Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic says he’s used to success but now he’s left desperate to avoid a different kind of honour – the dreaded wooden spoon.
The Wanderers are back on the bottom of the ladder after going down 2-1 to Newcastle in the A-League’s basement battle on Saturday.
The two-time grand-finalists and Asian Champions League title holders have struggled this A-League season as their hellish schedule continues to takes its toll.
With injuries wreaking havoc on the Wanderers’ squad, Popovic was forced to dig deep into his reserves and field a line-up which featured seven players who’ve had less than 10 starts to their name.
“We didn’t come into this game today thinking we couldn’t win but the circumstances are what they are,” Popovic said.
“We don’t want to come last, certainly not. We’re used to success here.”
The Jets entered the Parramatta Stadium encounter sitting dead last as the only side with a solitary win, which came way back in December.
The three points now leaves them in ninth place, three points clear of Western Sydney, although the Wanderers have a game in hand.
“We don’t want the wooden spoon. That is obviously something that’s in the back of the mind,” Jets coach Phil Stubbins admitted.
“If you look at those amount of games where we’ve been accountable, to finally get a win down here is a great tonic for the group.”
With all the inexperience in the Wanderers squad, ironically it was veteran Ante Covic who would falter.
The goalkeeper came off his line to tackle a charging Enver Alivodic, but the Jets’ Serbian recruit got past Covic to give the visitors the lead in the 22nd minute.
The Jets doubled their advantage through Lee Kiji just before the break before Nick Kalmar got one back for the Wanderers from a free kick in the second half.
“Overall we started bright but I think for them it would have been great if we took the lead, they would have relaxed a lot earlier,” Popovic said.
“Then we made two very bad errors to give the goals away. It’s the story of our season, we’re always chasing the game and it was a lot of pressure for the young players.”
Already without Brendon Santalab (shoulder), Shannon Cole (collarbone), Brendan Hamill (torn quadriceps), Mark Bridge (groin), Mateo Poljak (calf) and Ward (knee), Popovic has now lost Socceroos duo Matthew Spiranovic (hamstring) for up to three weeks and Tomi Juric (groin) for at least a week.
They were casualties of the Wanderers’ Asian Champions League clash in Korea on Wednesday.
“We lost two internationals in Korea. It’s been difficult,” Popovic admitted.
“We’re down on numbers and we’re down on experienced players.”
Ian
Guest
any other club making excuses you'd have a usual dumb insult........now you're making a bucketload of excuses and all you have is that you expect nothing else than insults from other fans who don't know what's going on. you are a gift that keeps on giving
AZ_RBB
Guest
He was also brilliant each time he was called up to replace Covic. Unfortunately the same can't be said of Bouzanis. I'm happy for Bouzanis to stay on but I still think Tyson would have been a better choice. Boys are back in action on Wednesday. This season is relentless.
oly
Guest
Yes WSW fans loved Tyson for his passion but he was only aback up keeper. Popa signed a promising young keeper who he thinks will replace Covic. Can't argue with that call.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Neither did I. All I heard was that Popovic had been a fan of Bouzanis for quite some time and took the opportunity to bring him in. Basically every single fan begged him to keep Tyson. I wouldn't come back if I was Tyson. Go to a club that actually values you.
Josh
Guest
I never understood letting Jerrad Tyson go, if you wanted to see genuine passion for a club you didn't have to look any further. He was great in the ACL, I'm sure Ron Corry had his reasons but it just seemed pointless. Maybe he just needed more experience and the club will want him back in the future.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Yeah I have a ton of issues with what he's doing. The team is completely clueless and the things they do execute are completely off the mark. He should be afforded at least half of next season before serious concerns are raised. But Covic cannot be our keeper next season. Comfortably the worst keeper in the league and at fault for nearly half of our recent goals.
