KEY POINTS:
Ricki Herbert struggles to understand Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell's thinking ahead of tomorrow night's A-League game in Perth.
Mitchell said this week that if his team loses this match, the last of the round five games, he can more or less kiss goodbye to his team's chances of figuring at the business end of the season.
"I can't understand why he talked that way," said Herbert before he and his Wellington Phoenix side embarked on the third-longest trip in world domestic football on Thursday afternoon. "Given how close the league is, you won't know until the back end of the season whether you are in or out [of the top four play-offs]."
Mitchell obviously has some concerns. With no wins and only one draw from their opening four matches, the Glory are on the bottom of the table and face a Phoenix side who won all three clashes between the far-flung clubs last season including 1-0 in the away game.
Only two trips in the Russian League are longer than the Wellington-Perth trek. With no direct flight from Wellington they were not expected in their hotel until 12 hours later.
Herbert, a little more buoyant after last Sunday's 0-0 draw with defending champions Central Coast, admits there is still plenty to be done.
"This is a big game for us," he said. "Last week we got back to something closer to what we have been looking for with some `heart on the sleeve' stuff. We produced our best football pre-season with attacking-minded players in behind [the strikers].
"Basically, to be competitive we have to create more scoring chances for Shane Smeltz. We haven't been doing that."
Herbert has left Vaughan Coveny behind, preferring either Leilei Gao, Daniel or Adam Kwasnik (back from injury) as his support for Smeltz. The defensive quartet remains unchanged but there could be a shuffle in midfield with Michael Ferrante likely to come in for Karl Dodd and with Tim Brown challenging Troy Hearfield for a start.
Mitchell has key players Jamie Harnwell and Naum Sekulovski back from injury to bolster his squad but has lost his Brazilian playmaker Amaral to a hamstring injury.
Defender Dino Djulbic is also missing, having served one week of his five-match ban imposed after being sent off after 20 minutes of the 5-2 loss to Sydney for dissent.
The league's judicial body this week slapped a nine-week ban on Melbourne's Ney Fabiano for spitting at Adelaide United's Robert Cornthwaite in the 30th minute of last week's game in Melbourne.
The judiciary, in rejecting an appeal against the mandatory one-match ban, added eight weeks.
