John van ‘t Schip says his Melbourne Heart team will be vulnerable when their three Olyroos stars leave next week for a month on national duty.
Already reeling from the indefinite loss of captain Fred (groin), the Heart will be without Aziz Behich, Mate Dugandzic, and Jason Hoffman for up to four A-League matches as they help the national under-23 team’s Olympic campaign in qualifiers against Uzbekistan and the UAE.
The trio will be available for the Heart’s clash with the Phoenix in Wellington on Sunday before they head off with the Olyroos for important Group B matches in Tashkent (February 5) and Abu Dhabi (February 17).
And while van ‘t Schip does not doubt the quality of players he has at his disposal to cover their absence, he said his team would be left exposed if they suffered any more personnel losses before they returned.
“I’m confident we have players that can fill in and we are getting players back,” van ‘t Schip said.
“We can manage well. Of course, within that if then something happens we don’t have that much depth after that anymore.”
“So we have to be careful that the players that we have here, that we keep them fit.”
Van ‘t Schip said the Heart were unlikely to sign another new player to help cover the talented threesome following the capture of former Adelaide midfielder Paul Reid last week.
