A-League Men: Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic not worried about job security but admits squad lacks confidence

Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic does not fear for his job security despite apologising to fans as the club moved one game away from equalling the longest winless run in A-League Men’s history. The under-pressure Zdrilic admitted his players were suffering from a lack of confidence as they were thumped 4-0 by Newcastle at HBF Park on Saturday night to make it eight games without a win to start the season. Perth were three goals down inside the opening 26 minutes as the Jets destroyed a Glory side who entered the match just one point behind them on the ladder. Defeat, coupled with Brisbane Roar’s earlier draw, dropped Perth to the foot of the table and failure to beat the Roar in Brisbane this Saturday will equal the all-time A-League Men’s winless record of 19 matches, and fans chanted for Zdrilic to be sacked during the game. Zdrilic said he spoke with the owners regularly and held no fears for his future despite his side having shipped 24 goals in just eight games this season while only scoring four. “It’s been one of the the worst starts, and I have to take that on me, but I’m working hard to make sure that we that we can turn this around,” he said. “They (the owners) understand the situation that we’re in. I’m just focusing on the team. “All of that stuff’s out of my my hands. The only thing I focus on is: How can I get the best out of these guys?” Goals conceding in quick succession has been a recurring theme for the Glory this season and with it happening once again against Newcastle, Zdrilic attributed the pattern to a lack of confidence. “It’s obviously a team that you can see is low on confidence,” he said. “It’s a group of players that have had positive moments in the pre-season, they started really well so it is a group that has that in them, but obviously with the start of the season, the way it’s gone so far, they’re low on confidence. “We apologise, but we’re going to keep working, we’re not gonna stop.” Zdrilic apologised to fans as they were stunned into silence for large periods of the game. “It’s just not good enough. I know we’ve been speaking about things like this since the league started, but we didn’t even give ourselves a chance to get into the game,” he said. “It’s just very simple errors, it’s too easy to cough up goals and then we give ourselves a mountain to climb, we didn’t even really give ourselves a chance to get into the game.” The club have not won a men’s game since February, and just 5459 fans were in attendance at HBF Park on Saturday night for the Glory’s lowest crowd of the season. Despite fans having now watched their side concede 57 goals in their last 15 competitive matches, Zdrilic urged supporters to stick fat. “It’s going to get a lot better. Supporters of this club are very loyal, and I think if they understand that it is a tough challenge, and we stick together, things can change very quickly,” he said. “While the results and the performances are not positive, everything else going on in the background the club is and if they stick through this period, there’s going to be positive times ahead.”