Any inkling of the disruptions that surrounded midfielder Paul Reid and the club are a thing of the past as Head Coach Rini Coolen and a united Reds’ squad lie committed to putting all of their attention into defeating Gold Coast United on Sunday.
Following a tumultuous few days in which Reid missed the club-s training session last Thursday and subsequent win over the Phoenix, the midfield general rejoined the playing group at the squad-s recovery session on Saturday and was back with his team mates at training per normal this morning as the Reds gear up for their elimination encounter with the Gold Coast.
Reid-s presence and commitment during the session puts to rest any suggestions he is not dedicated to the Reds- cause of going further into the Hyundai A-League finals series.
As Adelaide United heads into its second cut throat final, Coolen sits content and convinced that his entire playing group is heading in one direction and that there is a unified vision within the camp.
“There was a lot more attention in the last weeks about the Reid situation than focusing on the game, but that-s understandable for me, I don-t have a problem with that,” Coolen said.
“But things are solved now. We prefer to focus, and that is all of the players and everybody at the club, to be 100 per cent here for the club-s benefit and to focus on our next game, and that includes Reidy, so there is no issue at the moment.”
The optimistic attitude and stance Coolen is taking is further evident in that he has stated that any disturbances are well and truly behind the team now, and that Reid, similarly with every player, is a chance of being considered to face Gold Coast.
“To start a new week like this everybody has to be on the same page and if it-s not you have a problem,” Coolen said.
“But it isn-t, everybody is focused and this squad wants to work hard together, we believe in each other, and if you have that you have a big chance to win something.”
“It-s a new week, everybody has the same focus, so it-s a good start.”
Further pleasing for Coolen is that there was just one injury concern to come out of the victory over Wellington, with imposing midfielder Francisco Usucar suffering from a groin injury. Usucar was substituted in the 84th minute of the match because of the problem and was an absentee from training this morning, however Coolen is hopeful that having added days to prepare will give the Uruguayan a chance to recover in time to be considered.
“In the next couple of days he-s got to have an individual session. We-ll have a look at it at the end of the week, but he gets two days more than if we played on Friday, so let-s stay positive, but we-ll find out in a couple of days,” Coolen said.
Tickets for Sunday-s knockout final go on sale to the general public from 9am this Wednesday. Tickets are available through Ticketek.
