COACH Arthur Papas expects hired gun Beka Mikeltadze to be locked and loaded as the Newcastle Jets aim to rebound quickly against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Friday night.
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Beka played the second half of the 2-0 loss to Western Sydney - the club's first defeat after opening the season with consecutive wins.
The Georgian, who sat out the 3-1 win over Wellington with a quad strain, had a header glance wide but had limited opportunities against a well-organised and aggressive Wanderers defence.
"He got through 45 minutes on Friday and you could see that he wasn't at his best in terms of intensity," Papas said. "But he caused them problems
"With another week of training, he will be 100 per cent. Absolutely."
A well as Mikeltadze, defender Jordan Elsey is available after completing a two-week suspensions for a high-boot.
While the Georgian is likely to lead the attack, Papas is not about to make wholesale changes.
"Else has done extras and has been working hard," Papas said. "He will be up for selection this week. In saying that, it wasn't a poor defensive performance.
"The backline was solid. There were some areas. The goals you conceded you can always pick on, but overall Wanderers have not created a lot."
After Victory, the Jets are at home to Melbourne City before the competition breaks for the group stage of the World Cup.
"This stretch, if we looked at it before we started ... we played Wellington who were a finals team last year, Victory and City were finals teams last season and Western Sydney are expected to be a finals team.
"We knew the start we have had was very challenging. The teams we are up against are all teams to be reckoned with. They are good challenges. By the end of it, we will work out where we are at and will know what areas we need to focus on during the break."
Victory are coming off a scoreless draw away to Brisbane and could be boosted up front with the likely addition of Bruno Fornaroli, who has had his contract at Perth mutually terminated.
"Victory will be a good test," Papas said. "We have to stay focused on our game and look for more consistency. We need to improve some of the decision making so when we get into the front third we are in position to create better chances. That is an area for growth for us.
"When we have got the ball, make sure we have the intention to hurt teams and score goals. In patches we have shown we have got that but we have to do it for longer periods."
The Jets had 61 entries into the final third against Wanderers but it only resulted in 12 touches inside the penalty area.
"We have not been able to dominant the parts of the game we wanted to dominate," Papas said.
"When we get into the front third, we need to make better decisions. Be a bit more decisive. We weren't at our best. It was a challenge and we have fallen a bit short.
"We have to rebound quickly."
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
