Bruce Djite says the Reds will be cautious going into their clash with the Jets, believing Newcastle will be desperate to bounce back from suffering a 6-1 battering at the hands of Perth Glory.
Djite, who bagged a brace in United’s 4-1 thrashing of the Brisbane Roar at the weekend, said sides who are “flattened” one week, usually come out firing the following week, eager to put a demoralising result behind them to make amends as soon as possible.
And this is what Djite is expecting from the Newcastle Jets when the Reds’ play host to the Hyundai A-League’s ninth placed side on Sunday at Coopers Stadium, especially when considering the first two meetings of the two teams have both ended in scoreless draws.
“For me, I’m not to keen to come up against teams that were flattened the week before because it means they’re going to have a long week to iron out all the issues they had,” Djite explained.
“They’re going to try and bounce back and it’s going to be a very difficult game this week, (it could potentially be) one of the most difficult games we have this season.
“We’ve played them twice already and they’ve both been nil-all draws, so we haven’t even scored against them yet.
“But they’ll be without Nigel Boogaard, who’s suspended for the game, which is great for us, but we won’t take them lightly and we have to make sure we’re as in good form, if not better form than what we were against Brisbane to make sure we get all three points at home.”
The form Djite refers to is seeing the Reds enjoy an impressive eight-match unbeaten run following their win over the then league-leaders, the Roar. Should Djite and his teammates triumph over the Jets, it will be their fifth straight win at home.
As mentioned, United’s No. 11 managed to score twice against Brisbane, in what was a dominant performance from the striker who terrorised his opposition throughout the match and saw him put to bed a lengthy goalless spell.
“It was a fantastic result for the team and to keep the momentum that we’ve had in the last couple of months,” he said. “It was good to get a couple of goals as well.
“After the game, a few people were asking if my confidence was down (before I scored on the weekend), but it never dropped.
“Guillermo (Amor) kept picking me in the team and I felt like my general play was quite good, but it’s obviously fantastic to get the end result at the end of the day.
“The goals have started to come more regularly and we’ve scored two or three goals often in games. That’s good for us and the defence is tight as well, which makes us very difficult to beat at the moment, but, having said that, we have to keep it going.”
Adelaide United will face Newcastle Jets in Round 17 of the Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season on Sunday, 31 January at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30pm ACDT.
