Adelaide United midfielder George Mells is extremely confident the Reds are close to clicking on all fronts, ahead of the Club’s Round 5 clash against the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday at Coopers Stadium.
Mells made his first appearance for the season against Melbourne City, after returning from international duty with the Young Socceroos.
Consequently, the 19-year-old admitted he was delighted to play for the first time this campaign, albeit at the expense of James Holland, who suffered a slight hamstring strain in training last week.
“Yeah you don’t want to see your own players getting injured and you certainly don’t want to be coming in under those circumstances of a player getting hurt,” Mells said.
“But at the end of the day, okay he (James Holland) couldn’t play so you’ve to take your opportunity and I was very happy to get my first game out of the way and probably against the hardest team in the league at the moment (in Melbourne City).”
Mells attributed the Red’s winless start to the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season to a combination of bad luck as well as a shortage of experience in key moments, but remains optimistic the tide will soon turn.
“I think we’ve been unlucky in certain games, you know we’ve had three 2-1 losses, okay whether you put that down to being unlucky or a lack of concentration it doesn’t matter,” Mells said.
“Sometimes they (the results) go your way sometimes they don’t, but we’ll come good soon.
“I mean it’s more the experience that we miss sometimes in certain moments
“Even myself being a young player, but the boys that have come in, have done really well.
“We work on these things in training on how to correct them, we do the video sessions, we prepare as a team.”
Mells was also adamant the team will not take the Central Coast Mariners lightly and is hopeful that if they can secure the three points it will kick-start their season.
“I don’t think in this league you can say anyone is an easy game, you’ve got to take every game like it’s going to be your last game,” Mells affirmed.
“Every player (in the squad) is fighting for a position and you can’t afford to think that way and Paul Okon is a great coach and no wonder why they’re doing very well.
“If we can win this week, you know it will start some momentum for us which I’m positive that we can.
“Then hopefully we can build a few wins together like we did last year, I think we went on 14 games unbeaten where we didn’t lose.
“So hopefully we can go on a run like that, and I’m confident in the team we can do that.”
Adelaide United host Central Coast Mariners in Round 5 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season on Sunday, 6 November at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30pm ACDT.
