Newcastle Jets assistant coach Clayton Zane says the squad must transfer the intensity shown on the training pitch to match day in order to secure their first victory of the 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season.
The Jets are still searching for their first three points of the campaign following their 3-1 loss to the Wellington Phoenix last Saturday and Zane says the team continues to work hard in training to secure their first win.
“Results tell the whole tale and we’re not in a good place at the moment in terms of picking points up,” Zane said
“But there’s a lot of desire and urgency on the training pitch as players want to drag us out of the position we’re in.
“And that’s exactly what we’re after, a high intensity and demanding more of each other.”
But the former Newcastle Breakers striker says the players need to show the same desire on the pitch if they want to push for a playoff spot.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the boys and the reaction has been on the training pitch and that’s where it has to start,” Zane said.
“But it needs to be carried into games and I don’t think that there are players out there that aren’t trying but we need to demand more of each other to get that first win.”
The Jets conceded three goals in five minutes last weekend in the defeat to the Phoenix and Zane said they’ve been working hard this week on remaining focused and protecting their goal.
“We’ve been putting on game-like situations where players need to compete and keep their goal intact for longer periods than what we’ve been doing,” Zane said.
“You can’t really account for a five minute period but at some point we need to stand up and say that it’s not good enough.
“You can break every individual goal down and there are some individual errors as well as team errors, but we need to be tighter across the back four and also think about structure and making sure everybody knows their job.”
Zane said while it’s important they remain solid at the back after taking a lead the attackers must be brave enough to go searching for more goals if they’re going to break their winless run.
“The more times we give up a lead the more it’s going to affect the team’s confidence and we all know what consecutive wins or loses can do for a team,” Zane said.
“All we can do is keep focused on the things that are important from a defensive point but there is flip side to it as well.
“From an attacking aspect we need to brave enough that when we score a goal we need to show some more courage and go out to look for a second and third goal and make sure we put the game to bed ourselves.”
