ICYMI here’s what Head Coach Tony Popovic had to say ahead of Saturday night’s clash against Western Sydney.
On Leigh Broxham…
“Well he’s in the squad. I thought he did a great job coming on, obviously under difficult circumstanes with 10 men, you’ve got to find the rhythm of the game quite quickly but he certainly made a difference when he came on. So we’re all very happy with his contribution and yeah, he wants to be in the squad.”
“I think everyone’s been on a bit of a high this week in training regardless of the news, but you know he’s (Broxy) such a loved figure in football and obviously at this Football Club.”
“18 seasons, over 450 games, it’s an amazing achievement and you know, I know some people that have gone through the entire stage with him from the beginning, they have wonderful stories to tell. I feel very honoured and privileged to have coached him for a third season now. He’s a fantastic human being, fantastic professional and, you know, we he won’t talk about it, but we’d love to send him out on a high and actually win silverware this year.”
On the return on Ryan Teague, Nishan Velupillay and Jordi Valadon…
“It’s not just about physical, you have a look psychologically, emotionally. Obviously it was a big disappointment for them not getting through. The goal was the Olympics, but not getting through the group stage. But they’ve come back very positive in terms of how they’ve presented physically. Obviously they’ve had some jet lag. You know you can’t fight that. It just happens. But yeah, they’re good. They trained better yesterday than the day before. And anticipate another improvement today.”
On facing Western Sydney…
“Some players will get some more minutes, maybe in this game, that haven’t had much lately, but it’s more just about the performance.”
“We know there’s a major game to be played next week and we’re all looking forward to that, but these games more here at home, we want to finish off with a top performance. We want to get the win with the performance and then just go into the into the finals with the confidence that we have.”
“And Wanderers, you know, they they need the result. So it’s actually quite good. I’m sure they’ll bring their quality, their passion, their energy, their intensity, you know, which can help us for for our own motivation, which is to win and to be in the best shape possible next week.”
“If you look at their line up and their squad, there’s a lot of quality in that and you can’t underestimate them. And nor would we. So we know they have the individuals that on the day can give you problems. We’re aware of that and we’ll certainly respect that tomorrow.”
