Western Sydney Wanderers coach Markus Babbel insists the struggling A-League club will ultimately develop into one the competition's powerhouses, but their unreliable defence is giving him palpitations.
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A 3-2 defeat by Wellington on Tuesday was eighth-placed Wanderers' fourth straight home loss and their fifth in a row at ANZ Stadium.
Western Sydney are still seven points off sixth spot and haven't won in their last five games.
Babbel doubts influential imports Alexander Baumjohann (hamstring) and Oriol Riera (groin), both of who were injured on Tuesday, will recover in time for Sunday's away clash with pacesetters Perth.
But despite all the recent setbacks Babbel is convinced Wanderers are heading in the right direction.
"At the moment it's very, very hard, the only good thing for me. What gives me confidence, and really stay positive, is the picture of the club," Babbel said.
"You can believe me, in the future this club will (be) one of the best clubs in the league.
"Of course the results are not going in the right way, but the club is going in the right way.
"The only thing I can say to our supporters - because of course they are also frustrated like us - see the picture for the future will be fantastic."
While Babbel has previously lamented Wanderers' inability to convert more chances into goals, he said his biggest problem was trying to reduce the amount being scored at the other end.
The Wanderers have leaked 23 goals, the third worst defensive record in the competition.
They have kept just two clean sheets in 12 games and conceded at least twice in each of the five matches since their last victory.
"What we have to fix now is we concede too many goals," he said.
'All the times if the ball is going in our half, my heartbeat is going higher because I don't know why, but we have big problems to defend our goal because we do unbelievable mistakes."
Babbel was philosophical about referee Jonathan Barreiro overturning his decision to award the Wanderers a first-half penalty after the VAR intervened but felt the decision making process was taking too long.
He didn't rule out bringing in more players in this month's transfer window but said the club had to be conscious of the salary cap.
Australian Associated Press
