Adelaide United Head Coach Airton Andrioli says his side is “desperate to get a result” as they prepare for Saturday night’s Original Rivalry clash against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
After a frustrating late defeat to Brisbane Roar, the Reds are determined to respond – and Andrioli believes the performance levels remain strong.
Andrioli on preparations…
“Yeah, it’s going okay. We had a good week on the training pitch. All players are ready and focused for the game. We’ll assess everyone after today’s session but the group is in good shape.”
Andrioli on Anselmo’s first appearance…
“It was good to see him play. It was a tough game for him to come into, but he still could have scored. Hopefully we can give him more minutes because I believe he can be an important player for us.”
Andrioli on coaching his first Original Rivalry…
“Of course it’s exciting. I’m very happy to be here and be part of this fixture. You don’t need to motivate players for this one – everyone knows the importance of the match for both clubs and supporters. We just want to make sure we’re ready and desperate to get the result.”
Andrioli on Victory’s position on the ladder…
“It’s interesting – sometimes people are put on top very quickly, then written off very quickly. I think Victory have been playing well lately. I don’t see a team giving up. We’re under no illusion – it will be a very tough game. It’s a long season and everyone still has a chance.”
Andrioli on the rivalry and preparation…
“We don’t need to do anything special to cultivate it. The players understand the importance. Football is a game you must play with your brain – we need to stay calm and execute. The atmosphere shouldn’t take that away from us.”
Andrioli on talk of a formation change…
“It wasn’t really a switch – we just adjusted our pressing because of how Brisbane use their goalkeeper. The rest was the same. For this game, we have a clear plan and we want to execute it.”
Andrioli on Craig Goodwin’s role…
“Craig’s been involved in everything. People sometimes look too much at positions or past seasons. He knows what he needs to do in certain areas of the pitch and we’ll keep working with him, like we do with every player. We want to get the most out of him.”
Andrioli on Ben Folami’s return to the squad…
“Ben is part of the squad this week. He’s been very good in training. We try to reward players who work hard, even when circumstances haven’t gone their way.”
Andrioli on responding after a heated match…
“It’s about how you turn up for the next game. We were disappointed last week, but the positive is that performance-wise we’ve been consistently good. We probably deserved more from some of our losses. Now it’s about being better in the final pass, the final execution, and having a bit more desperation not to let a game slip.”
