NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic firmly believes that if the Hyundai A-League’s newest team keeps playing the way it has been playing, the goals will come.
NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic firmly believes that if the Hyundai A-League-s newest team keeps playing the way it has been playing, the goals will come.
He believes the team will bounce back from the 2-0 home loss to Melbourne Victory and the goals will come on the road against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.
The Wanderers have done well at keeping goals out – they have conceded just seven in the first eight rounds, which is equal-second best in the competition – but scoring has been a problem. They have come up with just five goals, which is clearly the lowest total among the 10 teams.
But Popovic isn-t blaming any of the individuals who have been used up front, and after training on Friday he was very optimistic that if the Wanderers continue to stick to the plan good things will happen.
“To put it on one player would be wrong,” Popovic said. “As a team, we-re getting away the most shots in the league, and that is a real positive for us.
“Of course, we need to find the back of the net more, because that-s holding us back in terms of where we could be on the competition table, but our football is consistently getting us into the right places to score.
“Everyone here knows that we-re going about it the right way. We-ve played confidently and competitively, and if you look at certain games we played much better than the result suggested. Against Newcastle, for example, we were outstanding, but we lost the game.”
Against the Phoenix, the Wanderers will have to do without one of the smoothest playmakers in the A-League this season, because star midfielder Aaron Mooy is away on Socceroo duty. But Popovic said he had several strong options to consider for the central midfield role, including Shinji Ono.
