Just when things could not look much worse for Western United's decimated, out-of-form defence, Adelaide United and their World Cup-bound star Craig Goodwin will hope to pile on the misery.
The Victorian club's miserly championship-winning backline proved near-impenetrable last A-League Men season, but this time around they have shipped 10 goals in their first four games.
Leo Lacroix has had a tough start to the campaign, Tomoki Imai (shoulder) is out until after the World Cup break and Nikolai Topor-Stanley received a three-game suspension for his red-card challenge on Central Coast Mariners' Garang Kuol.
"Last year, defensively they didn't concede too many goals and this year they're conceding I suppose what they would call ... softer goals," Reds coach Carl Veart told reporters.
"But I'm sure that will sort itself out.
"They've had a few injuries at the beginning of the season, so when they get all their players back they'll be back to where they were last year."
In the meantime, the in-form Goodwin will be licking his lips in anticipation of Sunday's game at AAMI Park.
The winger already has a goal and two assists to his name this term, despite a limited pre-season, and appears certain to head to Qatar with the Socceroos.
"Goody has shown that he's got over the injury concern that he had in pre-season, he's 100 per cent fit," Veart said.
"You've seen the quality has improved each game that he's started for us.
"We expect another improvement from him tomorrow."
Veart's counterpart John Aloisi backed his wobbly defence to find their footing.
"Jacob Tratt came on against the Mariners - he's played centre-back plenty of times so we're pretty comfortable that he'll fit in and do well," Aloisi told the club's website.
"We saw Leo in good physical condition against the Mariners.
"We're starting to see Leo getting back to his best, and we all know his best is unbelievable.
"We're confident we've got a good back four."
Meanwhile, Veart was wary of a Western United attack that has stuttered through the first month.
"They haven't been playing that badly. I've been having a look at their games this week," he said.
"Football, you've got to score when you're on top and make the most of your chances and we saw that last week.
"They were 2-0 up and then they had a man sent off, then their wheels fell off a bit.
"We'll expect a big response from them."
