Match Details
Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory
Date: Saturday 3 February
Time: 6:00pm (AEDT)
Location: McDonald Jones Stadium
PREVIEW
Our boys in blue are set to defend their 14-match unbeaten run when they travel to Newcastle on Saturday night.
And although Head Coach Tony Popovic is happy with his team’s performances so far, he won’t be taking Saturday’s matchup with the Jets lightly.
“We’re obviously happy at the halfway mark with the unbeaten run and the football we’re playing and tomorrow presents another opportunity to keep that going and get three points in a difficult match,” he said.
“Obviously being undefeated and playing many games away, we’ve shown that we’re very resilient.
“We need that to continue tomorrow. The points won’t be given to us. We will have to earn it.
“So putting all that together, if we can match the intensity and the desire that they have, I feel that we have the quality to win the match.”
Looking ahead to Newcastle, our boys in blue don’t have the best history at McDonald Jones Stadium.
“Our history against Newcastle away shows it’s going to be a difficult game and they’ve been strong at home. They’ve played well the last couple of games with a win and a loss.
“They’re a good team in transition. They break very quickly, so they have some real speed and quality in attack. But we also feel we’re good enough to counter that with our football and hopefully, we can show signs of improvement in a match that we’ve shown this week at training in terms of playing against that low block.
“We feel that we’re limiting the opponent from getting out of their half easily when they play that way.
“The next step, which is the most difficult part, is to convert the opportunities and make a little bit more out of our dominance.”
FROM TONY
SQUAD
2.Jason GERIA, 3.Adama TRAORE, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Zinedine MACHACH, 11.Ben FOLAMI, 14.Connor CHAPMAN, 16.Stefan NIGRO, 17.Nishan VELUPILLAY, 18.Fabian MONGE, 19.Daniel ARZANI, 20.Paul IZZO, 21.Roderick MIRANDA, 22.Jake BRIMMER, 23.Salim KHELIFI, 24.Eli ADAMS, 25.Ryan TEAGUE, 27.Jordi VALADON, 40.Christian SICILIANO
Ins: 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 16.Stefan NIGRO, 18.Fabian MONGE, 25.Eli ADAMS
Outs: 4.Rai MARCHAN, 28.Franco LINO
Unavailable: 10.Bruno FORNAROLI
