Adelaide United Head Coach Airton Andrioli says the Reds will take a simple mindset into the final match of the home and away season against Melbourne City on Saturday: go there to win.
With Auckland FC and all other teams playing earlier in the weekend, Adelaide will know by kick-off what’s required to finish as high as possible – potentially as high as second – but Andrioli insists the approach won’t change regardless of other results.
Andrioli on the week’s preparation and the importance of the final round
“We had a good week. We know the importance of this coming game on the weekend, and the preparation was very good for us. It’s just another game. We’re going to finish the season strong. Important game for us. As I said, we prepared well, and we’re ready to go and get a result tomorrow.”
Andrioli on Melbourne City and embracing a big test
“We’re expecting a tough game. They’ve been playing well, I think they won the last four or five games, so they’re having a bit of momentum coming into this game. They’re always going to be a tough opposition to play against. They’ve got good players, they’re the champions from last year, so we’re under no illusion that it’s going to be a tough game. But that’s what we want. We want to play games like this. The boys are building, full of confidence, and we’ve been playing consistently well. We believe that if we go there and play the football that we can play, we can get the result.”
Andrioli on Craig Goodwin’s return to the squad
“It’s good to have a player like him after being out for such a long time. He’s been around the grounds, change rooms and training, trying to be that sort of leader off the field. Now it’s good to have him back on the bench for this game. He’ll be available if we need to use him, depending how the game is going. It’s exciting to have him back and add something extra to us for those finals.”
Andrioli on having two strikers in form
“Excellent. I think one of the strongest things you can have is competition – players playing for positions. When you train during the week, you know somebody else is as good as you and knocking on the door to have an opportunity to play. They’re different type of players, so it gives us different variety, different perspective, and we use them according to our game plan.”
Andrioli on knowing other results before kick-off – and why it won’t matter
“It is what it is. Ideally you play all those games at the same time, for everyone’s sake. Obviously you’ll know the result before the game starts, but that’s not going to change our mentality. We prepare every week to go and play a football match to win it. That’s what we want to do. We haven’t lost a game for a long time, but in our mind there’s only one thing – we believe in what we do and we want to take every game the same way. That’s not going to change anything for us. We’re going to go and play the football match, and then the rest will take care of itself.”
Andrioli on what a home final would mean
“It means a lot. We’re very strong when we play at home. We give the opportunity for all our supporters to be here and see us, and we know how important they are for us. They’re the number 12 player. For me, they’re the best supporters in the country. So that’s our goal. As always, we’re fully focused on playing this game, getting the result, and then obviously guaranteeing at least an elimination final at home, or it could be even higher. But as I said, nothing changes for us — we prepare with the mentality that we can go there and win the game.”
