generally wretched luck making life difficult.
But Bleiberg said there was no longer room for such excuses.
“You can’t ask for a better script – that exactly describes Gold Coast United of 2011-2012,” he said after their heartbreaking loss.
“You don’t play worse than the opposition, you create a lot of chances, you work hard and then you lose in the 88th minute.”
“We can talk until tomorrow how good we are and how is our bad luck, but we are on the bottom and we are losing at home.”
“That’s our season. There are a lot of stories to tell but we can’t do much about it. It’s not good enough.”
