Damaged Jets in line of fire: Reputations mean zilch to irate coach

THE NEWCASTLE HERALD

BY JOSH LEESON

JETS coach Gary van Egmond said the reputations of his players had been tarnished and changes were imminent in the aftermath of last Friday's 5-0 hiding against Melbourne.
The loss equalled the Jets' previous worst A-League defeat, to Queensland Roar at EnergyAustralia Stadium in 2006.

"Realistically, the only one who has their reputation intact is [Ben] Kantarovski, and so once that goes, all positions are up for grabs," van Egmond said.

"Over the next two weeks we're going to be looking at which players deserve the opportunity to be playing against Sydney.

"You can't lose 5-0 and not look to see if there's going to be any changes. Obviously there's a real problem there."

The Jets are winless after three rounds following draws with Central Coast (1-1) and Perth (3-3) in the opening two rounds.

Last season the Jets conceded 26 goals in 26 games.

This season's average of three goals per game is a worrying statistic for van Egmond.

"If you concede nine goals in three games, there's obviously major concerns on the defensive side of things, because you won't achieve anything by conceding that number of goals," he said.

The A-League takes a break this weekend ahead of the Socceroos' World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan and plenty of work will need to be done during the recess if Newcastle are to beat title favourites Sydney FC in the next match at home on September 13.

"I think what the problem on Friday was we just let ourselves down with discipline," van Egmond said.

"That's with everything, not just general play, but on set-pieces. Against sides like Melbourne you can't do that, and if you do, you get punished."

The Victory scored in the 40th minute through Carlos Hernandez after the Jets had dominated for most of the first half.

Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp ran riot in the second half to destroy Newcastle.

Van Egmond blamed off-field contract drama for disrupting the concentration of his side.

Jets skipper and central defender Jade North has been at the centre of contract talk over the past month and speculation about him transferring to a European club.

Since returning to the Jets from the Olympics in round two, the Socceroos star has been far from his best.

"What we need to do is not worry about anything outside of what we can't control," van Egmond said. "Obviously there's been a few issues here, there and everywhere.

"The deadline is gone now in regards to transferring, and Jade has got to accept his lot of where he is, as far as his football is concerned.

"He has to realise how he got to the stage of being in the [starting] eleven with the Socceroos, by working hard and doing the right things with the Jets to give himself the opportunity."

The Jets also have goalkeeper Ante Covic, striker Joel Griffiths and defender Adam Griffiths coming off contract at the end of the season.

"We need people who are coming off contract to have an outcome, be that with us or someone else," van Egmond said.

"It doesn't really matter, the important part is an outcome, because clearly they can't deal with the fact of not being signed [by the Jets] or with anyone else and not knowing their future."

One player whose future with the Jets is certain is Danish recruit Jesper Hakansson.

Hakansson is signed with Newcastle for two seasons and made his debut on Friday after missing two games with a calf tear.

The attacking midfielder played 68 minutes before being replaced by Jason Hoffman.

Van Egmond said it was a mixed debut.

"I thought he tried really hard, but at the end of the day he got a little lost in regards to the shape and what's expected of him," he said.

"You've got to give him the benefit of the doubt, he hasn't played for several weeks and his effort was good, but obviously we're going to expect more from him.

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