Gombau presses on with his Wanderers plan

CARLY ADNO WESTERN Sydney are winless since the opening game of the A-League season in October and haven’t managed a goal in their last three games.

Josep Gombau’s record since taking over as coach reads one draw, three defeats and includes last weekend’s derby demolition at the hands of Sydney FC.

But not even a 5-0 loss to their fiercest rivals will persuade Gombau to deviate from his philosophy.

The Spaniard is intent on changing the playing style at the Wanderers – a move that was always going to be risky in the middle of the season, particularly with a team he inherited rather than assembled.

“Of course never do I want a result like last Saturday. It shouldn’t happen and from this we need to learn and we need to improve,” Gombau said. “I apologise to the fans, the fans don’t deserve this, but if we keep working and building this is the way we need to (continue).

“It’s football and I am very clear with what I want to do and the way I want the team to play. The philosophy is very clear, results are results, but I don’t have this pressure.

“We have our plan and the way we want to build.”

Gombau has put his players through their paces this week as the club attempts to put the derby humiliation behind them.

But in the midst of his team’s poor recent form, Gombau says there are positives he believes will be more noticeable against Mariners tonight.

“We are in this process, I take the responsibility, we just keep working on the things we need to improve,” he said. “I saw positive things that maybe other people don’t see because they don’t know what we are trying to do. I saw a lot of positive movement, the way we want to play from the back, good reaction, the way we press.

“So we just keep going with the things we like and improve the things we need to improve.”

Oriol Riera will make his return from a hamstring injury and Gombau says there will be other changes from the team he put out against Sydney last week.