Newcastle have easily the cleanest disciplinary record in the A-League, having received only four yellow cards in five games. Adelaide are the next best-behaved side with eight, Perth Glory lead the competition with 18 and City have 16. City have given away a league-leading 94 fouls to Newcastle’s 66.

Jones said on Tuesday that his side had not shown enough aggression in last weekend’s 2-0 loss to Wellington and had allowed Phoenix’s midfield too much time on the ball.

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Steven Ugarkovic, a mainstay in the Newcastle midfield since joining the club in January, appears likely to lose his place in the starting side to accommodate the returns of winger Andrew Nabbout and striker Aleksandr Kokko from injury.

English import Wayne Brown trained in central midfield with Mateo Poljak on Tuesday morning after playing wide on the left against Wellington.

“Browny is aggressive and a ball winner, and every team needs a ball winner in the middle of the park,” Jones said. “I thought we were a little bit guilty of that on the weekend. We just didn’t take the ball.

“I think we’ve been guilty of being too nice.”

Jones said Ugarkovic had done little wrong but was facing competition for his spot. 

“He’s played well. He’s had a good start to the season this year. Perhaps wasn’t maybe at his best on the weekend, but he’s been good for us this year, but that puts us in a good position that we have three midfielders that can play the No.6 position.”  

Jason Hoffman returned from right wing to fullback at Tuesday’s training run at the expense of Nick Cowburn, teenager Ivan Vujica stayed at left back and 18-year-old Johnny Koutroumbis held his spot at centre back.

“I think it’s good that we get to make up for the Wellington game sooner rather than later,” Jones said.

“The emphasis is to go there and press with a little more urgency and take our opportunities.

“There’ll be a few changes. We’ve got people back. Andrew Nabbout is right to start the game. Kokko is the same.

“It’s good for us. We’ve now got everyone at the top [attacking] end back, and it allows us to play people in their best position.

“In defence we’ve got some competition. We’ve got Hoffman, Cowburn and Ivan that can play at fullback, so there’ll be a mix amongst there to see who gets a starting spot.”

Koutroumbis turned over the ball several times against Wellington, including on the halfway line when Phoenix scored their second goal, but Jones said he had been “sound” on debut.

“A couple of dicey moments, but apart from that he was confident and I thought he did a good job,” he said.