With another A-League Men’s home game this Wednesday only a few days after the City boys were last in action, the fitness of the squad will no doubt be of keen interest to fans ahead of our Round 4 clash with Perth Glory.
Manuel Pucciarelli appears to be a prime candidate to benefit from potential squad rotation ahead of Wednesday’s game, with the Italian making his debut for the club against Hume City last week before sitting out the team’s loss to Western United over the weekend.
With the coaching staff eager to have the Italian play a major role throughout the season, he was left out of Saturday’s squad after a quick turnaround as he continues to build his match fitness.
Well-rested and fresh off a good performance in the FFA Cup, assisting Mathew Leckie’s winner, Pucciarelli could be used to inject a spark and some creativity going forward on Wednesday night.
Both Rostyn Griffiths and Nathaniel Atkinson made pleasing progress with their respective recoveries from injury, with the pair named to City’s bench for that Round 3 game over the weekend.
Atkinson came on for the final 15 minutes of the clash, replacing Andrew Nabbout on the right-wing and looked comfortable being back amongst the action. Griffiths will be hoping to make a similar return from injury on Wednesday night, as the defender will be in contention for a place in the starting lineup to take on Perth Glory.
Atkinson’s chances of a start are perhaps even stronger, with the youngster having proven a versatility in his game that allows him to play anywhere along the right flank, so could come in to replace Nabbout or Scott Galloway if he is chosen to start on Wednesday.
In other squad news, Stefan Colakovski could make his return against Perth after being precautionarily omitted from City’s matchday squads on Wednesday and Saturday due to illness. Following the Western United clash, Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo confirmed he’d been absent from training all week, so City fans will no doubt be hoping for a healthy and fresh Colakovski this week.
The youngster hasn’t featured for City since his start against South Melbourne in the FFA Cup Round of 32 back in early November.
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