Adelaide United defenders Michael Marrone and Ben Garuccio have admitted they must secure the three points ahead of the Reds’ Round 6 clash in Remembrance Round with Brisbane Roar at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
The Reds remain winless to start the season after suffering a frustrating 2-1 defeat to the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
Speaking at the unveiling of the Club’s new Remembrance Round jersey at the National War Memorial for Friday’s clash, Garuccio insisted the second-half performance against the Mariners “wasn’t good enough”.
“We weren’t good enough in the second-half,” Garuccio said. “Obviously Central Coast made a change at half-time and brought (Mikael) Tavares and he obviously impacted the game for them.
“We were very flat in the second-half, let them back into the game, and after they scored the first they really looked like getting the second.
“And we didn’t really have any answers and so it wasn’t good enough.”
Garuccio also lamented the team’s inability to kill the game off by half-time, after dominating the first stanza against Central Coast.
“If you don’t finish your opportunities you’re always vulnerable to attacks down the other end,” Garrucio said.
“There’s no doubt that the other team can have opportunities sometimes and that’s probably happened in a lot of our games and it’s something we just have to get better at.
“I think you find in a lot of the games if we had of gone maybe 2-0 or 3-0 up it would have been a completely different game, similar to yesterday.
“If we had of scored a second the game would’ve been shut up by half-time and then we would’ve controlled the match after half-time.
“It’s one of those things we have to address and get better.”
Meanwhile, Marrone, who is currently on the sidelines recovering from an Achilles injury, revealed he is nearing a return to full fitness and is desperate to get back out on the field.
“I’m a few weeks away like a few of the other boys, but I’m not too far away (from returning),” Marrone said.
“It’s never easy (to be on the sidelines) and it’s been seven months (since sustaining the injury).
“I don’t like watching games at the best of times so when the team isn’t doing well it’s even harder to watch.”
Marrone further stressed the encounter with the Roar is a must win game for the Reds in order to get their season back on track.
“If you cast your mind back to last year we were in a similar situation so we really need to dig deep and we really need the three points on Friday,” Marrone continued.
“I mean we talked about how we need the points to kick the season off.”
Adelaide United host Brisbane Roar in Round 6 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season on Friday, 11 November at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.20pm ACDT.
