Depleted squad brings defensive dilemma

Perth Glory head coach, Steve McMahon, has some very tough decisions to make ahead of Saturday’s match at Queensland Roar with injuries reducing his travelling squad to 14 fit players.

With right back, Jamie Coyne, ruled out for two weeks with an abdominal strain, David Tarka still on the sidelines and Brian Deane out for about three weeks with a hamstring injury, Ante Kovacevic also pulled out of training on Thursday.

Central defender, Kovacevic, has injured his knee and the extent of the injury is not yet known but he will definitely miss this weekend’s trip, having been an ever-present in the Glory’s team so far this season.

Daniel Vasilevski is also unavailable due to a calf problem and Adrian Caceres will travel with the squad carrying a bruised heel, which could keep him out of the round ten Hyundai A-League match.

"I thought we would have had a couple more players available to us but Ante (Kovacevic) has pulled out," McMahon said.

"Adrian will travel, we will give it to the last minute because it is a bruised heel and will have time to recover but we are down to the bare bones and the problem is defensively, that’s the major issue.

"With (David) Tarka out and Ante, Jamie Coyne and Daniel Vasilevski – that’s four defenders in the squad. We don’t have many defenders in the squad anyway but to have four of them out it is going to be a case of backs to the walls. We will have to reorganise and re-jig, putting square pegs in round holes."

Club captain, Jamie Harnwell, will be the only recognised centre back available this weekend but McMahon insisted there were a number of ways he could address the problem.

"It has just struck me this morning and I am thinking ‘what do I do now?’ I have got to make decisions and there are a number of options. Do we play Simon (Colosimo) there and leave Matty (Horsley) at right back? Do I bring Stephen (McMahon Jnr) into midfield, do I play Stephen at right back - which he can play, do I put Matty at centre back?

"Everything is going through my mind, there’s loads of issues and I will have to sit down over dinner tomorrow night with Vesty (Alan Vest) and throw a few things around the table and see what we come up with."

The Glory coach stressed that there would not be enough time to address their team shape on the training pitch ahead of the match, particularly due to Caceres’ late fitness test.

But McMahon said his side certainly would not be overcautious in their approach to the match at Suncorp Stadium.

"It is the worst situation we have been in for a competitive game. This is a big, big game for us and it is drastic," he admitted.

"But we do have confidence, the eleven lads that start the game will give their best and that’s all I can ask for.

"We have got to be men, we have got to stand up and be counted. We know that in the face of adversity comes good things. If we don’t get the result I won’t be complaining about injuries because the eleven that go out at the start should be good enough and should work hard enough to get a result."

Forwards Henry Fa’arodo and Stuart Young come into the squad for the trip to Brisbane but Hiroyuki Ishida is in Japan getting married.

"We haven’t got our defenders available to be defensive so we have got to try and make sure we get enough goals to win the game," McMahon stated.

Perth Glory squad: Petkovic, Horsley, Colosimo, Harnwell, McMahon, Miller, Ward, Despotovski, Celeski, Young, Fa’arodo, Sekulovski, Jovanic, Caceres, Mori.

A-League Round 10
Queensland Roar vs Perth Glory
Saturday October 29, 2005
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane - 7:30pm (QLD), 5:30pm (WA).

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