Adelaide United fell 2–1 to Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand on Saturday afternoon, with Joey Garuccio marking his Reds debut with a well-taken late goal that sparked a strong finish – but it wasn’t enough to recover from a disappointing day in Wellington.
After conceding early in both halves, the Reds found themselves chasing the match for long periods before Garuccio’s composed run and finish offered hope in the final stages. Below is everything Head Coach Airton Andrioli had to say following the match.
Andrioli on the overall performance…
“We’re disappointed with the result, and also a bit disappointed with the way we dealt with the initial part of the first half and the initial part of the second half. Normally, we’re much better at executing those actions. The first goal looked avoidable to me – we could have stopped that from the corner.
“We only started playing our game halfway through the first half, and again in the second half we weren’t executing what we normally do well in those first 15 minutes. That put us on the back foot, and Wellington are very difficult to play against once they’re in front. Two goals behind in this game was always going to be a long way back.”
Andrioli on inconsistency after strong recent form…
“Back-to-back form is the million-dollar question. You prepare the same way, you work the same way, and sometimes it’s difficult to understand why things happen. Wellington made things difficult for us, but we also contributed to that with the way we played.”
Andrioli on the refereeing decisions…
“I haven’t looked back at the penalty – I only saw it quickly – but it looked very soft to me. I was more disappointed with some other decisions, like the moment in the second half when the referee stopped play for what he thought was a head collision. We were in a position to attack.
Andrioli on Joey Garuccio’s debut goal…
“I have a lot of hope for these young boys. Joey is a very clever kid – he makes the right runs, he understands timing. He came on and broke the offside line perfectly and finished well. He’s another one putting his hand up for more opportunities.”
Andrioli on squad depth and the late travel call for Kitto and Muñiz…
“We made the call on Tuesday. Those boys weren’t feeling well and didn’t train Monday or Tuesday, and we didn’t want to take the risk of bringing them in later. Yes, we had a few changes today, but that’s no excuse – everybody knows what we want to do.
“We should have those boys back next week, and Anselmo is another one who should be ready for Sunday. The squad is quite healthy and we have lots of players available.”
Andrioli on the ongoing search for an away win…
“The more you talk about away form, the more it becomes a problem. We just analyse this game, look at what we could have done better, and prepare for Sunday. Every match is its own moment.”
Andrioli on the message heading into next week…
“We can’t show this much inconsistency. If you do that, you put yourself in a situation where you get punished. We need to be better with those little details and then continue on Sunday, get a result, and keep going.”
