Adelaide United Assistant Coach, Mark Milligan, spoke to the media following Saturday night’s match against Melbourne Victory.
Milligan was temporarily in-charge of the Club’s Men’s squad, with illness keeping Carl Veart out of the technical area.
Reflecting on United’s performance and the circumstances overall, Milligan also provided an update on the reason for Lachlan Barr’s absence from the side.
Finding out he was in charge:
“Carl gave me a call probably about lunchtime saying that he wasn’t feeling the best and that I’d be in charge tonight.
“Then the fun started, speaking to Damian (Mori) and Airton (Andrioli) and Eugene (Galekovic) and the medical staff.
“I’m just very fortunate that I was put into this position today, but obviously the the whole group was helpful and made that transition today quite easy.
“Most of the work was done during the week – the tactical side of things and things like that and Carl was available for (that).
”So game day’s more about reinforcing those messages that we’ve been giving and making the players as comfortable as possible.
“The best way to do that is to try and keep as normal a routine for them as as possible.”
Thoughts on the game:
“I think we finished (the game) quite well.
“We probably, to be honest, didn’t create enough opportunities to go on and win the game.
“But, again, after the performance and I guess the way we went about things last week, I think just to see their desire again today, both with the ball and without, our intent was good.
“Carl not being here is, whether we like it or not, a distraction.
“So for them to be able to focus and for Goody and Kitto and these older boys to drive the group like they did was fantastic.”
Update on Barr:
“He had a little niggle late in the week.
“Tonight was more precautionary.
“Obviously the medical staff need to look into it more, but, at this point, I’m not really sure.
“We need to look into it a little bit further and we’ll see how he pulls up.”
