Adelaide United have lost key recruit Mirko Boland for Friday night's A-League match against Newcastle.
The German midfielder, after an impressive debut for the Reds in last week's season opener, has been ruled out of the fixture in Adelaide because of a hip injury.
United coach Marco Kurz says losing Boland is a blow as his team prepare to host a Jets outfit he rates as arguably the most-dangerous attacking team in the competition.
"Newcastle is maybe the best offensive team in the league," Kurz told reporters on Thursday.
"Fasten seatbelt ... they have very quick players, very fast players, with technical high quality.
"Against Newcastle, it's very important to close the centre, stay very compact - in this space, it's not allowed to let them play.
"It's always important to be active and not reactive in a game and, tomorrow, we will press them out of a good position.
"But you cannot press a team for 90 minutes full; you need also a little bit of positional game."
Kurz has summoned speedster Nikola Mileusnic and strikers Baba Diawara and George Blackwood into his extended squad for the game against the Jets.
United have lost to the Jets at home just once in the past seven meetings, with Newcastle scoring only four goals in those visits.
"It's time to change things and get a win over there," Jets linchpin Dimi Petratos said on Thursday.
"If we play to our structure and our best potential, I think we can achieve the win."
STATS THAT MATTER:
- Newcastle haven't kept Adelaide scoreless in their past seven games
- Adelaide were the only club to score a goal from outside the box in the opening round
- United's Craig Goodwin and Vince Lia both had a 92 percent passing accuracy in the opening round, the highest of any player with 30 or more passes.
