Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic says the A-League is falling behind the standard of other competitions in Asia and must start tailoring schedules to the Asian Champions League if teams are to succeed.

The Wanderers are all but out of the competition after sinking to a 2-1 loss at home to Kashima Antlers on Tuesday night, largely due to a second-half collapse. In what is becoming a recurring issue for Western Sydney, they've twice let a lead slip from their grasp late in a match, with fatigue raised as one of the reasons for their poor finishes.

Down and out: Wanderers players are dejected after Kanazaki Mu scored the winner for Kashima Antlers on Wednesday. Credit:Brendan Esposito

With their title defence left in tatters, Popovic lamented the rigid scheduling of the A-League and the lack of flexibility given to clubs competing in the Asian Champions League. Unlike other clubs in Asia, A-League clubs aren't given the opportunity to have match days adjusted to accommodate travel.

"It's something that I don't see happening in the near future. Would I like it? I wouldn't like it - I'd love it. I'd love to have a competition that plays a game on a Thursday to help their team in their league to have a chance of progressing to play on a Tuesday," Popovic said.

"FC Seoul played on Wednesday night, haven't played since. We've played on Saturday and have to back-up on Tuesday. When you think of the injuries we've had and the difficulties we've had, it's a tough ask. The players showed in the first half that they have the quality but we needed luck today in the second half to get a result. We needed a bit of luck with them not scoring because they finished a lot stronger than us. Definitely, it would help. When that would happen, I don't know or if that would happen."

The Wanderers must now beat 2013 Asian Champions Guangzhou Evergrande on the final match day and also hope that FC Seoul draw with Kashima Antlers if they're to progress to the knock-out stages. Despite the odds stacked against Western Sydney's title defence, Popovic says he hasn't lost confidence in his team's ability to progress through their group.

"Well I never doubt any game that we can win. That will be no different. If we doubted ourselves we wouldn't have won the campaign last year," he said. "So we go to Guangzhou, we have to believe we can win. Difficult task, yes of course."