Adelaide United defender, Ben Garuccio, is anticipating a difficult match ahead of the Reds’ visit to AAMI Park to face Melbourne City in Round 4 of the Hyundai A-League on Friday night.
The Reds are without a win to start the new campaign, but confidence remains high in the squad following promising outings in their previous two Hyundai A-League games.
After dispatching Melbourne Victory 2-0 in the Westfield FFA Cup on Tuesday, City will also want to return to winning ways in the league, after enduring a 3-2 home loss against Perth Glory last weekend.
Garuccio, who faces his former side for the first time as a Red, is expecting a tough clash and stated the team must stay focused for the entire game, after conceding late goals in successive matches.
“City have obviously started well so it’s going to be a tough game as expected, but we’re looking to get the three points over there,” Garuccio said.
“We just have to stay concentrated for a full 90 minutes because in recent games we’ve actually been dominating (our opposition).
“At times we’ve struggled to put our opportunities away and then we’ve been paying for it, so I think up the other end if we can maybe put one away, then we’ll be looking a lot more assured in those last minutes.
“But for us we’re just looking for a win, I think in the games we’ve had some really positive passages and probably should have won the last two (games against Western Sydney and Melbourne Victory).”
Guillermo Amor’s men are currently on an 11 match unbeaten streak away from home with the Club’s last defeat occurring in November 2015.
Adelaide has traditionally dominated this fixture, indicative of the pair’s recent encounters as the South Australians have lost just three times in their previous 11 games with City.
Garuccio lamented his side’s recent spate of injuries, but laughed off suggestions the team was under some sort of curse, insisting the team will not change their aggressive approach.
“It’s just one of those things I guess, it’s not anyone’s fault or it’s not anything we could be doing better,” Garuccio said.
“They’re impact injuries, two MCLs (medial collateral ligament) it’s very unlucky, but we’ve got the depth and it’s a good opportunity for the other boys to step in.
“When you’re pulling out of a tackle that’s when you might get injured, but the harder you go in the lest chance there is of getting hurt.”
“It’s just bad luck and there’s nothing you can really do, but you keep playing the exact same way.”
The 21-year-old also reiterated the Reds must concentrate on John van’t Schip’s squad as a whole and not merely on star forward Tim Cahill.
“City have got a lot of good players (besides Tim Cahill) and they’ve been playing with a lot of other players that have been scoring goals as well,” Garuccio continued.
“They’ve started very well, I don’t think they’ve been focusing on him too much.
“Obviously he’s (Tim Cahill) a big part of their team, but they’ve got a lot of other great players so you have to focus on everyone equally.”
Adelaide United will face Melbourne City in Round 4 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season on Friday, 28 October at AAMI. Kick-off is at 7.20pm ACDT.
