Openly admitting last Friday night’s loss to Brisbane Roar was unacceptable, Adelaide United Head Coach Rini Coolen insists it is not panic stations at the Reds as they look to turn their fortunes around.
Openly admitting last Friday night-s loss to Brisbane Roar was unacceptable, Adelaide United Head Coach Rini Coolen insists it is not panic stations at the Reds as they look to turn their fortunes around.
Coolen was on the front foot today to face the criticism following the carnage of the Reds- 7-1 defeat to the league leaders. Addressing the media after the Reds returned to training for the first time since Friday-s forgettable night at Suncorp, the Reds boss did not shy away from the scale of the loss and his team-s inability to stop a first half Roar onslaught.
“If you look at the game in Brisbane, of course you-re very disappointed with a result like that. I-ve never had that before in my life as a coach, conceding so many goals in just 10 minutes…so in that way I think the game was only on for 30 minutes…and it definitely was not necessary,” Coolen said.
“We have to move on…we-re definitely not making any excuses for that, but we have to take that on board and be professional and do our work and change the way we-ve started the season because we-ve had a very bad season so far.”
The rapidness and relative ease of Brisbane-s first five goals, which came after Dario Vidosic had given the Reds a dream start with the opening goal on 5 minutes, was most concerning for Coolen.
From the time Henrique scored the Roar-s equaliser from the penalty spot after the home side had opened up the Reds out wide, it all started to quickly unravel for United.
“At that stage the team was not doing the right things so we conceded the second goal and then the gaps were getting bigger and bigger, we were losing our shape and we lost the game in ten minutes because they scored four goals through individual mistakes and poor defending in the box,” Coolen said.
“The real story is that there-s a big gap between Brisbane and the rest of the teams, including Adelaide United.”
Despite occupying ninth position on the table with just one win from four games, the season is still less than a month old and Coolen maintains he will not be taking any drastic measures as the Reds try to find a winning formula.
“I prefer not to panic because if I panic then what can I ask of the players? It-s a period where you find out about people around you, in and out of the club, which mentality they have, and that-s something you have to handle as a coach…we have to move on and have confidence in the people around us and solve problems. It-s not easy but that-s our job,” Coolen said.
“We have to stick together, work as a team and trust each other. I trust our players, I trust the people in our club, I trust myself – so there-s no reason to panic but we have to be aware of everything and we-re not doing well at the moment.”
But while Coolen-s emphasises the importance for the club to stay united, he did not rule out the possibility of changes for Friday-s crucial home game against Melbourne Heart in what is a chance for the Reds to redeem themselves.
“Especially in this A-League and the way we prefer to play, we have to improve in a lot of things. We-re not happy because as a team we are not doing well at the moment, so we have to make some decisions,” Coolen said.
“After a game like that (against Brisbane) and again not having the result you want, you have to consider a few things, especially when there are people knocking on the door at training and in the Youth Team, that-s for us to think about and for us to consider this week.”
“To find the confirmation that we-re looking for we still need a couple of days, but definitely we have to change something, especially our way of playing, and also maybe one, two or more new players.”
In his assessment, Coolen also reserved a mention and praise for the Adelaide United fans, who he hoped would continue to stick by the team after enduring a rough start to a highly anticipated campaign.
“Our supporters are always supporting us in good moments and bad moments, and we know that they are there, so together we can solve a big problem and we prefer to look forwards and what you need is results,” Coolen said.
“You don-t get results for free, you have to work hard for it, and we have to work even harder and that-s what we-re doing from day to day.”
Due to the Qantas flight disruptions, Coolen only flew back into Adelaide last night, while Nigel Boogaard, Fabian Barbiero, Antony Golec, Cameron Watson and Ricardo Da Silva are all still yet to fly home after featuring in the Reds- 3-1 win over Brisbane Roar Youth in the National Youth League on Saturday. Coolen is hopeful they will return to Adelaide tonight.
After the disaster against the Roar, Coolen-s willingness to face the music and make amends for the club-s less than ideal start suggests that United fans can expect a strong response against Melbourne Heart on Friday.
Tickets for the match are available through Ticketek.
