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If this is football, how does Amor survive?

Adelaide United struggled in the Asian Champions League this season. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Expert
30th November, 2015
18

How is it that Guillermo Amor is still the Adelaide United coach after the team’s awful start to the season?

Eight rounds, no wins, three points, last place. If those are not the right ingredients for a sacking in football, of all sports, then the recipe is lost.

Last season, Mike Mulvey was sacked as Brisbane Roar coach six games after winning the A-League premiership and championship double.

It means nothing to me personally whether Amor survives or not. I just find his situation fascinating.

Coaching is obviously a risky profession in any sport, but football is the most unforgiving. Traditionally, football clubs wait the least amount of time to act. But, still, Adelaide haven’t pulled the trigger.

It can’t be that Amor has built up a bank of credit points from previous successful seasons as the team’s coach, buying him time.

He joined Adelaide as technical director ahead of last season at the invitation of his friend and the club’s then coach, Josep Gombau, and when Gombau left suddenly ahead of this season Amor was appointed coach.

The fact he was thrust into the job has probably resulted in Adelaide’s management showing more patience than football clubs normally would.

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And Amor’s standing as a Barcelona great would presumably be helping his cause as well. Amor’s football knowledge is surely immense and the Adelaide bosses may feel they would look foolish themselves if they didn’t give him more time.

Adelaide have been criticised in the past for having too great a coaching turnover. When Gombau was appointed in 2013, he became the club’s fifth coach in three years. The club has no doubt been keen to establish a more solid reputation since then.

But great players don’t always make great coaches, so if the team doesn’t start winning soon those same bosses may feel they have no alternative but to write Amor’s appointment off as a bad choice and make a change.

Gombau was an extrovert. He would celebrate important goals and crucial wins by charging along the sideline, hugging players and knee-sliding. Amor is reserved.

But if the players were having trouble coping with the dramatic shift in personality from their former coach to their current one, then that would be an issue for them to overcome. If it is an issue, no-one is saying so publicly, so let’s presume it isn’t.

Amor doesn’t have a great grasp of English, either, but the players say that doesn’t get in the way and that he is able to get his point across.

So why aren’t Adelaide winning?

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They lost a key defender in Nigel Boogaard to the Newcastle Jets at the end of last season and injuries to several key players have disrupted their team selections through the early part of this season.

Adelaide still don’t have a dominant goalscorer, either, and that is hurting them. Previously, several players would each chip in with enough goals to make a difference, but that is not happening so far this season.

Amor sets the team up a bit differently to how Gombau did, but he has every right to put his own stamp on. What can be questioned, though, is his decision to start playmaking midfielder Marcelo Carrusca, who was regarded as the team’s best player under Gombau, from the bench in recent weeks.

Carrusca wasn’t playing great football, but he wasn’t alone in that respect and if they were going to turn things around then surely he was going to be a catalyst. It will be interesting to see if Amor starts Carrusca in the game against Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium on Sunday.

Adelaide are not the dynamic side they used to be. Based purely on goals scored (7) and conceded (17), they are the worst attacking and worst defensive team in the competition.

They had the confidence to play their way out of difficult situations in the past and still win games, but now that confidence is dented and they desperately need something good to happen for them.

Maybe it will happen at home against ninth-placed Perth, a team that have their own issues. If it doesn’t, and Adelaide suffer another loss, then Amor has surely got to be getting close to the end of his reign.

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