Adelaide United Head Coach Carl Veart discusses the importance of focusing on one game at a time ahead of his side’s away clash with Sydney FC on Saturday afternoon.
Veart emphasised the importance of United’s strong bench providing both depth and competition ahead of some strong upcoming fixtures on the back end of the season.
Veart on Ben Folami and Austin Ayoubi’s competition for squad spots…
“Ben pulled up a bit sore after the game against Auckland. He just needs that extra little bit of rest, so he’ll be available for next week’s game. We’ve got a couple of options in that position. Austin started there at the beginning of the season. We will have a final meeting tonight when we get to Sydney and a final review of what we’re going to do for the game tomorrow. We’ve had Ben starting over Austin as we felt that was a bit of a better balance for us; we believe that Benny bought something a little bit different. Austin needs to improve on his one v one skills and he’s working exceptionally hard and we can’t ask any more of what Austin’s been doing. I’m sure he will get his opportunity and he always works hard and does his best for the team.”
Veart on the ten day break between fixtures…
“We had a couple of players that are carrying some knocks. We had two big games back-to-back with the Victory and Auckland games. The ten-day break has been very good for us. It’s given an opportunity to freshen some of the players up and we’ve still got a couple of players under that little bit of an injury cloud and we’ll see tomorrow how they pull up.
Bart pulled up a little bit sore when we had those two short games, so it was good to back the break to freshen him up. He pulled up with a bit of an injury from the Auckland game, so we’ve given him every chance possible to be available for tomorrow.”
Veart on the depth of our goal-keeping stocks…
“Ethan [Cox] has done everything we’ve asked him to do. I think he’s been very good in both games. You know what we say, if you come in and you do your job, you keep your position. So at this stage, Ethan will be keeping his position in the team.
James is our number one, but at the moment, we’ll keep him there [on the bench] at the moment. That’s something we’ve always done with our young players. You know, give them a good run. We’ll give Ethan a couple more games and then look to bring James back in.”
Veart on squad changes due to Yull, Jovanović, Kikianis, and Talladira departing for international duty…
“It’s not ideal that we’re going to be missing four players for pretty much the whole month of February. But, we’ve got replacements in the side; we’ve got some good depth in the team. You know, Jordan Elsey, he is now back in full training and is available to be selected as well. So, we’ve got plenty of options to cover the players that are leaving at the moment.”
Veart on January transfer window movements and trialist, Daan Klomp…
“He’s here for three weeks. You know, he’s in his second week now. He’s doing well and we’ll make that assessment at the end of his three week trial.”
Veart on Jordan Elsey’s road to returning to full fitness…
“It’s been very difficult. He was coming back from the ACL injury and did a lot of work and played a lot of our pre-season games and was looking really good. Unfortunately, he then picked up another injury in the week of Round One. So, it’s taken a little bit of time for him to get back from the injury, but he’s now back. We made sure we took our time, because we knew Pana was going to be away for February, so we made sure we took our time with Jordan to make sure he was 100 percent when Pana was away.
“It’s difficult for players that have those long-term injuries. But you know, Jordan is an experienced player. He’s had these injuries before and he’s got through them, so he knows what he needs to do to get through them. Yes, it’s been a tough twelve weeks for him, but he’s done everything we’ve asked of him and he’s now available to play.”
Veart on Sydney FC’s form coming into tomorrow night’s clash…
“They’ve had two bad results, so they’re going to want to get back to winning ways. It’s going to be a difficult game and they’re going to be really up for it. They’re a very good side. I think I said at the start of the season that they’re one of the best sides in the league, especially their attacking threats; they’re certainly up there with the best. We have to do everything right defensively.
“I think it’s been a bit difficult for them. They just haven’t been able to play the same eleven week in, week out, and that’s what you need. You need to have that consistency in your team selections. They’ve had a few injuries and they’ve moved a few players on as well. I’m pretty sure this back end of the season they’ll respond and do well.”
Veart on challenging upcoming fixtures against top sides…
“It’s going to be a challenge for the squad. But you know, we’ve got a lot of belief in the playing squad. They’ve been together for a long time and there’s been some opportunities for some of the younger players to get some more match minutes. We’re very happy and we just have to keep focusing on one week at a time. Our full focus is on Sydney tomorrow. We know if we play at your best, we can have a win over there.”
Veart on being spoilt for choice in our attacking options…
“It’s very nice and you need that to have a successful season. You need to have squad depth and to have that competition for places. We have that at the moment and it’s important. Those players that aren’t in the eleven keep pushing to get in the eleven. We’ve been fairly consistent with that all season and the boys are definitely knocking on the door pretty hard. So, it’s a good place to be as a coach.”
