The media asked and they probed, but Western Sydney Wanderers head coach Markus Babbel was giving nothing away before putting his team through their final preparation for the return to Wanderland against Central Coast Mariners tomorrow.
While Babbel will have a strong squad from which to choose his starting line-up for the club’s opening game of the new Hyundai A-League season, some of the media attention was on the absence of injured midfielder Radoslaw Majewski .
“Maybe we play a different system, you never know,” Babbel said with a huge smile.
“But, that’s the good thing what I have now, I have more options.
“I am not only fixed on one tactical side because we have players who can play different positions and this is, for us, top because we can change our system now.
“I have to think about how Central Coast is playing, which system is best against them.
“I have a couple of players who can play that position, Kwame Yeboah, Mitch Duke, Nick Sullivan and Kosta Grozos.”
Babbel had good news on the injury front with captain Duke and defender Patrick Ziegler available for the match.
Duke injured his knee several months ago but has regained full fitness while Ziegler has made good progress from a knee issue that dogged him all of last season.
“Patrick is good. He is now three weeks in training,” Babbel said. “We will see, maybe this game comes a bit too early, but he is in a top way and has no more problems.
“I am really happy for him, but now we have to be careful with him because after such a long time the body has to learn the power from a game.
“It’s a headache for me, when is it the right time? Is it tomorrow? Is it next week or two weeks or three weeks? We will see at training today.”
