Craig Goodwin believes even with Adelaide United’s rather long injury list, the Reds have ample quality to dispatch of pointless Perth Glory on Sunday at nib Stadium.
With both the Reds and the Glory chasing their first wins of the season, both sides are rightfully anticipating their meeting in Round 3.
Perth will obviously boast a home-ground advantage with the Reds having to make the 2,700 km journey to Western Australia. However, the Glory will have to play a Westfield FFA Cup game on Wednesday, 21st October, just four days before facing United at nib Stadium.
This is a factor Goodwin attributes to Glory potentially running out of legs during the game, something he and his teammates will capitalise on if the opportunity presents itself.
“Perth have an FFA Cup game mid-week so they might be a little bit tired from that, but there’s no easy games in this competition,” Goodwin said.
“Every team can beat any team on its day.
“They might be alright and feel okay for the first half, but there’s going to be a time when they get tired because we have small squads in the A-League and you’re going to have a lot of the players that play for them in the FFA Cup that play again in the A-League.
“If so, we’ll look to run over them as soon as possible.”
With the aforementioned injuries the Reds are dealing with, Goodwin elaborated on his belief in his teammates in beating Perth and although forwards Eli Babalj and Bruce Djite are under injury clouds, goals should be coming from all areas of the pitch.
“In terms of the injuries that the squad has sustained, it’s obviously very disappointing to have both Bruce and Eli out, so we’re going to have to reshuffle a little bit,” Goodwin explained.
“But we do have a couple of boys that can fill in. Pablo (Sánchez) has played up front quite a few times last year and he did quite well, finishing as our top goal scorer.
“I was even able to get six goals last year in total, so I want to achieve at least that and hopefully more but to (do it) I’m going to have to work hard to get into goal scoring positions and hopefully have a bit of luck in front of goal, same with everyone.”
As it stands, United has 15 wins over the Glory in 31 meetings in the Hyundai A-League, something Goodwin is confident his side can improve upon on Sunday, especially considering the nature of the Reds’ recent performances.
“We have confidence making the trip over there because our performances (this season) haven’t been bad by any means. They’ve been okay, but they can be a lot better and that’s the good thing for us because there’s a lot of improvement to come.
“We will get our combinations back in our front third and once we do, we will be alright and I don’t think it will take long.
“There have already been signs of it in the first couple of games. We’ve got a lot of quality in this side and we can score goals from many different positions. Once we get into the full flight of things, I think we can do well and there’s no reason that can’t be this weekend.”
Adelaide United will face Perth Glory in Round 3 of the Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season on Sunday, 25 October, 2015, at nib Stadium. Kick off is at 6.30pm ACDT.
