Adelaide United Liberty A-League coach Adrian Stenta says a lack of consistency in game and from week to week has kept his side winless in the opening five games of the season.
The Reds went down 3-1 to Sydney FC at Marden Sports Complex in warm conditions on Sunday afternoon.
A first half double to former Adelaide United striker Fiona Worts and a late penalty scored by Princess Ibini cancelled out a nicely taken goal in transition by Hannah Blake just before half time.
Stenta’s side started the season well with a four-all draw with Canberra United but has been able to find a win since despite having moments in each game.
Speaking after the game at Marden, Stenta was frustrated at the inconsistency of his team, lamenting injuries to key personnel throughout the season so far and the team’s inability to execute a plan to restrict the Sky Blues on Sunday afternoon.
Adrian Stenta on his initial thoughts about the game:
“My initial thoughts are those of frustration because I felt like we had enough of the ball in good areas but we weren’t able to generate as many shots on goal as we would have liked and then we gave up a lot of shots on goal in transition in particular. It was just a frustrating afternoon really.
“We started the game quite well and then we give up two really sloppy goals and some chances where we probably could have been down further if not for some good saves by Annie Grove. So it’s just that consistency is what we’re really searching for and that’s what’s been most frustrating about our performances so far this year.”
Adrian Stenta on what has held back his side from winning so far this season:
“I don’t think it’s bad luck. I think we keep giving away poor goals which isn’t helping us and then we’re getting ourselves into situations where we’re behind and having to chase the game. It’s a little bit of that, it’s a little bit of inconsistency from week to week within the game as well. It’s also been challenging to try and get our best players out on the park consistently for 90 minutes as well so it’s probably a combination of those three things.”
Adrian Stenta on what he made of Sydney:
“We always know that Sydney would bring a good challenge. They’re well coached and they play dangerous attacking football. So, we thought we were well prepared to take them on and had some plans in place that could give us a little bit of an advantage and we just weren’t able to execute as consistently as we would have liked with the plans that we’d made before the game.”
