Victory coach Ange Postecoglou has scored a coup in his signing of Nathan Coe. Picture: Mark Dadswell Source: The Australian
STAR goalkeeper Nathan Coe will come straight into Melbourne Victory's starting line-up for tonight's match against the Jets in Newcastle, but coach Ange Postecoglou says the A-League club's dropped keepers should embrace, not bemoan, his arrival.
Just a day after announcing the signing of the 28-year-old Australian international, Postecoglou confirmed Coe would start in goal at the first opportunity.
It means Tando Velaphi is relegated to the bench at Hunter Stadium while Lawrence Thomas, who started the season in goal, drops out of the squad.
It's expected one of those players will be offloaded by the Victory in the January transfer window, but Postecoglou denied suggestions Coe's arrival would cause discontent among the goalkeeping stocks.
"There are many walks of life where job security is the No 1 thing, but as a sportsman or a sports team if you've got aspirations, then job security's not what drives you," Postecoglou said.
"I reckon Tando would be pretty excited to have a guy working with him every day that has played for the Socceroos last year.
"Because I assume Tando and Lawrence Thomas have aspirations to be the best goalkeepers they can be and hopefully get to that level one day.
"I'm not interested in players who just want to play. We need to be ambitious and if you're ambitious, you're going to welcome the fact we're getting a quality player into our football club."
Coe, capped three times by the Socceroos, was snapped up by Postecoglou after he decided to leave Danish club SonderjyskE.
He won't be the only change against the Jets, with Postecoglou revealing Brazilian midfielder Guilherme Finkler would miss the match with a groin strain.
Fellow international Jonathan Bru will return to the side with Billy Celeski set to be pushed into a more attacking role.
The Victory has lost in four out of its past six visits to Hunter Stadium and Postecoglou said it would be difficult to reverse the trend. "Newcastle in Newcastle is always a really tough game and I think from our point of view if we can go there and get something out of the game it sets us up well for the rest of the season," he said.
Meanwhile, crack keeper Michael Theo has declared Brisbane's defence stronger than ever this season, sounding a warning to Western Sydney as it looks to score its maiden A-League goal against the Roar in Brisbane tomorrow night.
The Wanderers continue to search for a breakthrough win having so far posted a draw and two losses.
However, with the Roar's strong home record, an upset win over two-time champions is a big ask for Tony Popovic's men.
"We've got a great record (at Suncorp), we seem to play extremely well at home because it's such a big pitch and we can knock it around," Theo said.
The four-time championship-winning goalie says he's more comfortable this season with coach Rado Vidosic using two number sixes at the back.
"Defensively I think we're a lot more solid this season although we're still a very attacking team and we know we're always good for a goal or two a game."
The 31-year-old admitted he was looking forward to seeing Japanese star Shinji Ono in action - but not up close.
"I believe he's called The Genius but hopefully we can keep him a little quiet," he said.
Roar officials were quick to play down star striker Besart Berisha's failure to complete an early-morning training session yesterday, declaring the Albanian international "good to go" against the Wanderers tomorrow night.
He was treated for stomach and ankle ailments, which forced him to quit the session early.
AAP
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