KEY POINTS:
Attacking Brazilian midfielder Fred could provide just the boost the Wellington Phoenix need as they look to improve on a disappointing soccer A-League home record against Newcastle on Sunday.
From five matches at Westpac Stadium so far this season, the Phoenix have just one win, and captain Andrew Durante said he believed the addition of Fred as a guest player for the next six weeks could make all the difference.
"He'll add a lot more fluency and help bring the midfield and defence into attack, hopefully creating more chances for guys like Shane Smeltz and Leo Bertos up front," Durante said.
"He's got the Brazilian flair but he's also very much a team player and a guy who works very hard for a Brazilian.
"He's looking good and hopefully he brings that X-factor for us on Sunday."
Four out of the next five Phoenix games are at home and Durante said the team were looking to improve vastly on their strike rate.
"For whatever reason we've struggled at home, like a few clubs in the comp this season," he said. "We've spoken about it and we agreed that we probably need to relax a bit and express ourselves a bit more when we play at home.
"It's a case of not going into our shells, so at training this week we've concentrated on just going out there and playing good football."
Durante will make his 50th A-League appearance this weekend against his old teammates the Newcastle Jets if he can overcome a niggling hamstring injury.
He was set to achieve the milestone for the Phoenix against Sydney FC two weeks ago, but the injury kept him out of the match, won 2-1 by the Wellington club in Sydney.
Central defender Durante recognises he has a fight on his hands to secure a spot in the squad for Sunday's match.
"Hopefully I do play this weekend, but there's no guarantee of that given how well the boys went without me in Sydney," he said.
"There's healthy competition for places in the squad and I guess it's a good headache for Ricki to have. The defence was solid against Sydney with Manny Muscat, Ben Sigmund, Karl Dodd and Tony Lochhead doing really well."
Jets coach Gary van Egmond will watch the match from the stand as he serves out a two-match suspension after an incident in Perth two weeks ago.
Durante said the Phoenix weren't underestimating the threat posed by Newcastle.
"It's not a matter of singling out anything in particular but obviously (Jets striker) Joel Griffiths will be a danger and we'll really need to stop him.
"They'll be fired up because they've copped a lot of stick in the press over there about how they've been performing, so they'll want to come out and give us a good run for our money."
- NZPA
