Heart defender Simon Colosimo has maintained his teammates have the process and approach right, but need to “transfer that into points on the board”
Melbourne Heart FC central defender Simon Colosimo has maintained his teammates have the process and approach right, but need to transfer that into points on the board against Western Sydney Wanderers tomorrow night.
With Heart smarting after a frustrating 1-0 loss against Central Coast Mariners and the Wanderers buoyed by a win against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium, the challenge is set to be every bit as difficult as the Heart’s last two matches.
But Colosimo remains confident ahead of the match at Parramatta Stadium, despite the detractors who have been quick to shine the spotlight on the team’s brief form slump.
“I don’t think that [the Wanderers- win against Brisbane] is anything we’re concerned about,” Colosimo said.
“I think that they are a very good team; I’ve always said that with Tony Popovic being their coach they’re going to be organised and they’re not going to make it easy for any teams and they’ve got some great players.
“[But] whether they won last week… that’s not in our control. What is in our control is how we perform and how we go out there.”
Colosimo told media at Melbourne Airport today that the team had lapsed at key moments in their past two matches, but had not hit the panic button.
“We know what we’re trying to achieve and we believe we can achieve it and we will achieve it,” Colosimo said.
“I think our processes have been right, but it-s just about transferring that to points on the board.
“We-re looking to go there and get a really good result.”
Colosimo believes tomorrow’s clash will be different to the Heart’s past two matches, with the Wanderers likely to come out and play on home soil, as opposed to the defensively regimented Mariners.
“I think Western Sydney will come out and have a go at us,” Colosimo said.
“They’re at home, they’ve come off a win, so I’m expecting them to have a go and I’m expecting it to be a really exciting game.”
Heart Head coach John Aloisi has had to juggle his squad for the fourth consecutive match, forced to make personnel changes due to injury and unavailability.
“Fred’s out for sure, so we’re going to have to bring in someone to replace him,” Aloisi said.
“That’ll be out of [Jason] Hoffman or Nicky Kalmar and other than that, Mate [Dugandzic] will come back for Ben Garuccio.
“We have to rotate the squad a little bit again but that’s why we’ve got a squad because everyone is there, they’re going to get their opportunity to play and hopefully, the ones who do step in, do well and make it hard for the ones who are out.”
Friday, 2 November 2012
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Melbourne Heart FC
Venue: Parramatta Stadium
Kick off: 7:30PM
Referee: Regis Queffelec
Assistant Ref 1: Matthew Cream
Assistant Ref 2: Scott Edeling
Fourth official: Stephen Lucas
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1HD and Sky Sport 3.
Radio broadcast: ABC Grandstand Digital & online
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #WSWvMH
To purchase tickets click here
Western Sydney Wanderers squad: 1. Ante Covic (GK), 2. Shannon Cole, 3. Adam D-apuzzo, 4. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5. Michael Beauchamp, 6. Jerome Polenz, 7. Labinot Haliti, 8. Mateo Poljak, 10. Aaron Mooy, 11. Tarek Elrich, 12. Tahj Minniecon, 13. Joey Gibbs, 14. Kwabena Appiah-Kubi, 17. Youssouf Hersi, 19. Mark Bridge, 20. Jerrad Tyson (GK), 21. Shinji Ono, 23. Jason Trifiro *three to be omitted
Ins: 2. Shannon Cole, 7. Labinot Haliti, 12. Tahj MInniecon (all promoted)
Outs: 18. Iacopo La Rocca (injured)
Unavailable: 9. Dino Kresinger (injured), 15. Reece Caira (Young Socceroos)
Melbourne Heart squad: 1. Clint BOLTON (GK), 2. Michael MARRONE, 4. Simon COLOSIMO, 6. Patrick GERHARDT, 8. Matthew THOMPSON, 9. Dylan MACALLISTER, 10. Josip TADIC,11. Richard GARCIA, 15. David WILLIAMS, 16. Aziz BEHICH, 17. Jason HOFFMAN, 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 21. Steven GRAY, 22. Nick KALMAR, 23. Mate DUGANDZIC, 24. Sam MITCHINSON *one to be omitted*
Ins: 24. Sam MITCHINSON (promoted – National Youth League).
Outs: 5. FRED (c) (hamstring – one week), 13. Jonatan GERMANO (Fitness – undisclosed), 14. GolGol MEBRAHTU, 18. David VRANKOVIC (international duty – Qantas Young Socceroos), 19. Ben GARUCCIO (international duty – Qantas Young Socceroos)
Unavailable: 31. Vince GRELLA
