This weekend is Sydney Derby XL and is the headline act of this weekend’s Unite Round.
Ufuk Talay and Alen Stajcic will lock horns once more after their meeting in round one and ahead of Saturday night’s clash, the Sky Blues boss spoke to the press and gave fitness updates on a number of key players.
“Joe’s [Lolley] is good and is available for selection.
“Douglas is one of those ones where we need to make a decision about whether or not we push him,” Talay said.
“We need to weigh up about whether or not we use him this weekend or else for Thursday’s ACL game which is very important away against Eastern.
“We don’t want to use him too early and then he potentially breaks down again because in a few weeks we will go back to one match a week which will allow us to utilise him much better then.
“Douglas is itching to get back out there, he just wants to play again and we want him too as well,” he added.
“He’s a very important player to us and we’ll have to sit down with the medical staff and discuss what the best options are moving forward.
“We looked after Leo in the first week of the International Break which gave us time for a few players to rest after a heavy load but he’s been good and will be available for selection on Saturday.”
After making his Socceroos debut on Wednesday morning, Hayden Matthews will return to Australia on Thursday morning however is ruled out for this weekend after picking up a suspension in the clash against Macarthur.
And with this dilemma, Talay revealed he hasn’t sorted his plans yet.
“This is why we have the week to prepare for matches to work on things and have a look at certain players and where they’re at.
“We’ve got Gurd who’s been out for a while who’s now available and he got some minutes in a friendly over the weekend,” Talay said.
“We’ll make the decision closer to the game in terms of who we think will fill that spot.”
In the opening round clash, Talay got the better of Stajcic and the Wanderers thanks to a second half goal from Patryk Klimala however he is wary of both teams now being five weeks into their season and working out key combinations.
“After four rounds, teams start to find their feet and the coaches and managers start to work out what is working well and what isn’t.
“It’ll be a different game from the first game but it’s still going to be chaotic, it’s the Derby it always is.
“It’s going to be another challenge for us, but one that we are going to have to get over,” he concluded.
Match Details
