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Central Coast have warned Queensland could be caught with their pants down if normally-conservative Roar coach Frank Farina reshuffles his successful defensive structure.
Farina appears set to play just three men in his back line against the Mariners at Gosford on Saturday night in a change from his 4-3-3 formation.
The Roar have trained with a 3-4-3 structure with Farina keen to start both former Socceroos midfielder Danny Tiatto and attacking linchpin Charlie Miller in a four-man midfield.
But Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna welcomed the surprise shift which may play into the hands of his dangerous three-man forward line of Matt Simon, Dylan Macallister and Sasho Petrovski.
“If he (Farina) plays 3-4-3 and we play three up front again he might have a few issues with that,” McKinna told AAP.
“I’d be surprised if he changes the way he’s been going with a 4-3-3, they’ve been doing very well with that.”
Since switching from a 4-4-2 last month, when Tiatto was struck down with an ankle injury, the Roar have enjoyed success with young guns Tahj Minniecon and Michael Zullo playing on the wings.
But Farina sees the midfield battle as more important than ever in what presents as the A-League match of the round.
“Having all four in the midfield area is a huge benefit because the Mariners play with three in there and at any given stage we would have a free man and that will either be Danny or Charlie,” said the former Socceroos coach.
But it does put extra pressure on skipper Craig Moore and fellow defenders Josh McCloughan and Luke DeVere who must cope with the height and physical presence of the Mariners forwards.
Macallister scored a double on debut off the bench for Central Coast in the round three 4-2 victory over the Roar in Brisbane.
Third-placed Queensland have learned their lessons since to concede less than a goal a game to possess the best defensive record in the competition (13).
The Mariners, sitting equal fourth with Wellington, have the best attacking record with 26 goals, five more than leaders Melbourne.
“But our defensive record (20 goals conceded) isn’t as good as it should be, we should be more ruthless than we’ve been and Queensland do that very well.”
Farina will decide upon his team after monitoring Miller’s efforts in training late Friday but he was confident the goal-scoring Scotsman would shrug off a hernia problem to start.
He warned his troops to play to the death to thwart the A-League’s never-say-die `comeback kings’.
“They’ve been unbelievable this season,” Farina said. “Five or six games they’ve come back from big deficits or scored in the last few minutes.”
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