Hawk-eyed Brisbane coach Rado Vidosic has done his homework on Western Sydney and believes he knows exactly what to expect from the expansion side on Saturday night.
Hawk-eyed Brisbane coach Rado Vidosic has done his homework on Western Sydney and believes he knows exactly what to expect from the expansion side on Saturday night.
The Wanderers and the Roar will lock horns for the first time ever this weekend but Vidosic has downplayed the possibility of the reigning Hyundai A-League champions being caught out by the new kids on the block, who are still something of an unknown quantity three games into their existence.
“I’ve analysed their last game against Sydney and I have quite a good understanding of their game plan and the way they attack and defend,” he said on Friday.
“Apart from a few overseas players, everyone else we know well. They’ve played in the A-League for the last few years with different clubs.
“Now after three games we’ve seen (Wanderers coach Tony) Popovic’s philosophy, we’ve seen the way they want to play.
“One thing that’s very hard in Australia is to change from week to week, so you would expect them to play the same way.”
However, an injury to key Western Sydney marksman Dino Kresinger means Vidosic and Brisbane will still have to prepare for the unexpected – at least in the Wanderers’ final third.
With the new side still yet to score their first goal, the absence of the hulking Croatian means Popovic must throw together a new front-three combination.
“(Kresinger) was quite important for them, especially once they went 1-0 down to Sydney (last week),” Vidosic said.
“They penetrated much easier, especially down the right hand side – (Jerome) Polenz was key in their attack and there was a lot of crosses delivered for him.”
Labinot Haliti and Mark Bridge are in the frame to move into the central striker’s position, which could open the door for former Brisbane and Gold Coast attacker Tahj Minniecon to make his debut in red and black.
Vidosic, a long-time assistant at the Roar, said he would love to see the once-promising winger get a run.
“I’ve been (coaching) Tahj since he was 13 at school, I know his family and I was really surprised that he was not as successful at Gold Coast as what he was here with us,” he said.
“I know this time if he gets his chance, he’s definitely going to take it because his future is on the line.”
But Vidosic believes the biggest danger for Brisbane heading into their second home match of the season is not any wildcard from the opposition, but their own mentality.
The Roar coach anticipates a ‘desperate’ Wanderers outfit motivated by the chance to knock off the most dominant side in recent A-League history.
“They haven’t scored a goal or won a game yet so they’re going to come out and give everything they’ve got. We need to match that,” he said.
“But for the last few years we’ve played a lot of these games where we had to win. We had to win the game to reach that 36-game undefeated run, and we did it in style.
“These players, they know how to turn up in the important games and they know what they need to do.”
