WESTERN Sydney Wanderers coach Marko Rudan has added some extra spice to Sunday's clash with the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium by taking a thinly veiled swipe at their playing style.
At a press conference on Friday, Rudan described the Jets as "a tough opponent" who his team respected but queried the theory that they play much differently to any other side in the A-League.
"I kind of question some of the commentary about certain teams, because they're a team that have less than 50 per cent possession, statistically," Rudan told reporters.
"So I'm not sure why people would say why, because of a certain decent passage of play - which every team has done - why they are better than somebody else ... if you watched the game last week, I didn't see them playing through Western United all that often.
"There was a lot of long-ball stuff and clearing their lines into [Trent] Buhagiar and things like that as well.
"So it's really interesting how people portray or paint certain teams. Maybe it's [that] a spokesman for the club continues to explain what their philosophy is."
Rudan said every team aspired to play "attractive football, whatever by definition that means", but the priority was to get results.
"This team [Newcastle} in particular can play when they want to play, but I think they finished in the bottom two last year," he said. "I think that's something to think about and digest."
The Jets actually finished ninth last season, four rungs off the bottom of the ladder, and one spot above Wanderers.
The Wanderers beat Newcastle 2-0 earlier in the season and Rudan said: "There's no reason why we can't do it again."
Sunday's game is crucial for the Jets, who after last week's 1-all draw with Western United are 10th, three points behind the top six.
A win against third-placed Wanderers could be a catalyst for their season.
"The ladder as it stands today, there are five teams that have only won one of their last five games, and we're part of that," Jets coach Arthur Papas said.
"So it's not a Newcastle Jets thing, it's definitely an A-League thing, that consistency isn't easy to come by.
"There's one or two teams that have a bit of consistency right now, and the rest are all fighting each other. So for us, there's a lot of opportunity in this second half of the season.
"It'd massive for us to get a win at home on Sunday. It won't be defining, but it would be very important."
Papas said Newcastle co-captain Brandon O'Neill, who has missed two games with a knee injury, was a chance of returning.
"He'll be touch and go," Papas said.
"We'll give him as long as he can and see if he stacks up."
Meanwhile, the Jets have freed up funds and positions on their roster for Papas to bolster his strike force.
The Jets have confirmed that a fringe player, ex-Macarthur Bulls forward Rory Jordan, has been loaned out to Sydney NPL club Apia Leichhardt, who will pay his wage for the rest of this season.
The Newcastle Herald was also told that the Jets were very close last night to agreeing a mutual release with a senior player, who was poised to join a rival club.
With no vacancies in their squad as it was, Newcastle's only option in terms of signing players during the January transfer window was to convince incumbents to move on.
Papas hopes to use funds freed up by the mid-season roster shuffle to bring in a creative player to spark an attack that has delivered only 10 goals in 12 games this season.
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