Josh
Guest
9 players out, your retort is invalid... and yeah ciudadmarron, that morning is something I'll remember for the rest of my life - it started about 10pm at the Collector and went until about lunchtime next day.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Almost a full teams worth.... and then playing games with 2 day turn arounds, several games inside a week I'm different hemispheres. You don't know side splitting until you've heard arnold having coniptions about travelling to the central coast after playing a few days before. He would have run out of high pitched squeal months ago if he hd to deal with it. Thing is - worth it. If take it every time for that sweet sweet cool morning outside parra town hall. Every time.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Acl. Horrific schedule. Have a look at it seriously. injuries galore. Not helped by the relaid pitch. A young coach still learning the trade in his hometown. We're still getting comparable crowds to our neighbours at the other end of the table. This is the aleague. We won't be relegated. Popovic is yet to have a standalone season without extenuating circumstances. The closest we had to that we won the league. I have plenty of issues with what he's doing. But I'm glad the club can see a merry go round (who would be next?) Is not the answer.
Josh
Guest
All A League crowds are down, maybe Victory is still healthy but I haven't seen stats. The coach stays, it's not his fault his team has been crippled by the schedule. I didn't want him to play the youth team but he had no choice, he is now signing injury replacements who were also signed as injury replacements.
Josh
Guest
They need to be smarter about planning, WSW came back from Morocco and went to Perth then Wellington (may have got that backwards). I think the team has travelled over 200,000km in the space of 12 months, Gallop is now coming out and admitting they need to take a closer look at it but more than likely we will wait until the next A League team has the same problem before anything is done. I'm sure people will put it down to WSW making excuses though, which is fair enough I wouldn't expect anything less.
yewonk
Guest
Then you have not met tony pignata.
Realfootball
Guest
Popovic needs to do the right thing now and resign. Both common sense and dignity demand it. The club is dying - look at the disgrace of that mostly empty stadium. Popovic may be a good coach, but he clearly can't help the club at this time. He needs to go. The extent of his failure is unforgivable. I can't imagine any other club in the world, or any other business, where someone who has presided over a disaster of this magnitude would still be in their job.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
You have a few players out? Oh my sides.
hope
Guest
if they are trying to promote women into the game, this is not the way, women referees and officials are safe when it comes to decisions , they dont give the benefit of the doubt, but this offside decision was so blatant it dosent deserve a second chance
Bob
Guest
You can't blame the FFA for everything, that's just a lazy excuse. Popa had a player clear out (really, you didn't want Polenz?) at the end of last season and another clear out in January - new players require more training on positions and style etc, that may have contributed? Wanderers have had a hectic travel schedule but that initself is not likely to cause the injuries that's occurred - fatigue from travel and frequency of games will be an impact, as will squad size, but so will club training and preparation methods. Also Wanderers had match day 3 and 4 postponed and did their best to push their games out to December and March missing a 7 week window when at least one could have been played but their priority then was the club world cup which was a mistake given they knew the workload coming up after Christmas. Wanderers deserve sympathy and the FFA needs to look at everything but let's not go blaming the FFA unless you have a specific point to which they should be held "accountable" ?
Waz
Guest
There is no explanation for that decision - the ball was travelling backwards, it came forward off a Wanderers defender, the player concerned was behind the player crossing the ball and the assistant ref was in a perfect position to see all this - on some decisions you can say "yes, I can see his they got that one wrong" but not in this case. The assistant should be stood down for thr rest of the season. The bigger debate is how do we fix this - I don't support tv intervention as it will destroy one of the vital elements that make soccer different and what it is today - the speed and flow of the game is unique amongst football codes. Tv review works in cricket and rugby because of the natural breaks in play, that's not the same for soccer, but the answer lies with technology somewhere I'm sure I just don't know where.
hope
Guest
Are we short on top officials do even do the lines? that was the worst offside decision i have ever witnessed. that lines person in question has made so many bad offside calls in her time i just cant believe shes still there, clap clap again FFA
Josh
Guest
It's getting to the stage where the FFA need to be held accountable, injury after injury is tearing the team apart.