Western Sydney Wanderers head coach Alen Stajcic says Socceroos goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas is edging closer to a return and will be assessed ahead of his side’s Round 4 clash with Newcastle Jets on Friday night.
You can get your tickets to the match here.
Thomas, Western Sydney’s new club captain, suffered an ankle injury in pre-season after tripping over a stray ball in training. The injury required surgery and forced the 32-year-old to sit out the early weeks of the 2024/25 season.
The Wanderers return to CommBank Stadium on Friday night to take on the Jets and although Stajcic revealed Thomas is close to returning to action, he remained coy about his captain’s selection chances with all three of his goalkeepers – Thomas, Tristan Vidackovic and Jordan Holmes – pushing for selection.
“Everyone is fine at the moment, touch wood,” Stajcic said.
“We’ve still got one more session so we’ll see how we go.
“We haven’t made that decision (who starts in goal). Everyone’s available – Loz we’re still not sure about, he’s still 50/50 so we’ll make that decision after today but he’s certainly very close now which is good news, but we’ll make a decision on who’s going to be in goals later on.”
In Thomas’ absence, 21-year-old Tristan Vidackovic has played all three games in goal for the Wanderers this season. The young gloveman had a tough day at the office in Round 3, conceding four goals against Adelaide in a 4-3 defeat.
When asked about Vidackovic’s performance against the Reds and his mindset heading into a new weekend off the back of a tough individual outing, Stajcic was eager to point out that even the great goalkeepers experience plenty of difficult days early in their careers, and it’s all part of the course for a player set to have a big future in the game.
“I’ve been around long enough to see a lot of our current Socceroos goalkeepers in their initiation in the A-League, and a lot of them had similar moments in matches like that,” Stajcic said.
“It’s all part of learning; you can only really learn when you’re out on the pitch, that’s the true test of how far you’ve come. But he’s got so many good attributes and such a good career and future ahead of him.
“That’s a little pothole, all players go through that at some point, but I’m sure he’s going to come out of it better.”
Last weekend’s 4-3 loss to Adelaide at home was Juan Mata’s second consecutive start for the Wanderers after a substitute’s cameo in Round 1. But the Spaniard was surprisingly substituted at half-time against the Reds, and was pictured on the sidelines icing his right foot as the second half got underway.
But Stajcic says that footage was a reflection of the intensity of the Isuzu UTE A-League, rather than of any injury concern for the former Manchester United and Chelsea star who is available for selection on Friday night.
“At the moment he’s available,” Stajcic said. “He just pulled up a little bit sore but if you saw every player after the game probably three-quarters of them had an ice pack on after the game.
“It’s the intensity of the A-League; I’ve said this many times over, it’s quite deceptive. It’s a high-intensity football game, probably one of the most intense leagues around the world.
“For every player who goes on for a period of time, they’re going to know they’ve been in a match for sure.”
The Wanderers take on a Newcastle Jets outfit rejuvenated after a Round 3 bye and full of confidence after a 2-1 comeback win over Macarthur Bulls in Round 2.
The Jets are eighth on the Isuzu UTE A-League table with three points on the board from two games while the Wanderers are 11th after two defeats and one draw in three games.
Match Details
Western Sydney Wanderers v Newcastle Jets
Friday 8 November 2024, 7:35pm
CommBank Stadium
