Jamieson has been disappointed with the criticism he's received in the media for his involvement in a half-time scuffle between United players and Perth Glory last week.

But his coach Aurelio Vidmar said the 21-year-old shouldn't change his game for the critics' sake.

"I wouldn't expect him to change. Why? Because that's his game," Vidmar said. "He's aggressive and that's what I like, I want everyone to be aggressive because that's how the game should be played.

"Scotty doesn't go out there to be a serial pest, I don't know if he'll be targeted for what was happening last week but certainly I think that was quite unfair.

"Mile Sterjovski and Andy Todd had a good crack at him for absolutely no reason; I wouldn't want Scott Jamieson to change his game."

Meanwhile Adelaide's chances of upsetting the Sky Blues have been boosted by the return of Paul Reid from a quad injury and Daniel Mullen.

After four weeks on the sidelines, Reid is unlikely to play the full 90 minutes but Vidmar said he was confident his other midfielders - Kristian Sarkies and Adam Hughes - could share the load.

"He (Sarkies) has done quite well for us in the middle of the park. He's certainly a player that has got that technique, he's got that vision and if he continues like that he should stay in," he said.

"He (Hughes) had a tough time as well but I thought last week he had quite a good game. He was turning the ball over in the early part of the season but certainly over the last couple of weeks he's improved in that.

"What we need now from him is for him to get into better positions to score some goals."

On Thursday captain Travis Dodd was ruled out of the upcoming clash with a calf injury while vice-captain Lucas Pantelis is managing a knee problem but was overlooked despite completing training this week.

Vidmar said it would be a huge challenge to beat Sydney given their form last week.

"I think they've got a bit of a swagger in terms of how they are playing at the moment, it's really confident, not in the sense that they are cocky," he said.

"But certainly the performances they showed last week shows you they are a very confident side."