Jordan Elsey bemoaned Adelaide United’s frustrating performance against Perth Glory at HBF Park on Wednesday night.
Standing in as Captain on his 100th A-League appearance due to the absence of Stefan Mauk to injury, the 26-year-old insisted the 5-3 defeat was unacceptable.
“(We’re) very disappointed,” Elsey told FOX Sports after the match.
“We came here with a plan and it obviously didn’t work, Perth were much more hungrier, more aggressive and they punished us.”
The Reds were never really in the contest with the scoreline flattering them, courtesy of two late consolation goals from Mohamed Toure and Ben Halloran.
Without trying to make excuses, Elsey acknowledged the result was down to virtually every player having an off night.
However, he admitted the silver lining was that they have little time to dwell on the loss with a massive Original Rivalry clash at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night to try and rebound.
“The best thing about this is that we have a short turnaround and we have Melbourne Victory on Saturday night,” he said.
“So looking forward to that and it’s just going to be a short turnaround so we have to put this game in the past and move on.”
The central defender also revealed Carl Veart’s half-time talk was justifiably sterner, though after conceding a soft goal five minutes after the re-start any real hope of a comeback was dashed.
It was Veart’s first setback as Head Coach of the Reds, ending a run of seven matches unbeaten.
“I think the boys needed a wake-up call, everyone needed a wake-up call,” he continued.
“It was a firmer word and it’s not good enough, we know where we want to be and we know what sort of team we’re and it’s not that.”
Next match details:
Game date: Saturday, 23 January vs Melbourne Victory
A-League 2020/21 – Matchweek 05
Kick-off 7.10pm ACDT
Gates open 5.40pm ACDT
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Broadcast: Fox Sports
Stream: Kayo Sports, MyFootball Live App
