The Jets will go into tomorrow night’s clash with Brisbane with the same squad that went down 2-1 to Macarthur on Sunday.
Craig Deans, while obviously frustrated with three losses, has the belief in his squad that they can get the job done.
The Jets have lost all three games this season by single-goal margins, having been up to their necks in every contest.
After the opening 25 minutes on Sunday Newcastle smashed the visitors in every statistic in the books but just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
It has been a familiar pattern this season and something that Deans and the team are keen to change tomorrow night.
“It’s a similar story. We’ve had enough moments in the game to get more out of it results-wise, but performance-wise we’ve had patches when we haven’t been good enough, but then good resilience and a good attitude to bounce back and get a result,” Deans said.
Deans is happy with the way the players have responded and handled the opening losses so far, saying the mood in the camp is still very positive.
The Jets have a lot of young players on their list and Deans says they will have to learn quickly how to deal with moments in games that need to be won.
“There are moments in the game when you know you have to be a winner at that moment and it’s something that takes time to learn.
“We do have a fair share of younger and inexperienced players in our team and they will have to work out quickly that at this level you need to be a winner nine times out of 10 – in your individual moments.
“You learn pretty quickly that you give yourself the best chance of winning if you have 11 players winning more than they lose in their individual moments and we need to get to that point quicker with some of the younger players we have.
“Good teams, championship teams, do that every week, every game, every training session, and we do have a new squad this season, a younger squad, but they need to develop that mentality and do it as quickly as they can”.
Brisbane has only played twice this season and has had one win and one loss.
The Jets played the Roar in the pre-season at Coffs Harbour where the sides had a 1-all draw.
“We’ve had a good look at them. They had a good win over the Victory in Melbourne, which is not easy to down there.” Deans said.
“We played them in the pre-season but we had a fair few trialists playing that game so it’s hard to judge really.
“For us, it’s about acknowledging where they are good and taking care of them, but for us, it’s just about it’s about ourselves and being better than we were in the first 20 minutes on Sunday.”
Wednesday 20 January 2021
Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Kick-Off: 7:05pm
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: James Cleal
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew McOrist
Fourth Official: Alex King
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7:00pm (AEDT), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #NEWvBRI
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 2.Johnny KOURTROUMBIS, 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 11.Ramy NAJJARINE , 13.Maki PETRATOS, 14.Ali ABBAS, 15.Tete YENGI, 18.Jack ARMSON, 17.Valentino YUEL, 19.Kosta PETRATOS, 23.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 25.Jack SIMMONS, 27.Lucas MAURAGIS, 28.Blake ARCHBOLD , 32.Angus THURGATE, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 25.Jack SIMMONS (promoted) 28.Blake ARCHBOLD (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 5. Ben KANTAROVKSI (calf – 2 weeks), 22. Lachlan JACKSON (ankle – 4 weeks
Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Macklin FREKE (gk), 3.Corey BROWN, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Danny KIM, 9.Masato KUDO, 10.Riku DANZAKI, 12.Bon SCOTT (gk), 15.Jesse DALEY, 16.Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 19.Jack HINGERT, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 33.Keegan JELACIC, 34.Alex PARSONS, 77.Scott MCDONALD
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 8.Danny KIM (promoted), 9.Masato KUDO (promoted), 12.Bon SCOTT (gk) (new signing), 33.Keegan JELACIC (promoted)
Outs: 11.Joe CHAMPNESS (unavailable), 21.Jamie YOUNG (knee)
Unavailable: Nil
