Adelaide United Head Coach Airton Andrioli was full of praise for Anselmo after the Brazilian’s second-half brace powered the Reds to a 3-1 win over Macarthur FC at Coopers Stadium on Sunday, securing Finals football and extending United’s unbeaten run to nine matches.
Andrioli said Anselmo’s response to a challenging run of injuries was a credit to his character and work ethic, while also highlighting the group’s belief and momentum as attention turns quickly to next week’s final round clash with Melbourne City.
Andrioli on Anselmo’s match-winning impact…
“First of all, I’m extremely happy for him, because he went through a tough time. Obviously, he came here, he had expectations to play, to help us, and then had a few difficult moments with injuries, couldn’t train, couldn’t get himself fit, was down for quite a long period of time, but credit to him. We talk a lot about just keep going, things can turn around. Credit to him, he kept on working really hard, got himself as fit as you can be… and always had belief and confidence in what he could do if he was healthy and fit. So for that reason, I’m really happy for him… I have no doubts… he can have an impact for us.”
Andrioli on securing Finals and the opportunity ahead…
“I like to say that I feel, we all feel very blessed to be in the position that we are in. Not many people were giving us much of a chance in the beginning of the season, but we believe in the work that we put together. Those players have been growing together, gelling, getting stronger from a mentality point of view, belief and confidence… and so much credit goes to the players that believe in what we do every day at training and what we want to build together. What an opportunity to be playing this game against Melbourne City next week. Like I’ve been saying the whole season, the most important match is your next one… and we will go and prepare to play and win the match again.”
Andrioli on the mindset: ‘doesn’t matter how we win’…
“It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. For us, we were extremely happy. This was a game we said to the boys before the game: I know we’ve been playing some great football, but if we have to win, it doesn’t matter how we win the match today. We want to get a result. We want those three points… and we will prepare in the best possible way like we’ve been doing throughout the season, and we’re going to go to Melbourne with a lot of confidence.”
Andrioli on the halftime message and turning point…
“At halftime, I already had in mind the changes I wanted to make. Obviously that had an impact in the game, bringing Brody [Burkitt] and Anselmo, and they changed the perspective for us. We were a little bit sloppy at times with the ball in the first half. We could have played a little bit quicker, could have played forward a few more times, and even when we got to the final third, there were a few times we didn’t take our chances. But the talk at halftime was to play our football, play with intensity. We made the changes and the second half, I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it panned out.”
Andrioli on injury updates to Kitto and Riak…
“Too early. Those players need to get assessed, maybe have some scans tomorrow [Monday] to make sure that we know exactly what it is. But at the moment, I just want to enjoy this win… Thank you to all the supporters again for coming here, full house today, again pushing us and being the number 12 player. It’s a pleasure to be at Coopers… we do this for our supporters.”
Andrioli on preparing for Melbourne City next week…
“We assess this week, we analyse Melbourne City a little bit more specifically, and we put a plan together that we believe can go and get us a result. That’s how we’re going to take this week — prepare like we do, keep riding on that belief and confidence that we have. Winning this game today was extremely important for us, so now we’re in a good position. We just want to consolidate that next week.”
