Adelaide United Women are up against Perth Glory Women in Round7 of their Westfield W-League 2016/17 campaign at Elite Systems Football Centre on Saturday night.
Returning to home turf at Elite Systems Football Centre for Saturday’s double-header, Adelaide United Women will still be searching for their ambitious first win of the season against Perth Glory Women, on the back of some good performances.
Adelaide United fell to a 3-2 defeat against Brisbane Roar Women at Suncorp Stadium last weekend, but displayed a marvellous fightback courtesy of Adriana Jones and Sofia Huerta. Meanwhile, Perth Glory Women scored one against the second-placed Sydney FC Women to secure the three points at home.
Adelaide United Women Head Coach, Huss Skenderovic, emphasised the character of the Reds Women to fightback against Brisbane Roar last weekend, but intimated that lack of concentration in transitional moments and not executing their chances have cost them.
“The fightback shows our character and it is evident that we are fighters and believe in what we do, even when we have been down, we still continue to play the same way,” Skenderovic said. “I think many people have identified that we have great character and spirit, and there is a real unity amongst us which those behaviours resonate into games and being able to fight back.
“What we do need to improve on, is when we have consolidated our possession in the front third, and when we lose it we need to concentrate better on the transitional moments on the position of the opposition, which has hurt us.
“Teams are starting to realise and sit off on us because they know our threats and that we are really good going forward, so they will try and hit us on the counter.
“We need to be a bit more potent in front of goal and kill games off rather than miss those chances, get hit on a counter-attack, and then end up trying to chase games.”
Skenderovic remains confident in his side, as there have been a substantial amount of positive attributes throughout their campaign and that a win is imminent ahead of their clash against Perth Glory Women.
“The statistics on Fox Football from last week showed where we were and where Brisbane were, and even though we aren’t a possession-based team, we had more of the ball in the front third than they did on the rest of the ground,” Skenderovic continued.
“In training we worked on our goal scoring, and we did miss critical shots in front of goal, and we reiterate the same message, being that we have to get better in front of goal because we create chances and we just don’t take them properly.
“We just have to be patient and keep working at it, the goals will come, I do believe that we were underestimated on Sunday, and we should have come away with something in the end.”
The Adelaide United Women Boss, also believes that his style of football is effective and brings a new breath of fresh air to the W-League, which can put his side above the rest.
“Direct football is effective, and shows that even when you play effective football, we had more possession than the other team in certain areas, and we don’t just play side and back ways, we are about keeping the ball, but going forward with it and that means every pass we try and make is directly forward.
“I want to bring an exciting aspect to the women’s game through Adelaide United, and through recent great feedback I believe I have achieved that and will look to continue.
“We want to play entertaining football, and score as many goals as possible, the response and ratings through Fox Football were immense on Sunday, which shows people want to watch us, even though we are losing. But it is definitely time to be rewarded with a win, starting against Perth Glory.”
Adelaide United’s Women will take on Perth Glory at the Elite Systems Football Centre on Saturday evening in Round 7 of the Westfield W-League. Kick-off is at 7:30pm.
This is following Adelaide United’s Youth Team taking on Melbourne City in Round 6 of the Foxtel National Youth League. Kick-off is at 4:30pm.
