Gary van Egmond sees no reason why his side can’t break their winless run against the Glory in Perth on Saturday.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets head coach Gary van Egmond says he sees no reason why his side can-t break their winless run against the Glory in Perth when the two sides meet at nib Stadium on Saturday.
The Jets haven-t defeated the Glory at nib Stadium since the inaugural season of the A-League in 2005.
However, van Egmond believes the Jets- strong start to the season, which has seen them win their last three matches, will hold them in good stead for Saturday.
“They-ve got a strong home record and we-ve got a poor record going over there, but obviously we have a new group so we-re keen to go over there and do well,” van Egmond said.
“Right at this moment I believe it-s the best start that we-ve had to a competition and the records that are there are made to be broken, so there-s no reason why we can-t go over there and get a result.
Van Egmond said the Jets history of disappointing results in Perth won-t be playing on their mind in the build-up to the match.
“I think if you over analyse it, that-s the worst thing you can do. I think the most important part is to be mentally prepared.
“If you-re prepared and ready to play and you have that honesty within your group that you-re going to go out there and give 100%, that-s all you need.”
The Jets have looked to press their opposition and control the match in recent weeks and van Egmond didn-t rule out a similar approach against the Glory this week, despite being away from home.
He said it was up to the Jets to be discerning about when the right times will be to apply pressure to Perth during the contest.
“You can-t force it. There-s nothing worse than being spread-out and not compact against a team like Perth because they-ll hurt you,” he said.
“They-ve got some good players in the midfield, Liam Miller in particular is a very, very good player. Obviously in the wide areas, Dean Heffernan and Travis Dodd have also been doing well.
“We-re aware that if we stay compact, that will go a long way to ensuring we don-t concede, but by the same token it-s about deciding where you stay compact and how high up the pitch you can do that.
“If you-re doing that you-ve got to be aware you might be allowing space in behind, so you-ve just got to weigh a number of things up.”
