THE Newcastle Jets' A-League campaign is in danger of freefall after a successive embarrassing defeat.
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A week after surrendering 4-0 to Melbourne City, the Jets were demolished 6-2 by a rampant Perth Glory at HBF Stadium on Saturday night. It would have been 7-2 had the VAR not ruled out a goal late.
The Jets, on the edge of the top four a fortnight ago, have slumped to last place and face a crunch match against an equally desperate Brisbane Roar at home on Saturday.
"Too many mistakes that we were punished badly for and we just have to have a big, long think about it for next week because we play Brisbane Roar who are on the same points as us," coach Ernie Merrick said.
The massacre in the west was the second largest defeat in Jets' history.
The worst was a 7-0 capitulation to Adelaide on January 24, 2015, which was the precursor to one of the darkest periods in the club. A player revolt against then coach Phil Stubbins resulted in an unprecedented move by club management to sack five players, headed by captain Kew Jaliens.
Merrick said the current squad needed support rather than to be read the riot act following the lopsided result.
"The worst thing I can do now is go in and criticise the boys," Merrick said. "A lot of them tried very hard and gave everything, but we made so many mistakes.
"It was a bath, it could have been worse.
"I have to be supportive of them. I think some of them know they let themselves down a little bit regarding their competitive nature. We carried a couple of boys in the second half. At the moment we don't have a large squad ... I can't really change players around."
Merrick "freshened up" the starting line-up for Perth after the listless loss to City.
Pat Langlois came into a reshuffled midfield in place of John Koutroumbis.
Jason Hoffman dropped from right wing to left back in a 4-4-2 formation and Matthew Ridenton started on the left at the expense of Nick Fitzgerald.
Perth went ahead in the 15th minute through a sublime Diego Castro freekick.
Nikolai Topor-Stanley nodded home at the back post from a free kick to draw level 10 minutes later.
Another mistake - a clumsy challenge in the box by Ben Kantarovski - gifted the Glory a 2-1 advantage from the spot in the 33rd minute.
Joel Chianese made it 3-1 a minute after the break and although Steve Urgarkovic scored with a well-worked goal to get back to 3-2, Perth lifted a gear and ran riot.
"I thought in the first half we were quite competitive and doing quite well," Merrick said. "I thought we could tweak the side a little bit and get another goal.
"One minute into the second half - last week it was two minutes - we gave away the ball straight to their midfielder and he passed to the striker who was free and scored a terrific goal.
"We had too many young, inexperienced players and we were up against a side that were very experienced and very dangerous up front, and clinical in their finishing."
The Jets have leaked 10 goals in the past two losses, the same amount as they conceded in the opening seven games.
Captain and defensive general Nigel Boogaard could be a chance of returning from a groin injury against the Roar, but is yet to complete a full training session.
Panamanian Striker Abdiel Arroyo is yet to resume running from a hamstring injury and former Ireland international Wes Hoolahan (ankle) is not due back until mid February.
"We are conceding goals but we are not scoring goals [either]," Merrick said.
"We are really missing clinical strikers. The finishing by the Perth Glory boys was very good. The stats are ridiculous. We had the same number of shots as they had (12), but they were clinical in their finishing.
"We don't have proven goal-scorers up front. That is not the fault of the players, that's just the way it is just now."
After the visit by the Roar, the Jets travel to Melbourne to take on Victory before meeting front runners Sydney FC (home) and City (away).
The Jets have a spot available on the roster and will look at bring in a player during the January transfer window but Merrick said "we can't afford really to bring anyone else in that's the quality we want'."
"There is no point in [just] signing anyone, I'd rather give the youngsters a go and build players for the future," he said.
"We're two games behind some teams but we've got to score goals and we've got to not concede goals the way we're doing."
"We are developing a couple of youngsters but we can't do that at the expense of losing every week.
"We have to win games."
