Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau put his team’s last minute win down to playing attacking football and creating many chances.
Speaking after the thriller yesterday, Gombau was very proud of his team’s performance and attitude throughout the entire match.
In a stroke of genius, Gombau deployed Dylan McGowan, who is usually at centre back, up front to add pressure in the air.
It worked perfectly as McGowan was the player who plucked the ball out of the air and put it on a plate for Cirio to poke home the winner in the final 10 seconds of the game.
Gombau said that it is a tactic often used in Barcelona when a team is searching for a winner.
“The concept of putting Dylan forward was to put extra pressure on Wellington’s central defender and try to find a header as he is a tall presence in the air.
“This worked last year against Brisbane when we used Jordan Elsey in the same position.”
This only epitomises Adelaide United’s depth this season as most positions can be covered with players of equal quality.
Bringing up young players like Bruce Kamau is also a major asset for the team, and Gombau says that raising youth players is something the Reds are always focused on.
Testament to the Reds’ youth program is the top Dutch club Ajax’s interest in Awer Mabil after having his breakthrough season last year and his stellar form already this year.
Gombau also noted that Carrusca’s substitution due to a knock to the ankle was precautionary and stressed that it wasn’t a serious injury.
“We took Carrusca off to rest him, like we did with Pablo (Sanchez) after 75 minutes.
“Bruce is also about 10 days away from coming back into the squad and Watson is close as well.”
The return of these players will no doubt boost a squad who have just finished playing three games in the space of 8 days.
Gombau believed that his philosophy of constantly moving forward and playing an exciting brand of football is what helped the Reds over the line last night.
“We found it a bit hard because Wellington were sitting deep behind the ball so it was difficult for us to find space and we were tiring as well.
“Even though we weren’t passing the ball as quick as I know we can, we got the result because at every moment we played to win and for this I am so happy.
Gombau hopes that the fans are enjoying our playing style, as he says one of the club’s objectives is to give people the feeling that they want to come to every home game.
“We will take it game by game and this team will fight for everything.
“Bringing more people to football in Adelaide and the across the country is so important to all of us.”
The Reds will be back at home on December 6 but will need your continued support when we take on the Central Coast Mariners away next Sunday.
As usual, you can follow all the action on our Twitter and Facebook channels using the hashtags #COYR and of course, #GombauWOW
