Adelaide United are set for an exciting night of football at Coopers Stadium, with a double-header on the cards. Head Coach Adrian Stenta spoke to the media ahead of their clash against Melbourne City, discussing key updates from the squad, their preparations, and the significance of the upcoming match. Here’s what Stenta had to say:
Stenta on the shape of the squad…
“We probably need to make a couple of changes heading into the game at Coopers. Erin is also a concern due to a toe issue, though it’s not expected to be serious. Fingers crossed, she’ll be back soon. This provides an opportunity to bring new players into the squad.”
Stenta on the return of Chelsie Dawber…
“She’s been great at training, and has been training and playing with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I’m really excited to see how she goes this season, with the opportunity to potentially play some more minutes.”
Stenta reflecting on the defeat to Perth…
“There were some good things that came out of the game and some things that we need to work on. I just think we got off to a little bit of a slow start over there in Perth. But I feel like our 20 minutes after half time were really positive, and we got ourselves back into the game.
“The biggest takeaway was that we probably want to make a little bit more of our set piece opportunities, and we don’t want to be conceding set pieces like we did against Perth. But a positive is that it’s still been a fair while since we’ve conceded from open play.”
Stenta on the challenge against Melbourne City…
“They’re undefeated still… they’re a team that is quite threatening going forward and has scored a lot of goals this season. But they’ve also conceded quite a few as well, so we feel like there’ll be opportunities at both ends, and we just need to make the most of those.”
Stenta on the excitement for the double-header at Coopers…
“We love playing here. In an ideal world, we’d play all our home games here if we could. We actually don’t mind the double-headers. We like the atmosphere that they create, and both teams being able to watch and support each other as well.”
Stenta on facing another South Australian coach in Michael Matricciani…
“It’s great to have more than one SA-based coach in the competition. He’s had a really good start to his time in the League… I’ll wish him well before and maybe after the game, but not during.”
Stenta on Christmas schedule and preparations…
“It’s not easy to give time off during that period because we’ve got games either side of Christmas. But we’ll probably do something a little bit social with the group in and around Christmas so that they can experience that together. Our focus is pretty much on football, and that’s where it needs to be.”
Adelaide United will be looking to bounce back and continue their strong form at home as they face a formidable Melbourne City side tomorrow night.
