Markus Babbel glad to bring Wanderers ‘home’ to face Jets

Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel must have been wondering if his club the nomad of Australian soccer.

Wanderers coach Markus Babbel has been training his players hard through the international break. Picture: Getty Images

There’s no place like home but Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel must have been wondering if his club was more like the nomad of Australian soccer.

After five months and eight games in the job, the German will finally get to taste the real hype and the passion of the Wanderers’ fan base with the return to Spotless Stadium tonight for the game against the Newcastle Jets.

As the Western Sydney stadium in Parramatta nears completion in time for the start of next season, the Wanderers have had to use Spotless and a number of other venues, including ANZ Stadium, Mudgee and Penrith Stadium, as a home ground for the past three seasons for FFA Cup and A-League games.

It has had an effect on their crowd numbers, especially given the faithful have not taken to Spotless Stadium, which is used primarily for cricket and AFL.

The A league fixtures for this week

But Babbel can at least count tonight as some sort of proper home game as the Wanderers have played the majority of their matches here since the old Parramatta Stadium was torn down.

“I look forward to this because after five months here I have never had a real home game,” Babbel said. “It will be a great day for me and the players to be at our home base.

“The fans will be like a 12th man for us and it will be a good feeling.”

Importantly, the Wanderers will be looking to build momentum given they will play six of their next eight games at “home”, including one against Central Coast Mariners at this venue then four of the next five at ANZ Stadium.

They have had a mixed start to the season with a win, two draws and a loss. It could have read better but they blew a two-goal lead against Brisbane Roar in a 2-2 draw in Mudgee two weeks ago.

Babbel said the international break gave him the chance to work more on the squad’s physical aspects.

“We have had a very good week, it was quite intensive and we worked on the next level,” Babbel said. “The boys did well but we still have more to do because they are not where I expect them to be.

“They did not look fresh, even from the start, against Brisbane and I had the feeling they did not look 100 per cent fit.”

Babbel does not see it as a huge problem as he is gearing the squad for a heavy schedule through Christmas and January, when the games will come thick and fast.

“It is a long season and we have to keep working,” he said. ­“Especially, you can train hard now because we have so many games coming up. We can do this now because when the games are on later you can’t do so much. You have to think about recovery.”

Babbel is wary of a Newcastle side yet to win this season with two draws and two defeats.

“It is a surprise they don’t have as many points as normal as they are a very good side. We know their qualities and this will be a tough game,” he said.

Babbel said that defender Patrick Ziegler was close to playing again following knee surgery but he will err on the side of caution.

“If this was a final then maybe he would play but I think we need to be careful and have him ready next week.”

Meanwhile, Brisbane, who have won six of their last nine at home to tomorrow’s opponents Melbourne City, will need to play smarter to repeat the dose.

Poor starts and defensive mishaps have dogged the eighth-placed Roar. The hosts’ winless run stretches back to their last game of last season when beaten 2-0 by Melbourne City in the elimination final.