Adelaide United head coach Carl Veart is anticipating a fierce match against bitter rivals Melbourne Victory when United travels to Melbourne ahead of the Saturday night blockbuster.
Fresh off a victory against Newcastle, Veart has confirmed that confidence is strong amongst the group and is relishing the opportunity to take on Victory in hostile conditions.
Speaking in preparation for the big clash, Veart discussed a range of topics.
Carl Veart on his expectations for the match ahead:
“It’s going to be a tough proposition, but one that we’re looking forward to. We’ve already been there once this season and came away with a point. If we had a little bit more luck that night, we could have easily had the three points. The boys know what to expect. It’s a big game for us. We’re really looking forward to keeping the momentum that we built from the last game.”
Carl Veart on a fierce Original Rivalry:
“I expect it to be a fierce, competitive game. Both teams want to play football first. And yes, there could be some tough challenges, and that’s what you expect in these games. It’s going to be an exciting game. Hopefully they get a good crowd and make the atmosphere hostile for us, so we can make sure we keep them nice and quiet.”
Carl Veart on the importance ending the year on a high:
“Even though we went through a run of losses, the confidence was still good in the group. And that hasn’t changed. We’ve had a good Christmas break now, after having a good performance leading into Christmas. The boys are fresh and focused, and really looking forward to going to Melbourne.”
Carl Veart on potential formation changes:
“Last week, it was just a matchup for us. We still went back to our original shape in the last 30 minutes for that game. We managed to score a couple of goals in that that time as well. We have been working since preseason started on changing our shape a little bit. And we pulled it out in the last game. We could possibly use it again in this game.”
Carl Veart on the development of Luka Jovanović:
“Having Hiroshi next to Luka just provided a little bit more stability for Luka. It allowed him to make more forward runs and have a little bit more flexibility with his own movement. It worked well for him last weekend. Since he come into this team in round five or six, he’s putting in some really good performances. He’s still a young player, that’s still learning. He will take good confidence from that last performance. He’s still a goal-scorer and he wants to score goals. He’d been really looking forward to getting on the score sheet.
Carl Veart on Josh Cavallo’s return to the team:
“Josh has been training now with the team for about four or five weeks. He’s still not quite at the match level that he needs to be to play. But he is going to need to start getting some match minutes soon. He’s working hard in training, and he’ll get an opportunity soon.
Carl Veart on a busy January schedule:
It’s going to be tough on all teams over that January period with so many games. We’re playing every four, five days through the January period, so it’s going to be important that we rotate our squad. We’re very fortunate at the moment that we’ve got some good depth in the squad. We’ll be looking to rotate our squad and make sure we keep it as fresh and ready to go for every game over this period.
