A-League 2020: Western United confident of adding to Perth Glory’s woes

They aren’t in the top six yet, but Western United are the A-League’s form team, according to coach Mark Rudan.

It’s all smiles in the Western United camp after four wins in their past five matches. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Western United coach Mark Rudan has warned struggling Perth Glory to expect further misery on Wednesday night declaring his own team the “form side” of the A-League.

United, despite still sitting outside the top six, have won of their past five matches and have games in hand on all their rivals.

In contrast, the Glory were woeful in a 4-0 loss to also-rans Melbourne Victory last Saturday.

Perth have conceded 10 goals in their past three matches, including a 5-3 loss to Adelaide United.

Western United players celebrate an Alessandro Diamanti goal in a 5-3 win over Western Sydney. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Rudan admitted he was surprised a team controlled by Glory boss Tony Popovic had been so poor defensively.

“It’s unlike ‘Popa’s’ teams to do that but ... knowing Popa also, he’ll be working hard to rectify that, but it’s about us,” the United coach said.

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“We’ve seen a lot of areas there that we believe we can expose (Perth).

“We’re the form team of the competition. We’ve won four out of five. In three of those games we’ve scored five or more goals as well, which tells you what kind of a team we are.

“We’re going to press them as well. We’re just going to go all out. That’s us, that’s how we want to play.

“Our game plan isn’t going to change too much and we feel like Wednesday night’s the time to take it up a notch as well.”

Rudan said it was too early to discuss his team’s title chances, preferring just to focus on United’s battle with the Glory at Bankwest Stadium.

However, should United finish in the top six, Rudan was confident the club could win the championship im their first season.

“We believe we can beat anybody in this competition,” he said.

“We believe that we’re the best prepared team as well. We believe that we’re playing some of the best football of all the teams in the competition too, so there’s a lot of self-belief.”

That’s particularly evident in skipper Alessandro Diamanti, who scored a superb double in United’s 5-3 defeat of Western Sydney Wanderers last Friday night.

“’Dia’ is always in a good mood,” Rudan said.

“He’s always happy, he’s always got a smile on his face/”

Smiles were non-existent in the Perth camp after the embarrassing loss to the Victory, but Popovic was adamant the Glory had “moved on”.

“We know that we control our own destiny,” Popovic said.

“We’ve been inconsistent. When we’ve played well, we’ve played very well. When we haven’t, we’ve been poor. That’s something we’re going to have to rectify.

“The ladder is tight but we also know that a win for us puts us in fourth position. That’s also an opportunity for us.

“We go in with a lot of respect for Western United but certainly no fear of the game.”

NCA Newswire