Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters says defensive improvement must come swiftly as they prepare for an away trip to A-League Women powerhouse Melbourne Victory.
It comes as Peters revealed captain Isobel Dalton is set to spend another week on the sidelines with a knee complaint after she missed their 3-0 defeat to Canberra United.
After an opening game victory, Perth have now lost three on the bounce and the nature of their performance in the nature’s capital was concerning for Peters.
While Glory’s losses to Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC featured lengthy passages of play where they had the ascendancy, Perth were out-gunned from the get-go against a previously winless Canberra.
And Peters said defensive improvements, both structurally and mentally, were at the forefront of their plans against Victory in Melbourne on Sunday.
“We’ve conceded nine goals in the four games so that’s the first area of concern that we have to address definitely, and the manner in which we’re conceding them as well, we have to fix that quickly,” Peters said.
“How to address that, it’s tricky one. We’ve got to address each piece one at a time, and hopefully they start to have an impact on our competency in defending.”
With Dalton out on the weekend, Peters opted to drop Emma Tovar deeper to partner Onyinyechi Zogg in the heart of defence, with Noami Chinnama starting on the bench.
But without Tovar and Dalton, Perth’s midfield struggled, which saw Peters push Tovar back into midfield in the second-half as Chinnama pressed her claim for a start with a strong showing as a substitute.
“Losing Dalton last week was really tricky for us, particularly a day before we traveled, so that was tough,” Peters said.
“I don’t think we adapted to that as well as we possibly could have. We also made quite a few changes, and they didn’t bear the fruit that we were looking for.
“If you look at the three games prior to that, there were really good elements in all of those and we showed a lot of our characteristics and the principles that we want to play with.
“But I feel like with the exception of maybe 10 minutes after the second goal they (Canberra) scored, I don’t think we showed our true character in that game, and that’s probably the disappointing part of it.”
Peters said Dalton’s injury was not serious, but she would not travel to Melbourne to face Victory.
“She’s not going to be part of the plans this week. We’re hoping that she can be part of the Wellington game (in two weeks’ time),” he said.
