Football
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Kenny Lowe takes blame for tactics in Perth Glory defeat to Sydney

Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe says his decisions to substitute captain Rostyn Griffiths and install veteran Dino Djulbic at left-back will form part of a review into his side's 4-1 loss to Sydney FC.

Griffiths was angered when his number was called in the second half of Sunday's A-League clash, flinging his captain's armband in disgust and then refusing to shake Lowe's hand.

Lowe, who returned to the sidelines after a two-game ban, played down the incident, explaining that it was a failed attempt to spark his team against Sydney's high-pressure defence.

"That's players. They don't want to come off. They want to stay on the pitch," Lowe said.

"[He] was a little big leggy at the end there, it was more to protect him than anything. Maybe a little bit of freshness in there. Maybe that didn't work either. It's one of those days."

The 33-year-old Djulbic has been primarily used at centre-back this year but deputised for Socceroo Josh Risdon on the left and was at fault for Sydney's opening goal.

He overplayed with the ball and then relied on goalkeeper Liam Reddy to save his blushes only for Milos Ninkovic to steal the ball and put away an easy goal.

Lowe insisted Djulbic wasn't the only one to blame for the defeat.

"Maybe you look back in hindsight and you might think that's another thing to do with [the loss]. But Dino's played there before and he's done that for us," Lowe said.

"Maybe it didn't work, such is life. [Risdon is] obviously a quality player but everyone misses quality players at Socceroos time. You can't grumble about that.

"It's not an individual thing, it's a team thing. You don't poke the finger at Dino, we're all in it together and I'm a part of that as well.

"You go back and analyse yourself and see whether we did the right thing."

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