A-League: Oriol Riera will be back to his best, says teammate

Alexander Baumjohann has backed his Western Sydney Wanderers teammate Oriol Riera to bounce back to his best

Western Sydney Wanderers marquee man Oriol Rierais down on confidence

Alexander Baumjohann has backed his Western Sydney Wanderers teammate Oriol Riera to bounce back to his best and make an impact as the club battles to stay in contention for a spot in the A-League finals.

Riera has come under pressure in recent weeks as the misfiring Wanderers attack has failed to capitalise on a plethora of chances, which has seen the club go winless in their past four games.

Western Sydney are in eighth spot with just nine points and it doesn’t get any easier for them against the in-form Wellington Phoenix at ANZ Stadium tonight. The Kiwis are in sixth spot.

It has been a frustrating time for all concerned at the Wanderers with the fans publicly showing their disapproval with the results while chairman Paul Lederer was forced to try to placate them via a letter to the members last week.

As the marquee man, reportedly on $1.3 million a season, Riera has come in for special mention amid suggestions in the media his body language is wrong and he is not providing value for money.

In his first season in the A-League, the Spaniard was the club’s leading goalscorer with 15 but this season he has managed just five in 11 games. He hasn’t scored in his past two matches and has missed several penalties along the way, notably in the 2-0 loss to Melbourne City two games ago.

There are some reports that Riera has received an offer to return to Spain and may not see out his contract with the Wanderers.

Baumjohann is confident the Wanderers will see the best of the striker again.

“It’s not just about the strikers because everybody has chances,” said Baumjohann, who has been one of the positives for the club this season. “We just have to get better.

“Especially for a striker, sometimes they have a run like this with no goals and down in confidence, but when you get one goal you can get a lot. Ori has scored so many for the club … and we totally trust him to get back to what he is best doing: scoring goals.”