Wanderers head coach Markus Babbel has praised his team’s fighting spirit following the hard-fought 0-0 draw with Brisbane Roar at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night.
While admitting it wasn’t a great performance from the team, he was delighted they have maintained their unbeaten start to the season to go back to the top of the table as well as keeping a clean sheet for the second week in succession.
“I am very happy with the result, seriously,” said Babbel.
“I know how difficult it is after last week’s win against Sydney FC.
“I knew this would be a very difficult game because Brisbane also like us changed a lot, they are a much better team, much more quality on the pitch and you see it today.
“Then, if you can’t bring your best performance on the pitch, yeah, you defend. Also, the heat was a problem. This is also why I was thinking ‘oh this can be very difficult for us today,’ and it is the first time I have been nervous in front of the game.
“I am happy with the performance, how they we’re fighting to hold the clean sheet and, of course, we have a very good goalkeeper (Daniel Lopar) again today. We created chances and the result is fair.”
Babbel reported star midfielder Pirmin Schwegler, who had to be replaced early in the game, had picked up a calf injury but is unaware of the extent of the injury. He admitted his exit from the game hurt the team.
“I hope it is not too bad, it is a knock to the calf,” said Babbel.
“He is a very important player for us. You saw, especially our midfield with Kosta (Grozos), Keanu (Baccus) and Tass (Mourdoukoutas, three 20-21year-old guys in your heart and then it is not easy for the boys and us as a team, but we were fighting and that’s what I want to see.”
Babbel said he is looking forward to the side having a break so that they can work on some tactical issues.
“I said from the start of the season, the squad is not big and if things happen we are struggling definitely,” he added.
“But, I hope that is it (injury wise). I look forward to the break, to bring some players back (from injury). This is a problem not just for us but everyone (in the competition) because the squads are not very big and if something happens to key players then you have problems.
“Today we had too many tactical mistakes and that is the biggest surprise because we worked a lot on this (in pre-season. I hope the break we will make this better because we want to play better football.”
