Western Sydney Wanderers’ Mitch Nicholls urges patience

Western Sydney’s Mitch Nicholls has urged his teammates to trust the game plan that got them out of trouble last season.

Wanderers’ Mitch Nicholls tussles with Sydney FC’s David Carney in last week’s derby. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

Western Sydney midfielder Mitch Nichols has urged his new teammates to trust in the patient game plan that rescued the Wanderers from a similar early-rounds funk last season.

As they did last A-League season, the Wanderers find themselves in last place after the first round, having been thrashed by Sydney FC 4-0 in the local derby last Saturday.

And with just eight players remaining from the 16-man squad that fell to Adelaide in last season’s title decider, Nichols said a slow start was the price you paid for a huge turnover in personnel.

He said sticking to the system that worked wonders last campaign would be the key.

“We’ve changed a lot of players but not much has changed in the game plan,” Nichols said yesterday. “That was one thing we didn’t do on the weekend, we didn’t put our foot on the ball and keep it and make them work. We had a you-attack, we-attack game.

“The players that come in, obviously it will take time. Pre-­season is a good time to gel but the season has started. It’s about us getting on the front foot and building some momentum.”

Nichols said the Wanderers, who face last season’s grand final victors in Adelaide tomorrow, had spent much of this week focusing on not panicking if a few goals get past them.

“It’s about us not crumbling, falling apart when they score or (we) get behind,” Nichols said.

“We really didn’t play our game as much. We were forcing it too much and not being patient. Defensively, we need to not let them get those chances and be more compact.”

The 27-year-old said he had faith in both the playing roster and coach Tony Popovic and that the tide would turn, as it had done last year. It took the Wanderers a month before they claimed their first win last season.

“We’re not going to throw it in and change what we’ve been working on last year and this pre-season based on one result,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s very disappointing at home losing to our ­rivals but we have faith. We’ve had a good week on the pitch — everyone’s fit and there’s no injuries.

“Everyone is putting their hand up for selection and we want to take the game to Adelaide. We’ll look to get the three points down there.”

AAP