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Attempts at reinvention proved disastrous in the major semi-final, so Adelaide United will enter Saturday’s A-League grand final intent on doing what they know best.
Put bluntly, this will mean some ugly football, designed to frustrate Melbourne’s attacking instincts while wearing down their concentration for the time when the Reds can pinch a goal from a precision set piece or shock counter-attack.
United centre-half Robert Cornthwaite said Adelaide would go to Melbourne intent on parking their bus at Telstra Dome.
“All year we’ve been pretty defensive, conceded the least amount of goals and we’re very good on the counter-attack, so this weekend will probably be something similar,” he said on Tuesday.
“The likes of Travis (Dodd) and Lucas (Pantelis) can break forward and Barbs (Fabien Barbiero) can score a good goal now, so not to concede a goal is No.1 and then try to catch them on the break.
“We’ll try to keep it as tight as possible, try to limit as many opportunities as we can – no team limits the opposition to no shots on goal, so they’ll have their chances – but as long as we limit their chances in front of goal we’ll have an opportunity.”
It is arguable that Adelaide’s best scoring chances will come from the heart of their defence, as both Cornthwaite and fellow defender Sasa Ognenovski have made a habit of scoring headers from set pieces this season.
“Our record scoring away from home hasn’t been that great, (but) both Sasa and I have got one away from home this season,” Cornthwaite said.
“Hopefully we can concentrate, get some good deliveries from set pieces, corners and free kicks and one of us will be able to get our head on the end of it.”
The threat posed by Melbourne strike pair Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson remains undiminished despite national coach Pim Verbeek’s assertion that both were “hopeless” against Indonesia.
Linking up with the Victory’s agile midfield, they have provided no end of trouble for the Reds in the past, leaving Cornthwaite to insist the man-marking had to be spot on this week.
“In the first game, without meaning to be, we were a little too concentrated on being too physical and if we just go out and play the football we know we can that will give us the best opportunity to get the result,” he said.
“They’re beatable, they’ve lost this season, we haven’t beaten them but there’s only been one goal in it on three occasions.”
Brazilians Cassio (after suspension) and Diego (regaining match fitness) will both push for inclusion this week.
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