Newcastle coach Phil Stubbins admits his overhauled squad lacks chemistry, but is confident they’ll find their spark in time for the A-League’s opening round next month.
A total of 12 players have left Newcastle since last season with nine new arrivals brought in over the last four months.
Stubbins, himself new at the club having taken over from interim mentor Clayton Zane in May, says it will take time to establish some cohesion.
The Jets have had several pre-season hit-outs, most recently a 0-0 draw to Central Coast on the weekend, and Stubbins admits the combinations haven’t been quite right.
“We seem to be playing where the chemistry isn’t right and it’s a different team we’re putting on the pitch every game recently,” he said on Tuesday.
“As a consequence we take the first 45 minutes to find our feet, we address a few things at half time and then the second half is a more polished performance.
“We’ve transitioned, we had a lot of change at the club in this pre-season.
“But come round one I’m confident we will have addressed quite a few things we need to work on in terms of fluency and cohesion and we’ll be a better outfit for it.”
Robbie Paratore, a 19-year-old who had a two-year stint at English club Leicester City’s youth team, on Tuesday began a trial with Jets in the hope of joining the likes of Jeronimo Neumann, Marcos Flores, Jonny Steele and Edson Montano as a new addition to the Jets.
Recommended by former Socceroo Vince Grella as a midfield replacement for Josh Brillante who left for Italian top flight club Fiorentina, Paratore has already impressed Stubbins.
“He’s certainly enthusiastic and he seems to have the engines to be able to do the job and his passing range is quite good,” Stubbins said.
“He’s come in and not looked out of place so let’s see how he is at the end of the week and we’ll make a decision then.”
On top of helping his new recruit gel, Stubbins also has an extensive injury list to worry about.
Key midfielder Ben Kantarovski has joined the likes of new signings Billy Celeski and Josh Barresi on the sidelines after undergoing a procedure to clear out floating tissue in his troubled knee.
Stubbins said he could be out of action for up to four weeks but was hopeful Flores, who is making his way back from a knee reconstruction, would be available for the Jets’ campaign opener against the Mariners on October 11.
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