Coach John Aloisi has backed star centre-back Leo Lacroix to recover from a poor A-League Men opener to steady Western United's weakened defence against Sydney FC.
Lacroix had a shocker against Melbourne City, conceding an own goal and gifting a second to Jamie Maclaren in the defending champions' 2-1 loss.
To add injury to insult, fellow centre-back Tomoki Imai popped his AC joint and will miss up to seven weeks after shoulder surgery.
United's defence, bookended by roaming full-backs Josh Risdon and Ben Garuccio, was the cornerstone of their run to a first championship but they have had a shaky start to the new campaign.
Aloisi expects Lacroix, 30, to marshal his defence back to form against the Sky Blues at AAMI Park on Sunday.
"He's been very good. He knows that he wasn't at his best (against Melbourne City), it was very unlike Leo," the coach told reporters.
"He has been working hard, first training session back, I'm seeing the Leo that we saw last season.
"Players are going to have some bad games, that will happen. It'll happen again in his career - that's just the way football is and sometimes you can't be at your best.
"But he hasn't dropped his head, he's just worked hard in training and trying to get it right and making sure that he's ready for the Sydney game."
Nikolai Topor-Stanley replaced Imai against City and looms as the first man up but youngster Ben Collins and recruit Jacob Tratt are also in the mix.
"We didn't expect it to happen round one that someone would go down but it has and we're confident we've got enough depth there," Aloisi said.
Imai's surgery has been successful and Aloisi said he expects the versatile defender to return to action in time for some friendlies during the World Cup break (November 14-December 8) before being reintroduced to the A-League Men.
Aleksandar Prijovic is in contention to return after missing game one, but Aloisi said it remained difficult to put a timeline on Alessandro Diamanti's comeback from a knee injury.
Diamanti has trained with United's main group for the past two weeks.
"I'm not sure if he'll be ready before the World Cup (or) after the World Cup," Aloisi said.
"He's training hard. I have to give him that. He's motivated and that's a good sign for him and for us, so hopefully he's back sooner rather than later."
