Western United Head Coach John Aloisi has rallied his troops after a second successive defeat to start the new Isuzu UTE A-League Men season.
Despite the 3-1 loss to Sydney FC on Sunday evening, Aloisi told the media there were plenty of signs of United’s quality.
“In the first half we were really good – really good,” he said.
“Exactly the way we wanted to play, we performed really well, created a number of opportunities.
“The second half we weren’t good, but the first half was the way we want to play, it was excellent in all areas and we just have to make sure we don’t lose our way just because we’re behind. We have to keep playing to our strengths and what we’ve been trying to work on.”
One of the overriding strengths of United’s run to the Championship last season was in the bond between the playing group, with the culture of the squad well-documented throughout the league.
Aloisi called on his players to exemplify that culture again and use it to provide a spark on the pitch.
“This is where we have to show how strong we are as a group. Everyone talks about our culture and everyone knows about our culture – now is the time,” he said.
“If we can play 90 minutes like we did in that first half, there’ll be very few teams that’ll be able to handle us.”
A five-day turnaround ahead of the next match against Macarthur FC is welcome news for Aloisi and his players, with the chance to immediately bounce back.
“That’s the beauty of football. It’s not the last game of the season, we’ve got 24 more to go and in five days’ time we’ve got another game,” Aloisi said.
“You try to put it right; every individual will try to do that and as a collective we will do that.”
United will face the Bulls in a meeting of A-League Men Champions and Australia Cup Champions at AAMI Park on Friday October 21, with kick-off set for 7:45pm.
