A maiden trip to Bankwest Stadium & and a task against an unbeaten Wanderers outfit is what awaits Robbie Fowler’s squad tomorrow night.
The Roar travelled to Sydney on Friday ahead of their first Hyundai A-League fixture at the new venue, and their first meeting with Western Sydney for the new season.
The Wanderers enter the match with three wins from as many games – a tantilsing task on the road for the Roar, who have already earned results against the odds in Sydney in the past months.
“We’re a good team, we’ve been unfortunate in both games – we’ve had plenty of possession, we haven’t scored as many as we would have liked, but we’re not worried,” Head Coach Robbie Fowler said to media on Friday.
“We’ve dominated games, and dominated teams in terms of possession – we need to now turn that into chances and then put them away.
We’re playing against a team who are top of the league & are three from three – that should drive the lads on – this is why we play football. Let’s enjoy this game for what it is – two good teams who will be giving everything to try & get those three points.”
Midfielder Aiden O’Neill, who’s played every minute of the Roar’s campaign to date, shares his Head Coach’s sentiment, saying the squad know they have what it takes to record their first win of the season on Saturday.
“We need to be just a bit more clinical. We’re creating good chances and playing good football which I think the fans can see,” O’Neill said.
“They’ve started well, but we’re going into the game just concentrating on ourselves. We know that if we get it right, we’ll take home the three points.”
The battle on the touchline adds an extra element to Saturday’s meeting with Fowler lining up against former Liverpool teammate Markus Babbel.
The duo were part of Liverpool’s historic 2000/01 Cup treble campaign, but 18 years on, the focus in squarely on getting the job done for their respective squads.
“He’s an excellent manager and a great lad. The bragging rights is for every week though, I want to win every game. Regardless of who we’re up against, I still want to have the joy of seeing us take the points,” Fowler said.
“Markus is the same, he’s done some interviews saying exactly the same. We were good teammates, but where we are now is completely different and we both want to get the three points for our team.”
MATCH DETAILS
Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 4: Western Sydney Wanderers v Brisbane Roar FC
Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta
Saturday, 2 November (4pm KO QLD time)
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1.Daniel LOPAR (GK), 4.Dylan MCGOWAN, 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 6.Matthew JURMAN, 7.Mitchell DUKE (c), 9.Nicolai MULLER, 13.Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 14.Alex MEIER, 17.Keanu BACCUS, 19.Pirmin SCHWEGLER, 21.Tarek ELRICH, 22.Nicholas SULLIVAN, 23.Kosta GROZOS, 27.Kwame YEBOAH, 29.Daniel WILMERING, 33.Tate RUSSELL, 34.Patrick ZIEGLER, 35.Mohamed ADAM, 27.Jake TREW, 40.Nicholas SUMAN (GK).
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 9.Nicolai MULLER (promoted), 21.Tarek ELRICH (returns from injury).
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 8.Jordan O’DOHERTY (knee), 10.Radoslaw MAJEWSKI (knee), 11.Bruce KAMAU (groin), 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (shoulder)
Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Max CROCOMBE (gk), 2.Scott NEVILLE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Bradden INMAN, 12.Aiden O’NEILL, 13.Stefan MAUK, 14.George MELLS, 15.Aaron REARDON, 20.Aaron AMADI-HOLLOWAY, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Jake MCGING, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 14.George MELLS (promoted), 25.Rahmat AKBARI (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 19.Jack HINGERT (knee)
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Andrej Giev
Assistant Referee 2: Greg Taylor
Fourth Official: Tim Danaskos
VAR: Kate Jacewicz
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 5:00pm (AEDT), ABC TV from 5:00pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
