Branko Culina will not accept anything less than full focus and commitment from his side when they take on intra-state rivals Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium this Sunday.
Branko Culina will not accept anything less than full focus and commitment from his side when they take on intra-state rivals Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium this Sunday.
For the Jets- boss this means that excuses will mean nothing if his side cannot respond in a positive manner after going down 3-0 at home last start against the Brisbane Roar. Indeed, coming up against a Sydney side that has been defeated in its past two outings, this weekend-s clash will likely be won by the team that displays the greatest hunger.
Despite having a string of players struck by injury in recent times, plus having youngsters Jason Hoffman, Ben Kantarovski and Sean Rooney away with the Qantas Young Socceroos, Culina believes that there is no reason that his team cannot claim all three competition points given the quality still on offer inside the Jets- dressing room.
“We want to make sure that we prepare for this game in a positive way, we don-t want to make excuses,” he said. “This club is not about excuses.”
“You can find as many excuses as you like after every loss and every problem but that-s not going to solve your problems.”
“We-ve got a good enough squad of players still to be able to do the job. We look forward to the challenge of Sydney FC because we need to bounce back after a disappointing loss to Brisbane and for that reason this game is vital to us and it will show the kind of character that this team is all about,” said Culina.
The Jets have shown great resolve in a number of their performances this season, and it is this team spirit that Culina is expecting of his side once again. With experienced stars such as Ljubo Milicevic, Fabio Vignaroli, Matt Thompson and Tarek Elrich leading the way, the Jets are set to bounce back this weekend.
“We-ve done it in patches this year so far, against Gold Coast when our backs were against the wall after the loss to Perth.
“We did it somewhat against Melbourne, against the odds. We let ourselves down a little bit against Brisbane and now is the time to really stand up.”
“By getting a good result in Sydney it will prove tremendously to our squad that we have got what it takes to compete with any team at any stage.”
“Again, we have got enough good enough players, they have shown it when they have been focussed and disciplined, and there is no reason why that kind of attitude can-t get us through on Sunday.
“There will be no excuses about numbers or whatever because, at the end of the day, the squad that we do have is good enough.”
“The players have to believe in themselves which they have shown in the past that they are capable of.”
