It was all going so well for Adelaide United.
They were the form team of the A-League heading into Round 8. Confidence was swelling around Coopers Stadium. There were talks of a title charge under the stewardship of Gertjan Verbeek.
The Reds just beat bitter rivals Melbourne Victory 3-1 in a scintillating performance. All they had to do was beat Wellington at home to cushion themselves in third, a point behind Melbourne City in second. Things didn’t go to plan.
On a bleak Sunday afternoon at Coopers Stadium, Adelaide succumbed to an abject performance, losing 2-1 in the end. Wellington thoroughly dominated the Reds, having 20 shots to Adelaide’s six.
While Wellington got a controversial penalty that won the game for them, Adelaide were uninspiring and failed to create clear goal-scoring opportunities, aside from Nikola Mileusnic’s wonder goal.
This begs the question: was the Wellington performance a one-off, or the start of something worse?
Gertjan Verbeek went all out in the following press conference, labelling his side’s performance a “three or four,” adding that he wasn’t impressed by the previous training sessions, which he described as “disappointing.”
(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)
While it is refreshing to hear exactly what a manager is thinking, these kinds of comments could cause possible rifts throughout the playing group. Such discontent would surely disrupt and potentially derail Adelaide’s season and title push.
It was a bad day at the office for Adelaide, but problems could run deeper. On the flip side, however, given their form coming into the Wellington game, it is likely that the game was simply a one-off.
The Wellington game was Adelaide’s only poor performance so far this season, with the loss to Melbourne City in Round 2 having some positives. The Reds were on a level with Sydney in Round 1 and were the better team in every other game.
It’s not as if Verbeek is taking the loss lightly, either. Paul Izzo said that he expects changes to be made for the Newcastle game on the weekend, with both Ben Halloran and Al Hassan Toure being hooked at half-time on Sunday, with Riley McGree also making his way to the bench.
I like that Verbeek doesn’t do things by halves. He took two of his best attackers off because they didn’t look lively. He reshuffled the team in order to try and break down Wellington. He didn’t hold back in his post-match press conference, slamming the team’s intensity and performance.
He will make changes for Newcastle, and whether or not I agree with them, Verbeek is doing all he can to turn Adelaide into title challengers this year.
The devil’s pitchfork attacking strategy employed by Verbeek against Wellington may have shown some promise but was easily nullified by Wellington’s midfield marking James Troisi and Riley McGree out of the game.
Whether it was a blip or the start of something worse, Verbeek has the best interests of the club, fans and players in mind and isn’t afraid to mix it up when things aren’t going particularly well.
Compared to his predecessor Marco Kurz, who usually started the same core group of players, I welcome this change.
Allan Riley
Roar Rookie
I agree that the Brisbane game wasn't the best, and it was featured in the pre-edited article. On a ranking, it was probably the second-worst performance of the season.There's no doubt that Reds fans also got ahead of themselves about title aspirations, which could have seeped into the playing group, making them less focused. Whilst Adelaide may be getting ahead of themselves, I still see them as a potential threat in the finals.The same could be said about Western Sydney. That hype seeped into the club three games in, one of which was very controversial, and all of a sudden, they're in danger of falling out of the finals places and now Babbel is under pressure.Shabab's article delves into the numbers behind the teams is really informative, and paints a more realistic picture of Adelaide. While they can blow anyone out of the water on their day, they are also prone to defensive lapses and being lured into giving away stupid penalties, such as against Sydney and Wellington.
Allan Riley
Roar Rookie
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Allan Riley
Roar Rookie
Kurz barely used youth players unless injuries suspensions and national team duties forced his hand. Even then, he asked upon the likes of Lia. In Verbeek's first game; he starts a teenager who no one has ever heard of. That kid then scores on his debut. Verbeek hasn't been afraid to use the youth, and I appreciate that.
Allan Riley
Roar Rookie
You're right, Buddy. For a team to be successful, each player must have the motivation to give their absolute best for the team and the fans. P.S. I think Wellington were around $6.20 to win.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
completely disagree with your view on adelaide overall as a team and on that match against brissy, we had more shots and more possession. Brisbane had some great chances, but that game we could’ve easily won 5-2. But you could say that about most teams in the league in certain matches, this season is unbelievably close We’re giving away sloppy goals and that’s the real concern, however the match last week against the nix we just weren’t at the races, think the boys were starting to believe there own hype. No mcgree for the next couple weeks, which is a hammer blow. Im expecting kitto to come in at LB and maria to move into the midfield to give some energy. i think fans and other clubs in the league really underestimated us before the season started, now were the ‘dark horse’ for the league? this team should comfortably finish in the 6 and mount a close charge to winning it all
Buddy
Roar Rookie
The team that manages to win when not playing well tends to emerge either at or somewhere close to the top. We regularly talk about Tom’s consistency whether it is good or bad and AU seem to reach a point where they look as if they will go on in leaps and bounds and then they stutter. Maybe they read and believe their own publicity, maybe they bet against the bookmakers - I can’t remember how long the odds were on a Phoenix win but it was pretty good odds. Sport is all wrapped up in motivation and reaching a certain level of intensity. As soon as it drops away and another team lifts, the playing field changes. I accept that overall there might be a lot more talent in some teams but there has to be the desire week in and week out and to me that was the missing ingredient last week. I wouldn’t say AU went through the motions as such but I still got the impression they thought they just had to turn up, kick the ball around the park and 3 points would come their way. It isn’t that simple - ask Guardiola - after all look at the talent available to him but he also has 19 other teams who want to knock off the current champions - motivation!
Franko
Guest
I welcome the change also Allan, the youth and locals are being largely backed in and showing they are up for the challenge. Riley "found his level" McGree is out this week and was clearly injured last week, so will be interesting to see if Maria joins the Mid or Konstandopolous. For me Adelaide should be on track for 3rd or 4th and as long as the cantera policy remains, I'm ok with that.
Waz
Roar Rookie
There’s a bit of analysis using “rose tinted glasses” going on here. I haven’t watched all of Adelaide’s games this season but vs Roar they won 1-0 but could easily have lost 3–1 so they clearly weren’t “the better side in all their other games”. And I think Adelaide got a bit ahead of themselves before the Nix game by comparing themselves to their title winning side from a few years back. Pride before a fall and all that ... The type of analysis done by the likes of Shabab (on Glory yesterday) helps remove subjectivity and sweeping statements from such commentary, and when you look at Adelaide’s xG it suggests they will both score and concede plenty of goals and, if nothing changes, they will lose more games than they win. Adelaide play football like a championship boxer going toe to toe and slugging it out with their opponents for 90 minutes - who wins is down to who gets the killer blow in first. The same analysis was true of Wanderers after three games. Hyped as potential champions with three wins they could easily have lost two of those three games which would put them in the bottom 3, right where their xG says they should be. (The difference between expected and reality is Lopar stopping them at one end and Duke scoring at the other)