Aloisi "expecting a reaction" from wounded Glory in Unite Round clash

Putting the controversies of previous defeats behind them, John Aloisi and Western United are wary of any surprises a wounded Perth Glory could pull in their Unite Round meeting.

With his side still looking for a first win of the A-League Men season themselves, Western United boss John Aloisi is wary of what a wounded Perth Glory will bring to their Friday evening, Unite Round meeting at Sydney Football Stadium. 

Opening their campaign with back-to-back draws with Wellington and Western Sydney, United have found themselves stalled in recent weeks, defeated 1-0 by Melbourne City in a Derby meeting and then falling to a controversial 2-1 loss at the hands of Adelaide United in the final game before the international break. 

Just as was the case for much of last season, an inability to score goals has hamstrung Aloisi’s side’s efforts earlier on in the campaign – their three goals scored level for third-fewest in the league after its opening month. 

But having scored just once while conceding up a whopping 13 across an opening three losses and a draw – their last hitout a 5-0, home defeat to City – a Glory outfit making the trek East would ostensibly shape as a perfect antidote for any side with goalscoring woes. Aloisi, however, isn’t prepared to write off the West Australians. 

“The boys are confident because of the way we're performing, they know we'll get the wins if we keep performing that way,” said the United boss. “That [international break] break can come at a good time because everyone was disappointed we didn't get the result in Adelaide that we wanted. And now that you have a little bit of a break, it breaks that momentum a little bit. And hopefully against Perth, we'll get the points that we deserve. 

“I know that David [Zdrilic, Glory boss] likes to get his teams to press and counter-press well. So we have to be careful of that. I've seen their games, I know they haven't got the results and the performances haven't been probably what he would like. But you know that he'll keep working on that and make sure that he gets his team to end up playing the way that he wants. 

“I'm expecting a reaction from him. We're expecting a reaction, especially [after they lost] 5-0 at home. It's never easy. They'll get a couple of players back, Josh Risdon is probably one of them that will start against us. So we expect it's going to be a tough start to the game, and then hopefully we can play our football and then that will be enough to come out on top and get the three points that we want and that we will need to start building on.”

Of course, United’s winless start to the season wasn’t helped by a bizarre non-penalty call in their loss to the Reds, where both the on-field referee and VAR failed to spot what appeared a stonewall foul by  Ryan Kitto on youngster Abel Walatee with the scores locked at 1-1. Adelaide would net their winner 12 minutes later. 

Aloisi and United figures, as well as many of the broader footballing commentariat, were apoplectic with the non-decision after the contest and Football Australia released a statement the following Monday confirming that the incident should have been adjudged a penalty and that it had "provided feedback to the match officials".

And a fortnight on from the incident, the United coach cut a more equanimous figure than he did that night at Hindmarsh.

“We had to move on quickly,” said Aloisi. “Straight after the game, you have to move on. Because you can't let it sit with you. And we're not looking for excuses why we didn't win, why we haven't got the wins. We know that there are going to be decisions that go for you, go against you. That decision went against us. 

“But what was impressive was that the boys didn't drop their heads. They just kept on trying to play. We're hoping these decisions will go for us in the next few games especially. But it's one of those things you have to get over pretty quickly.

“I'm confident that my players will give everything on Friday. With everything else, that's out of our control, what others do, what referees do. We can only try and do our best. They came out with a statement. That's something. At least they recognise that there was a mistake. And hopefully, it won't happen again. And I said it, hopefully, it doesn't happen not only for us but for other teams, because we want those decisions to be right.”

Tomoki Imai and James Donachie will both remain absent for United but skipper Ben Garruccio emerged unscathed from his return from injury against Adelaide and will be available for selection. Ramy Najjarine, meanwhile, continues to train as he returns from a long-term shoulder injury