Babbel says Wanderers are still in the A-League mix

The competition table says otherwise but Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel does not believe his team is far off the pace.

Western Sydney’s Oriol Riera has scored five goals in nine games this season

The competition table says otherwise but Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel does not believe his team is as far off the pace as their position on the ladder might suggest.

With the eighth-placed Wanderers staring at the real possibility of not playing finals football for the second season in succession, Babbel’s theory will be put to the test against Melbourne City at ANZ Stadium tonight.

The sixth-placed City are two spots and five points above them on the ladder and a loss tonight could have serious consequences for a club that has the second biggest fan base in the league behind Melbourne Victory, has won the Premier’s Plate and played in three grand finals in their first six seasons of existence.

Despite having won just two of nine games so far this season, Babbel feels his side have performed well enough to be higher up the table.

“There is not a team (in the league) so much better than the others,” the German said, even though the Wanderers are 11 points (almost four wins) behind competition leaders Melbourne Victory.

“The competition is very close and we have competed well. Only (the loss) against Melbourne Victory we had no chance.

“All the time, if we did (the right) things in the game we would come out on top.

“We have created most chances in the league but we can’t score the goals.

“Easy we could have more points, so I am not happy with the situation.”

While Babbel, who joined the club at the start of the season, has been quite vocal in his criticism of the players at times, he feels they have the quality to make an impression in the competition.

“When we stick to our structure and the discipline then we have no problems,” he said.

“The game against Adelaide (last week) was a good example.

“We were very good in structure and discipline then we had a 10-minute period where we were not and Adelaide punished us.

“But we showed good character to come back.

“Yes, we had to play against 10 men for a while but sometimes this is not so easy as everyone thinks. We had a good reaction to get the goal (for the equaliser).”

The Wanderers will be looking to maintain their superiority over their Melbourne rivals.

City have a poor record, having won just three of their 11 encounters.

Western Sydney’s home record against the Melburnians is even more staggering as City have yet to beat the Wanderers in nine games in Sydney (six losses and three draws).

The Wanderers will be looking to striker Oriol Riera to continue his fine form of late.

The Spaniard has scored five goals in nine games this season, including one in each of the past two matches, against Sydney FC and Adelaide.

However, he said his form is not important.

“It is nice to score goals because that is my job but it is not about me, it is more about the team as a whole,” Riera said.

“We have to try to continue to improve.

“We are playing at home and we have to be at our best with the ball, try and find space and do the things we have been working on in training.”

City will be looking to stay in touch with the leaders. They are six points adrift and a defeat will make their hopes of a spot in the top two much tougher, even if the season is just a third of the way through.

Their form has been mixed: a win, a draw and loss in their past three, though they showed fight to grab a late equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory in last week’s derby.