Adelaide United Head Coach, Carl Veart, spoke from New Zealand about Saturday’s clash with Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium.
With United looking to bounce-back after its 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar last week, Veart gave insights into what can be expected of the Nix and also provided an update on the squad’s injuries.
Another away day:
“It doesn’t matter when (away matches) come because it balances out over the course of the season.
“In a way, to get the difficult trips out at the beginning of the season is a positive in that at the end of the season you only have the short trips left.
“It’s a difficult trip to come to Wellington because you spend a full day to travel to get here and you get in very late at night.
“But we’re looking forward to playing tomorrow and getting the three points.”
Squad news:
“Goody’s (Craig Goodwin) back after his illness, so that’s a huge positive for us to get him back for after a great World Cup.
“We’re really looking forward to him coming back in and adding that bit of quality that we need in that front third.
“Harry’s (Van der Saag) operation went quite well.
“’He’s on crutches now for another four weeks and then he will slowly slowly sort of get back into walking again.
“Ben (Warland), unfortunately he’s done an MCL to his knee, so he’ll be at least at least another six weeks… while we wait for his MCL to repair.
“Zach (Clough) will be available for the next home game.
“Steven Hall had to go back in and have a second surgery on his knee.
“Bernardo, he’s just started running, so he could be another four-to-six weeks as well.”
Previewing the Nix:
“They’ve had some good results over the last few weeks, coming into the back end of the break.
“Their performance last week (against Western Sydney) was a good performance.
“So we know what we’re going to get from Wellington.
“They’re a difficult side to play against and it’s important that we don’t give them too much space to transition into.”