Western United head coach John Aloisi is confident the reigning A-League Men champions can shut down Central Coast Mariners forwards Jason Cummings and Garang Kuol and kick-start their title defence.
Defending champions Western have one draw and two losses to start the season but have welcomed Saturday’s trip to Gosford as a chance to reset in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Kuol scored a dramatic late winner against Western in April, while Cummings scored a brace in a separate 2-2 draw.
Both will hope to call upon that form as they press for a place in the Socceroos’ FIFA Men’s World Cup squad.
“I’ve mentioned about how good they are going forward and Cummings and Kuol are a part of that,” Aloisi told AAP.
“But all four-to-six players they have, including who comes off the bench, they’re strong assets.
“They’re very quick, they’re dynamic, they look to make runs in behind your centre-backs and your full backs.
“So they’re a dangerous team going forward and they create a lot of chances, they get bodies into the box.
“So we know we have to be very organised when we haven’t got the ball and when we’ve got the ball we believe if we can play our football we’ll also get our opportunities.”
Western are without Tomoki Imai (shoulder) while defensive rock Leo Lacroix is slowly overcoming a shaky start to the season.
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Aloisi was confident his back four would continue to build form.
The Mariners’ defence has proved dysfunctional across their opening two games, conceding four goals.
While they welcome back Dan Hall, their recent shakiness could open the door for United to start turning chances into goals.
“I believe it will (click). We keep creating chances like that, there’s going to be a game that we’re going to really take it to the opposition,” Aloisi said.
“Against Sydney we created like a load of opportunities in that first half, also against Macarthur all game.
“If we keep doing that, then the goals will come. We’re confident that will happen.
“We showed the second half of last season when we’re creating those chances we can go score six, or four or three goals.
“The good thing and the positive thing is that we’re creating and getting into positions to get those chances.”
While striker Aleksandar Prijovic remains unavailable, veteran playmaker Alessandro Diamanti should slowly build up his minutes after returning last week.
