Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau today reassured the press that his side is looking at securing a positive result against the Central Coast Mariners at Coopers Stadium tomorrow night.
The Reds have lost two consecutive matches for the first time season, and Gombau credits this to the long season and injuries on important key players.
“This is football you know, and we are always trying to do the best that we can. It is true that we have been missing some key players during some games and this means that maybe we don’t play the style that we want to play,” he said.
“We are slowly recovering players such as Malik who can play (but may not start) and Boogaard and Isaias will be available too.”
Gombau stressed that looking forward, not backward will help his side regain form and catch up with the top two once again.
“If you had told me at the start of the season that we would be just over a win from the top and that we had won the FFA Cup I would have been extremely happy,” he said.
“We have brought these things to the fans except in the last few games, we know that tomorrow we need to come here and work hard and run more than ever to try and bring the fans who support us a good game.”
Another big talking point coming into the match is the gentleman’s agreement between Adelaide United and the Mariners which ruled Fabio Ferreira out of their clash last month while Phil Moss was in charge.
With a change of coach in Tony Walmsley, the Mariners are set to be travelling with Ferreira in the squad, but Gombau reiterated that the focus remains on the game and playing well.
“Fabio coming back to play is something that we can’t control, after all he is only one more player and we will only be thinking about our own performance and making the movements that we have lacked in our last few games.
“(If) they break the agreement it won’t change the game, I won’t like it but as a team we’re working to come back to playing our style and making the finals.”
Whatever the outcome, one would find it hard to resist the idea of a match up between newly named Socceroo Tarek Elrich and the former Red.
Adelaide United will host the Centrl Coast Mariners in Round 21 of the Hyundai 2014/15 A-League season on Thursday, 12 March at Coopers Stadium. Kick off at 7.00pm ACDT. To purchase tickets, click here.
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Adelaide United v Central Coast Mariners
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-Off: 7:00 PM (Local) (7:30 PM AEDT)
Referee: Yudai Yamamoto (JFA)
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Cream
Assistant Referee 2: Paul Cetrangolo
Fourth Official: Daniel Elder
TV Broadcast: Live and exclusive coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: 891 ABC Adelaide Digital, 92.5 Central Coast, Online/ABC Radio Mobile phone app.
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #ADLvCCM
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (GK) (c), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 4.Dylan McGOWAN, 5.Osama MALIK, 7.PABLO SÁNCHEZ, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Sergio CIRIO, 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA, 11.Bruce DJITE, 14.Cameron WATSON, 16.Craig GOODWIN, 17.Awer MABIL, 18.Jimmy JEGGO, 19.Miguel PALANCA, 20.Paul IZZO (GK), 21.Tarek ELRICH, 24.Bruce KAMAU ***two to be omitted***
Ins: 5.Osama MALIK (returns from injury), 20.Paul IZZO (GK) (promoted), 24.Bruce KAMAU (promoted)
Outs: 30.John HALL (GK) (not selected)
Unavailable: 23.Jordan ELSEY (knee – indefinite)
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Matthew NASH (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Jacob POSCOLIERO, 5.Zac ANDERSON, 7.John HUTCHINSON (c), 8.Nick MONTGOMERY, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Nick FITZGERALD, 12.Liam REDDY (gk), 14.Travis MAJOR, 15. Matthew SIM, 16.Liam ROSE, 18.Glen TRIFIRO, 20.Anthony KALIK, 23.Isaka CERNAK, 25.Eddy BOSNAR, 26.Fabio FERREIRA ***two to be omitted***
Ins: 15. Matthew SIM (promoted), 20.Anthony KALIK (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 17.Richard VERNES (shoulder – indefinite), 19.Matt SIMON (groin – indefinite), 21.Michael NEILL (foot – indefinite)
