Markus Babbel expressed his disappointment with Western Sydney’s meek FFA Cup exit but he can console himself with the arrival of a European striker this week.
The Wanderers were dumped out of the Cup with a 3-0 loss to Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Wednesday night and rarely looked threatening in a flat performance.
Matthew Jurman, Patrick Ziegler and Mitch Duke were among the key Wanderers missing, and their depth was found wanting against a City side led by the red-hot Craig Noone and Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren.
“Big disappointment because this is the reason why you have a squad and it is also a chance for other players to show, ‘Hey, I want to be in the squad, I want to be on the pitch’ and City deserved to win,” Babbel told reporters post-match.
“They were stronger, they had more discipline – this is the biggest disappointment today because tactically we were not good and I was thinking we did a lot, especially what we want to do, how we want to play – but we did too many mistakes.
“And to be fair, of course we had also four big chances but we didn’t deserve it today because Melbourne wanted it more.”
The Wanderers coach confirmed the club had signed a European free agent striker who will arrive on Saturday, but wouldn’t be drawn on the player’s identity.
“I was looking for a player who is different to what we have and also to come with the right reasons,” Babbel said.
“Because this is the biggest problem – of course Sydney’s a beautiful city… but this is not the reason to come, to come is to have success with Western Sydney Wanderers and I’m very happy that we could wait so long to find him.
“We were talking on Monday with him, on Tuesday we signed the contract and on Friday he’s on the plane.
“So I was talking to him – he comes for the right reasons and I’m very happy that he decided to come to us and I hope he can help us.”
Kwame Yeboah and Daniel Georgievski were both substituted and Babbel said he believed the pair had just suffered knocks but they would be assessed upon the team’s return to Sydney.
© AAP
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