Adelaide United Head Coach, Guillermo Amor and midfield James Holland are confident the Reds can secure all three points against ladder leaders Sydney FC on Boxing Day at Coopers Stadium.
The Reds will be hoping to give supporters a belated Christmas present by becoming the first side to trump the unbeaten Sky Blues this season.
The two sides encountered in Round 8 which saw Adelaide keep the league leaders scoreless in a 0-0 draw, and were arguably unfortunate not to have taken all three points.
Last weekend, Adelaide suffered a late 2-1 defeat away to the Newcastle Jets, while Sydney conquered Perth Glory 4-1 in Western Australian.
Reds Boss, Amor acknowledged the strengths of Graham Arnold’s men and called for supporters to flock to Coopers Stadium to create a raucous atmosphere.
“I think the players are focused on the game and the coaches naturally, and we need everybody at Coopers Stadium on Monday for the win,” Amor said.
“I think we know Sydney is a very good team, they’re playing very well and they’re the leader and deserve to be first (on the ladder).
“But against them (in Round 8) we played very well in Sydney and we drew 0-0 and we had moments to win this game.
“I think we can win if we have a good day and control the game and are focused, it’s possible we can.”
Amor insists the team’s morale has remained quite high, despite lying at the bottom of the league standings.
“I think the team has confidence, we’re working well and are playing well, but the results don’t arrive,” Amor said.
“The result is very important in football, sometimes you play bad and win.
“But we need a result, we need three points otherwise the distance between us and the top six will keep growing.”
Adelaide have been in imperious form against the Harbour outfit in recent times as they are undefeated in 10 of their preceding 11 matches and have incidentally registered five clean sheets in their previous eight fixtures.
Coopers Stadium has also proved a futile hunting ground for the visitors, yet to taste victory in the city of churches since February 2012.
Meanwhile, midfielder Holland, believes the Reds can take confidence from their promising outing against the Sky Blues in Round 8.
“Obviously Sydney have been really good this year and they’re a really hard team to break down,” Holland said.
“I think they’re a team that tries to make you play their game which probably isn’t our game, but I think we did really well and suffocated them a lot.
“We didn’t give them many chances, I think we had the better chances so we can draw a lot of confidence from that.
“And we’ve analysed our game against them and tried to pin point some of their weaknesses and hopefully use that on Monday.”
Holland also took time to mull over the season thus far, admitting the results have been difficult to accept when the team has played particularly well.
“It’s been tough, obviously not winning has been tough, it’s hard to get out of that ditch, (when you’re losing), because I feel like we’ve been playing well so it’s been difficult,” Holland continued.
“I’ve really enjoyed the football we play, I think for me we get told to always play, it’s a nice style of football to play as a player, so I’ve enjoyed that part of things.
“But it’s been difficult, when you’re losing it’s not easy so it’s been a challenge… But I do my best to help the team as much as I can.”
Adelaide United host Sydney FC in Round 12 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season on Monday, 26 December at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.20pm ACDT.
