John van’t Schip is poised to make changes to his starting line-up for this Sunday’s match against Brisbane Roar as the Club’s Head Coach looks to resurrect his side’s form.
While van’t Schip kept his cards close to his chest on Friday morning when speaking with the media, two days out from the crucial Round 9 match against last season’s champions, the Dutchman hinted that training this week had encouraged competition for places.
“Players that are showing that they deserve to play, they will play,” van’t Schip said.
“Other players that have had a lot of chances that we think may need to be changed, they will be changed and other players will get a chance.
“I told the players at the start of the week that everyone is up for this week so we played a few 11 vs 11 games and I think we tried some different things so Sunday we’ll see.”
Club captain Patrick Kisnorbo touched on how his side were inevitably feeling the effects from the results earlier in the week and his coach felt that not taking their early opportunities is a big factor.
“We’ve learned that the reaction is not as good as we’ve expected, it all has consequences,” van’t Schip said
“We are working very hard to create, to play good football and create good chances but not finishing what we are creating has an effect to our defence and the other way around,
“It’s individual results and errors we need to get out as soon as possible and that cost us confidence.
“I’m sure the boys will react on the pitch this week. This week is a totally new game. It’s up to them and up to us to now show that Wellington was a big mistake.”
Melbourne City FC’s only win of the season came against the Roar in Round 5 and van’t Schip said he would be wary of the new-found confidence in the Queenslanders.
“They’re still a team that play a style of football that I think is one of the best in the A-league,” van’t Schip said.
“You could see from the Western Sydney game that their confidence is growing so it’ll be a tough game.”
