Adelaide United Youth midfielder, Ryan Yates, is confident they can rectify their slow starts ahead of hosting West Adelaide at the VALO Football Centre – The Parks on Saturday.
Back-to-back defeats against Campbelltown City and Adelaide City respectively following an opening round victory means the Young Reds must find a way to return to the winner’s circle.
Yates believed the team has been playing well but admitted their lacklustre starts have proved costly.
“To be honest I think the way we’ve been playing has been pretty good,” he said.
“I’d say we’ve been dominating games, but I think the way we’ve been starting has been a bit sluggish, which against top quality teams like Campbelltown and Adelaide City, they’ve obviously got great history and great quality players.”
West Adelaide are without a win from their first three matches and collected their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw against Adelaide Blue Eagles on Monday night.
Yates expected both sides will be desperate for the three points.
“I think both teams will be hungry from the beginning obviously to get points on the board early is big in the NPL because you want to start off strong,” he said.
“I think against West Adelaide this weekend they’ve got a proud history and quality players too such as (Marcelo) Carrusca.
“So definitely with the quality they’ve and the experience they’ll be looking to get on top of us young boys.
“But I think over the years we do have some experience with the A-League boys as well coming down and we’ll be ready for what they bring.”
Yates said going out all guns blazing and playing with a high intensity will help set the tone and hopefully secure a win.
“One thing is the first couple of minutes of each game we start off a bit sluggish which allows the opposition to get on top of us,” he stated.
“So if we can come out firing, which we can do, we’ll start off on top because we dominate games, we control the ball and play our tempo.
“We’ve the quality to win game and produce results.”
Adelaide United Youth host West Adelaide in Round 4 of the National Premier League 2019 season on Saturday, 16 March at VALO Football Centre – The Parks. Kick-off is at 6.00 PM. Reserves kick-off at 3.45pm.
