Adelaide United hit the ground running at the start of the 2019-20 campaign but dropped off in the final weeks before the league was suspended.
Currently sitting outside the top six on goal difference, here is a review on Adelaide’s season so far.
Season highlight: Riley McGree
Having liked what they saw during his two loan spells in the A-League with Newcastle and Melbourne City, Adelaide invested big during the offseason, paying €950,000 (A$1.7 million) to transfer him across from Belgian Premier League side Club Brugge. McGree has been worth the investment. In his 18 appearances this season he has scored ten and assisted five from midfield.
He has been involved in 44 per cent of his club’s scoring this season. He should take out the club’s player of the year and may have earnt himself a Socceroos call-up in the future.
Season lowlight: the last four games before season suspension
In Round 20 Adelaide lost 5-2 to Western Sydney Wanderers, sparking a poor run of form with poor losses against Melbourne Victory (2-1), Western United (5-1) and Newcastle Jets (3-0). They conceded 14 goals in four games, with an average losing margin of 3.5 goals per game. The COVID-19 outbreak, which resulted in suspending the league, stopped the losing run.
End of season bonus: Ben Halloran
It’s unlikely that anyone in the A-League is getting a pay raise at this moment, but in a perfect world, if there is an Adelaide player who has earnt a bonus, it is Halloran. In his second season at the club he was an influential attacking player on the left wing. He scored seven and assisted three, and in his 16 games Halloran has been a solid contributor.
Chopping block: Yongbin Chen
He joined in October from third-tier Chinese outfit Qingdao Red Lion, and though he has spent just a season at the club, he should be moved on at the end of the season. The project has been a failure, with Chen failing to make a senior appearance and barely featuring in the Y-League side. As he was coming on a free transfer, at least Adelaide can send his bags packing without too much of a loss.
Season score: 5/10
Adelaide have been a solid side, playing good attacking football for most of the season, but their underwhelming performances in the past month have seen the club take a step back, so a five out of ten will suffice.
Doran Smith
Roar Guru
Season score: 3/10- They didn't perform anywhere near the manner in which they were capable of.
EJ
Roar Pro
Have to agree with a lot in this article, at their best the Reds are very good, however at their worse they are shocking with really leaky goals, while I also understand the clubs reasoning behind Yongbin Chen, as a fan and especially after the last 4 matches, I would have fathered that part of the salary cap being used on a young Aussie centre back or an experienced foreign centreback. Their attack is great, but their defence when it collapsed it collapses. As a Reds fan, Im happy with the cup but would love more, if the season continues and the reds sneak in, I hope we could regain that early season form and cause an unlikely upset,
EJ
Roar Pro
his wife has reportedly been selling their furniture on Facebook, indicating it is likely he will be leaving
Franko
Guest
Can only hope so. I'm a big fan of coaches that have worked with representative youth teams making the step up; Mulvey, Okon, Talay so please step forward T.Vidmar...
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I read that Verbeek has left the country. not coming back it said. Heard anything?
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
He played 27 games for Roar. True, he came from Gold Coast but played fewer games for them under Bleiberg. His youth career was at QAS (before GC) which in those days was pretty much the Roar academy. Junior – he’s from Cairns.
Franko
Guest
For whatever reason Verbeek lost the dressing room in the last month. It actually seems to be the calling card of his career. I'm glad he replaced Kurz, but its time to move on (again).
Nemesis
Guest
oops. I posted my reply in the wrong place, so will reply again, in case you missed it. Fake news. Halloran was part of the super Mike Mulvey Gold Coast United NYL team, then graduated to the Gold Coast United senior team. Will check, but I reckon he started more matches for GCU senior team than he did for Brisbane.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
another Roar legacy player - Ben Halloran
RKing
Guest
Not sure you fully understand about the Chinese 'experiment'. This was never about bringing in a 1st team player. As i understand it, this is about preparing and development of a 3rd division chinese player. To be onsold at some time in the future. I'm certain there is as much criticism of the experiment over there as there has been here. But this is a long term business strategy, if at the end of the day the player is on sold for a profit, then it will be a success. The more profit the owner can make the better it would be for both of his clubs.