Adelaide United Head Coach, Carl Veart, has spoke ahead of his team’s clash with Western United on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking at the Adelaide Airport before the Reds departed for Victoria on Friday, Veart opened up about the test facing his side, while also shedding light on Hiroshi Ibusuki’s form and Nestory Irankunda’s development.
South vs East/West:
“Western are last year’s champions.
“Yes, things haven’t gone the way that they would have hoped this year, so far, but they’re starting to put some good runs together of games.
“It’s just a matter of them getting all their players on the pitch that, unfortunately, they haven’t been able to do that this year.
“So they’re a good side and, if they turn up on their day, they can make it very difficult for us.”
Getting to the business end:
“All the games now (are danger games) because it’s getting towards the end.
“Everyone’s desperate for points to make that top four, top six, and there’s a real battle there for nearly all the teams.
“If you go on a run, and it’s shown previously in the A-League, if you go on a run of four or five games undefeated, then you can really have a good charge.
“And that’s what we’re looking for now.
“We’ve gone four games now undefeated and we’re looking to keep adding to that tomorrow.”
Still our Hiro:
“(Hiroshi) is a quality striker.
“If he is then taking those defenders away for someone else and creating other opportunities for other plays in our team, then that’s fine.
“At the end of the day, yes, you want your number nine to score goals, but long as the team is scoring goals and the team is doing the team things, then we’re happy with that.”
Irankunda ‘on ice’:
“Nestor showed what he could do last year, and he’s shown glimpses of it this year, but you got to take time.
“A lot of people call that he needs to start games.
“He’s a long way off from starting games.
“He only has the capacity, maybe, to last 30 minutes at this level and that’s something that we’re really working hard with him to develop.
“Something that he does need to improve is his work right, but his match conditioning and match fitness is a long way off.
“And that’s totally expected for a young kid.
“The A-League is played at a very high level physically, so we’re working with him to get that level up to the level that it needs to be.”
