Phoenix and Adelaide face-off in vital bottom scrap

Struggling at the bottom of the A-League pile, Adelaide United have failed to earn even a single win, having already played five matches.

Having succumbed to their third loss in a 2-4 reverse at the hands of Melbourne City, Guillermo Amor’s men are left with a lot to ponder before their upcoming clash against fellow strugglers Wellington Phoenix.

Though the plaudits went to City, there cannot be any denial that Adelaide looked out of sorts throughout the match. A lack of discipline in the midfield saw them conceding four goals as Eric Paartalu and Aaron Mooy ran amok at Coopers Stadium.

Having opened their campaign with two draws, the Reds have faltered dramatically in the last three outings to concede 10 goals.

A closer insight into the City game shows that the defence was rather lacklustre and hardly received any support from midfield. The second goal was one such instance where Mooy got into a two-on-one situation with Osama Malik and got an easy break-away.

Coming to Adelaide’s opposition this weekend, Phoenix were lucky to get away with a point in a game where the Central Coast Mariners looked the better side. Though it took a late Roy O’Donovan equaliser to settle the scores.

Sitting in seventh, Phoenix have only seven points from five outings and would desperately be trying to pile more misery upon the bottom-placed Reds in Friday’s clash.

Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss was perhaps the brightest link in the clash making some decisive saves both in the first and second halves to keep out Fabio Ferreira and Liam Rose.

Though the fixture seems to be a close contest with United looking to change their fortunes, it would take a relatively mighty effort to keep out Michael McGlinchey’s team.