Finding a way to stop World Cup aspirant Daniel Arzani in his tracks is crucial in John Aloisi's bid to lift Western United's championship defence off the ground.
United have opened the A-League Men season with two successive defeats and lost midfielder Tongo Doumbia to a long-term hamstring injury in the process.
Now they face the difficult task of shutting down in-form winger Arzani when Dwight Yorke's Macarthur FC visit AAMI Park on Friday night.
United coach Aloisi is wary of the Bulls' speed and trickery on the counter-attack, with Al Hassan Toure, Lachlan Rose and Arzani all posing significant threats.
It comes after Sydney FC wingers Joe Lolley and Robert Mak caused United headaches last week.
"That's probably their (Macarthur's) biggest asset, they break really well," Aloisi said.
"When they start running at you with their pace, and also the one-versus-one technical ability of Arzani, you have to be ready and stop that quite early.
"We know that's their threat, you have to be aware of it, and we are.
"We've shown the boys and hopefully with our threats we can cause them some problems and get some goals."
United did find the net in each of their opening two fixtures and despite failing to register a point so far, Aloisi isn't hitting the panic button.
"If you start worrying about the results too much - it's normal, it's human nature - you start to get a little bit anxious," he said.
"But we know that playing the way we're playing and with the group that we've got, results will come.
"Hopefully it happens (on Friday night) but if it doesn't we can't really start to think we're out of it because it's a long season.
"We've got plenty of football to play and we'll get the results we need to be up there challenging."
Veteran Italian playmaker Alessandro Diamanti is a chance to return to action for United against Macarthur but Doumbia is unlikely to feature again before the World Cup break.
Striker Aleksandar Prijovic is still unavailable with Aloisi unable to offer any clarity around his return date.
Prijovic, who scored 13 goals in 27 games last season and won the Joe Marston Medal, was scheduled to resume running on Thursday as he deals with a chronic toe injury.
