(Reuters) – Central Coast Mariners’ head coach Mark Jackson has dismissed suggestions his side’s poor form is due to a bad attitude within his squad as the reigning A-League champions continue to struggle at the wrong end of the standings.
Mariners have failed to replicate the form that delivered an unprecedented treble last season, when the club claimed the A-League Premiership, Championship and the AFC Cup. Jackson’s squad are sitting in 10th place after 10 matches.
The Englishman had criticised the approach of several unnamed players after the recent 4-1 loss against league leaders Auckland FC, but he denied those issues were symptomatic of long-term problems within his squad.
“There’s no bust-ups, there’s no continued bad attitude,” said Jackson after his team earned a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City in Gosford on Monday.
“It was a misjudgement on certain players’ parts but that’s been put to bed.
“Everybody’s together on the pitch. You can see in the players’ attitude, even going down 1-0 to a good team like Melbourne City the boys are still fighting.
“You see how the boys are celebrating when we scored the goal. I think it’s clear to see that everyone’s together at this football club.
“No bust-ups, just me reiterating my expectations from the team.”
Nathan Paull scored midway through the second half to earn Central Coast a point against Melbourne City, who had taken the lead through Samuel Souprayen, but the draw did little to move Mariners up the table.
Mariners trail Auckland by 11 points and Jackson admitted he would be looking to strengthen his side when the transfer window opens later in the month.
“We’re moving down the line with a few options,” he said. “We’ve got a few irons in the fire at the minute.
“We’ll be continuing to work hard on that, we’ll be continuing to work on the targets we’ve identified but also targets are coming up all the time. It’s a busy time.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Neil Fullick)
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