Adelaide United Head Coach Airton Andrioli says the Reds are ready to embrace the challenge of playing away in Asia after closing out their pre-season schedule with a 5-2 win over Adelaide City.
With the long pre-season now effectively complete, United’s attention turns to Thailand and a difficult ACL Two clash with BG Pathum United, before returning home for the start of the A-League campaign.
Andrioli on reaching the end of pre-season
“It’s been a long time to deal with games. We’ve had a few competitive matches in the ACL, but the gaps between them have still been very long. We played Tai Po here about a month ago, and now our next game comes another month later, so it’s difficult to find consistency. From next week, we have the game in Bangkok, then we come back and the season starts. From there, it’s games after games, and we’ll see where we’re at once we have a few more matches under our belt.”
Andrioli on the expectations in Thailand
“The expectation is to go there, perform and get a result. We want to do well in this competition. Playing in Asia is a great opportunity for us for many reasons, because it’s quite different to the A-League and gives our players opportunities to continue developing. They have to adapt and adjust, and hopefully that gives us an advantage moving forward. But we also want to be successful.”
Andrioli on the challenge of BG Pathum United
“It will be a real test. They have a very good side and, as we know, the conditions play a big part when you travel into Asia. There are challenges before you even start playing the football match. But that’s part of what we’re looking forward to – seeing how we adapt and how we face those challenges. We have a lot of young players and we just want them to concentrate on the game. Considering all those challenges, we still believe we can go there and get a result.”
Andrioli on keeping the focus on football
“We’ve had a bit of a laugh about some of the things that can happen when you travel in Asia, but the main priority is the football match. We’re playing against a good opposition with very good players. We’ve watched their league and some of their matches, and the standard is high. We’re under no illusion that it will be tough, but we back ourselves and hopefully we can go there and get a result.”
Andrioli on Juan Muñiz and Anselmo entering the season better prepared
“We hope Juan can have a bigger role, and the same goes for Anselmo. Those two, along with Goody, have experience playing in Asia. Juan and Anselmo have now been able to be part of the whole pre-season, so they’re much better prepared than they were last season. We know Juan is a great player with a lot of potential, and we hope in his second season he can perform at his highest level and help us achieve success.”
Andrioli on the importance of squad depth
“This season is going to be more challenging because we’re playing in two competitions. We need everyone available. There will probably be scenarios where we need to rest players because of the closeness of the matches, the travel and everything that comes with it. Everyone is part of the squad, and we want to make sure they’re ready when their opportunity comes.”
Andrioli on finalising the travelling squad
“We’ve still got training tomorrow and Sunday before we make the final call. We’re travelling with 18 players, so there are still a couple of decisions to make. A few players came back from Perth with little niggles, so we’re assessing them and then we’ll make the final decision on the squad travelling to Thailand.”
