Sydney FC are set to be without midfield dynamo Paul Okon-Engstler for up to six weeks as Ufuk Talay challenges his side to be more physical.
Okon-Engstler, who made his Socceroos debut against Venezuela last month, is expected to miss more than a month for the A-League Men leaders after picking up a quad injury.
The 20-year-old midfielder has started every game for the Sky Blues since joining from Benfica over the off-season but failed to finish last week’s derby loss to the Western Sydney Wanderers.
“We're a little bit conservative in the sense, because he's a younger player, we want to make sure that we don't hinder him where he (might) re-injure it,” Talay said ahead of Saturday’s trip to face the Central Coast Mariners.
“We’ve been tinkering this week with how we set up.
“We could bring Wataru (Kamijo) in and play another No.6 or Corey (Hollman) who has started training with the group and is available for selection.
“Or do we go with an extra attacking player and just play with one No. 6.”
Regardless of who comes into the starting XI, Talay is eager to see his side impose themselves on the Mariners, in what is the start of three-straight games on the road.
The Sydney boss was critical of his side’s willingness to fight tooth and nail to get a result in last week’s derby.
“I don't think we challenged them in the physical space as well as we should have in a derby,” said Talay.
“There were some tactical elements to our game that we didn't do well, especially when we had the ball.
“I thought defensively we were actually quite good, quite solid.
“Once we conceded, we started to play a lot more chasing the game and I think we need to definitely do that from the first whistle and not after we concede a goal.”
