Zenon Caravella is determined to kick start the Reds’ finals charge this Sunday against his former club.
With finals creeping up, the race to make the top six is well and truly in full flight, and Adelaide United sits five points adrift of a finals berth heading into Sunday-s match against Gold Coast United.
One Reds player who is no stranger to Skilled Park and knowing what it takes to win there is former Gold Coast midfielder Zenon Caravella. Together with striker Bruce Djite, another former GCU player, Caravella is looking forward to playing his previous club, a team the Reds are yet to beat this season.
“It-s always fun to play against your old team, there are plenty of mixed emotions, but it will be good going there to try and win,” Caravella said.
This Sunday afternoon the Reds will take on Gold Coast United in a bottom of the table clash that will go a long way to whether John Kosmina-s team can make the finals this year.
With a 3-0 loss to the Gold Coast in their most recent meeting, Adelaide United will be looking for some payback against the league-s current wooden spooners, although Caravella says the Reds have erased that result from their memories.
“Nah we-re not thinking about previous games at all, they-re there to be beaten,” Caravella said.
The lightweight speedy midfielder knows the Reds have not had the best run so far this season, and that it was up to each player to continue improving and striving to get the best out of themselves and each other.
“It-s been an average year for me, I expect a lot from myself and I-m my own biggest critic,” Caravella said.
“I-m not playing well enough for my standards, but that-s the way it is sometimes, we just have to keep going.”
“It-s difficult to explain when we aren-t doing so well as a team, but I-ve got things that I like to work on myself, but really everything just needs to improve.”
As for the team, Caravella says coach John Kosmina has brought back a bit of fire and competitiveness to the squad, particularly on the training track, which will hopefully in turn carry into match day.
“Kossie has brought a lot of passion back. He-s a bit old school, so there-s a bit of mongrel and aggression, something we didn-t have before,” Caravella said.
“He runs tough sessions and everyone is really competitive which we try to take into games.”
So this weekend is sure to be a serious test for the Reds; Gold Coast are coming off a big away loss in Perth and will be fired up to play at home, particularly as their finals aspirations also hang by a thread.
“It definitely doesn-t matter that they (Gold Coast United) are sitting at the bottom. If you look at the way they-ve been playing, they-re not a bad side,” Caravella said.
“We-re going to go there and give it our best shot”.
