Adelaide United FC enters its match against the Newcastle Jets fully aware of confronting a team that is desperate for a win and much more potent than their recent results suggest.
Adelaide United FC enters its match against the Newcastle Jets on Saturday fully aware of confronting a team that is desperate for a win and much more potent than their recent results suggest.
The Jets have won just one of their past six games, taking three points out of a possible 18, which has seen them slip out of the top six and Reds Coach Kosmina believes the Jets- recent results could well have gone differently and is anticipating a fierce opening as the Jets strive to get back in the mix.
“We have to be really wary of Newcastle. They-ve struggled in the last month or so and the thing is they-ve lost games that they probably didn-t deserve to,” Kosmina said.
“They came back well against Melbourne Victory and ended up losing 3-2…the winner was a great finish from (Melbourne winger) Marco Rojas but it was a lucky boggle that set the whole thing up and when things aren-t bouncing for you that-s what happens sometimes.”
“So looking at that you know they-ve got the ability to create chances and score goals.”
“Against Melbourne Heart last week they were maybe a little bit slow out of the box but they certainly came back into the game and did enough to at least get a point out of it…we need to be on it right from the start.”
But while Kosmina has one eye on what to expect from the Jets, his emphasis is on building momentum from the 3-0 win over Sydney FC on New Years Eve.
In what Kosmina referred to as a ‘bucket load of chances-, the Reds fired 21 shots at goal against the Sky Blues and the Reds boss is confident his team can take this form into the match with Newcastle.
Furthermore, the Reds will have a point to prove after what happened the last time they headed interstate following a big home win. After cruising past the Wellington Phoenix in Week 11, Adelaide United was brought back to earth with a thud as it was humbled by the Western Sydney Wanderers.
But Kosmina says the result against the Wanderers was a serious awakening and that there would be no repeat of it at Hunter Stadium.
“Sometimes you-ve got to learn lessons and sometimes you-ve got to earn your keep in football like you do in life, and I think the 6-1 and the 1-0 losses back to back, no one liked how anyone felt about that afterwards,” Kosmina said.
“So they (the players) were tuned in against Sydney and I think because of that they-ll stay focused again for this weekend…but it-s going to be a really tough game.”
From the team that defeated Sydney FC, Antony Golec will replace the injured Nigel Boogaard and line up alongside Iain Fyfe in the heart of United-s defence.
In what will be Golec-s first appearance since the opening week of November, the 22 year old had a titanic tussle with Newcastle-s marquee man, former Liverpool and England striker Emile Heskey, when the teams last met, and Kosmina admits this came into his thinking when deliberating on who to bring in for Boogaard.
“That was part of the consideration. I know Emile was probably a bit under done in that first game, but Antony is big and strong and he-s aggressive, and he-s probably the quickest and most powerful player we-ve got so from that aspect he-ll be very useful.”
The Reds wound up preparations earlier than usual at Hindmarsh this morning as the mercury in Adelaide tipped towards 40 degrees. Conditions in Newcastle on are expected to be much more comfortable, a welcome cool change leaving no excuses for the Reds not to be up for what is yet another huge challenge.
“You go through training but this morning was difficult, it was hard to keep them motivated because the conditions are pretty taxing,” Kosmina said.
“We had 55 minutes on the track and they had a lot of down time in between so you-ve just got to go through it, I suppose it-s part of the mental conditioning as well.”
“They-re in a good space mentally and I think that-s probably more important than physically, there-s not a lot physically you can do on a day like today.”
Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season – Week 15
NEWCASTLE JETS v ADELAIDE UNITED FC
Saturday 5 January 2013, Hunter Stadium
Kick-Off: 5.30pm AEDT (5.00pm ACDT)
Referee: Matt Gillett
TV: LIVE & Exclusive on Fox Sports 1
Radio: Live coverage online and on the ABC Smartphone App
Twitter: twitter.com/adelutd_fc (hash tag #JETSvREDS)
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik, 4.Jon McKain, 5.Iain Fyfe, 6.Cassio, 7.Zenon Caravella, 8.Marcelo Carrusca, 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite, 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 16.Daniel Bowles, 17.Iain Ramsay, 18.Fabian Barbiero, 20.Paul Izzo (gk), 21.Jeronimo Neumann, 23.Evan Kostopoulos
*two to be omitted
In: Osama Malik (promoted), Antony Golec (promoted), Fabian Barbiero (promoted)
Out: Nigel Boogaard (hamstring), Fabio Ferreira (groin)
Unavailable: Nil
Newcastle Jets Squad: 1.Ben Kennedy (gk), 2.Scott Neville, 3.Tiago Calvano, 4.Josh Mitchell, 5.Dominik Ritter, 7.James Brown, 8.Ruben Zadkovich, 9.Emile Heskey, 10.Bernardo Ribeiro, 11.Connor Chapman, 12.Josh Brillante, 13.Sam Gallaway, 14.Taylor Regan, 15.Craig Goodwin, 16.Jobe Wheelhouse, 17.James Virgili, 18.Jacob Pepper, 19. Michael Bridges, 20.Mark Birighitti (gk), 22.Adam Taggart, 23.Ryan Griffiths, 25.Mitch Cooper
*seven to be omitted
In: Tiago Calvano (promoted), Dominik Ritter (promoted), Bernardo Ribeiro (promoted), Taylor Regan (promoted), Jobe Wheelhouse (return from injury), Michael Bridges (promoted), Mitch Cooper (promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Ben Kantarovski (knee)
Adelaide United vs. Newcastle Jets – Hyundai A-League HEAD TO HEAD Record
Played 23 – 10 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses
At Hunter Stadium
Played 10; Adelaide United 4, Newcastle Jets 5, Draws 1
Last time they met
7-Oct-2012 Wk 1, Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season at Hunter Stadium
Newcastle Jets 0
Adelaide United FC 2 (Vidosic 2-, Ramsay 74-)
