Adelaide United FC Coach Rini Coolen likes what he has seen of his side’s progress in the past three weeks.
Adelaide United FC Coach Rini Coolen likes what he has seen of his side-s progress in the past three weeks.
The Reds may have been forced to share the points with the Wellington Phoenix at Eden Park on Saturday, but Coolen found a large number of positives to come out of his team-s time in Auckland and performance on the pitch.
Speaking at the team-s recovery session this morning with the squad having only arrived home last night following the 1-1 draw with the Phoenix, an upbeat Coolen says he has most certainly seen ongoing improvement from his charges since the Reds were humiliated by Brisbane Roar just under a month ago.
“We were very happy with the game against Wellington, (but) not the result because you want to win the game and we had chances to score the second goal and get the reward that we needed and that we deserved,” Coolen said.
“After a draw against Melbourne Heart a couple of weeks ago, we were then a little bit better against Gold Coast where we got three points, and from there you need to make another step.”
“We didn-t make that step with three points but we definitely made another step in how we play football and we were very happy with the days we were together over there (in Auckland) and how we worked during the game.”
Despite missing a host of experienced campaigners and also losing Cassio to injury after just 38 minutes, Coolen was pleased with the positiveness of his team-s attitude and the spirit shown by the players for the contest. The challenge for the Reds now is whether they can continue making further inroads and start turning these positives into maximum points.
“We were pretty happy with the step we made as a team but we still have to improve in a lot of things,” Coolen said.
“We are on a good way, we are working hard for it and we-re looking forward to our next game.”
The aforementioned game is against the Newcastle Jets, the first of two consecutive Friday night home encounters for the Reds. Having built a platform to launch over the past three weeks, combined with the closeness of the Hyundai A-League table, which sees just three points separate second from eighth, Coolen knows these next two home fixtures provide an excellent opportunity for United to make its move.
“There are a lot of draws in this competition and if you win a few games in a row you can make big steps, not only in places on the table but also in a confidence way and we-re building up that confidence because we have been playing much better,” Coolen said.
“But the best confidence is when you get three points. We have two home games now and we prefer to make the next step, play better football, get everybody available and get three points because that-s what you need to work on your confidence.”
Tickets for Friday night-s match against the Newcastle Jets are available through Ticketek.
