NEW coach Carl Robinson has complete belief in the Newcastle Jets players. His job is to get the players to believe in themselves.
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The former Welsh international took charge of his first training session at Ray Watt Oval on Tuesday morning.
While Robinson noted there were aspects in defence to "tidy up" from the 4-3 derby triumph over the Mariners - just their third win of the campaign - his main focus was generating confidence.
"I have moved from the other side of the world because I genuinely believe I can make a difference and help the Newcastle Jets. And I believe in the players," he said. "If I believe in the players but the players don't believe in themselves, then we have a problem.
"My job is to make them believe in themselves because I think they are a very good group. I'm not saying we don't need any additions. I think we do. I won't rush into them. I will build that slowly.
"This group is a super bunch of boys and they want to learn and they want to be challenged. I will be challenging them. That is how they learn.
"But I also want to win. I'm not here to have a holiday. I'm not here to enjoy the sun. I am here to win."
Victory over the Mariners ended a nine-game winless run dating back to November 30 and a 2-0 win over Western Sydney, who the Jets meet at Bank West Stadium on Saturday night.
The Jets dominated the derby but gave up three sloppy goals to let the visitors back into the game.
"There were a number of positive things," Robinson said. "In possession we were very good. Their reactions were very good but there were also some negatives.
"Whenever you concede three goals it is not ideal. Two were off set pieces, which were very avoidable. The third was a wrong decision by the goalkeeper which we have spoken about.
"I don't want players to be scared about making mistakes. I will encourage them to play and to come out of their shells a little bit. When you do that you have to accept the bad with the good. Mistakes happen.
"It wasn't punished on the weekend because we deservedly won the game. But we are going to have to tidy that up if we are going to climb up the table."
Robinson was vocal and hands-on at training, halting drills to to give instructions and encouragement.
"It was a good session," he said. "It was a second-day recovery so we walked through a few scenarios in the lead-up to game on the weekend. "They are off tomorrow and it was important that I try to implement what I want leading into the weekend's game and carry on the good stuff that has already been done."
Robinson forecast little change to the side for the battle against an equally desperate Wanderers.
Angus Thurgate is set to start in midfielder after scans on Monday confirmed that Ben Kantarovski has a grade-two tear in his left quadriceps and will be sidelined for up to six weeks.
"Am I going to make wholesale changes? No," the coach said. "Once I give a player a chance, if he takes the chance, the likelihood is that I'm not going to leave him out. Gus came in and did a great job. There are other options but there is no reason why Gus should be left out of the team because I thought it was a very strong performance."
Robinson, who spent five years at the helm of Vancouver in Major League Soccer, felt like he was back at school on Tuesday.
"I was in Vancouver as an assistant for two years [before being promited to manager] and knew the boys," he said. "Here it is like your first day at school. You don't know the guys. I have been pretty up front with them. I am here to help them but it is not about any individual. It is about the team and the football club ... bigger picture and long term is for a championship. That is what I am here for, but it won't be easy and it will take a little bit of time."
