First impressions are lasting and Perth Glory’s opening two preseason games won’t have done much to inspire optimism in supporters.
A defeat on penalties to a youthful Wellington Phoenix side in the Australia Cup on Sunday was followed by a 9-0 humbling by AC Milan at HBF Park just four days later.
Coming off the back of a second successive wooden spoon finish, coach David Zdrilic has been entrusted to lead Glory into the 2025/26 campaign. The knives were out for the former Sydney FC assistant towards the end of the last campaign, however owner Ross Pelligra backed his man for another year.
A narrow playoff victory over Central Coast Mariners in Darwin back in May secured a place in the last 32 of the Australia Cup. However, Glory were unable to capitalise on a favourable home draw when they fell to the Phoenix on penalties following a lacklustre 1-1 draw.
The Milan drubbing might have been easier to take for supporters if they had a cup run on the cards but now, it is unclear when Glory will have another meaningful hit out ahead of the league’s start in mid-October.
“It’s early in the preseason, you’ve got to be careful,” said Zdrilic following the Milan defeat.
“You’ve done three-and-a-half weeks of training, you’ve played a game 120 minutes, and then you’re playing four days later. You’re not conditioned to do that, firstly.
“And then to play a team like that, it’s much harder. I think we’re not reading too much into it.”
Glory have signed players this offseason, and should be better at the back with the addition of Brian Kaltak, Scott Wootton, and Sam Sutton, the standout player against Wellington. Callum Timmins returns to the club and adds depth to midfield but it’s in the final third that the team is seriously lacking.
By Zdrilic’s own admission, they can’t keep relying on moments of magic from Adam Taggart and one player who did link up well with the Socceroos striker, Jaylan Pearman, has left the club for Queens Park Rangers.
“We don’t want to just rely on Tags and to create two very clear opportunities couple in the first half, but those two late, they’re very clear and we should at least score one of them,” he said.
Glory’s Football Director Stan Lazaridis has spoken openly about trying to bring in attackers, most notably Sydney FC’s Joe Lolley, but to no avail, while Ajdin Hrustic opted to stay in Europe over a move to the A-League.
Key midfielders Luke Amos and Nicholas Pennington missed both games this week through injury but neither are renowned for their prowess in front of goal.
“The players that we’ve brought in are good but it’s not enough,” he said. “We have to add a couple more players as well, especially up front to help Tags because every time the ball went up, if Tags is flicking it on we’ve lost the ball and it comes back so it’s not sustainable.”
Zdrilic spoke regularly about how players were “underdone” last season and he moved to address that by ensuring that the bulk of the squad was on board and training from the first week of July.
However, following the resounding loss to Milan, Zdrilic again referenced his players being well off the pace of their opponents who themselves are in preseason mode.
When asked about prospective new signings, Zdrilic acknowledged that while there is still two-and-a-half months left of preseason, the club wants to get any new faces in the building as soon as possible.
“We don’t want to wait until the last minute so we’re working on it,” he said.
“But I think you can see with also the culture of the A-League and what’s happening with other clubs, it’s not as easy and I think we did a lot of good work early, but we need few more pieces. That’s clear and we’re working on that.”
With the club promoting memberships in recent days, supporters would probably prefer to see more on the football pitch than a marketing pitch before parting with their dollars.
