City Head Coach Warren Joyce has no intentions of slowing down his side’s early season momentum against Adelaide United on Saturday, saying the sessions this week have been the most intense he has seen then in his short tenure.
In their first away trip of the season, City will look to maintain their perfect start with three points over their fellow unbeaten opponents and the Head Coach believes the only way they can achieve that is by pushing themselves everyday on the training field.
“Everyone is going to be flat out,” Joyce said.
“There has been some great sessions in the past week, there is some high quality. You had 22 lads going absolutely to the max against one another. If you get that day in day out, it raises the bar and that’s what we are looking to do.
“We didn’t pass it as well as we could have last week. I think sometimes in football you can see that coming a little bit in the way training is the day before. The lads looked a bit flat really, not a lack of effort but sometimes you see that because you can still keep going fitness wise and you can still push yourself but sometimes that quality goes and I just noticed it a little in training and that was my gut feeling before the game.
“[Adelaide] are in a confident mood and we’ve got to build on what we have had so far this season but were under no illusions we have to be better than we were last week.”
The Reds have somewhat flown under the radar this season, going unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions but Joyce is taking confidence from his side’s start as well, playing Adelaide twice in pre-season.
“You’ve seen them in close quarters, I’m impressed with them as a group and their coach,” he said.
“They’ve done very well so far, it’s going to be a tough game going to a team that’s high on confidence and form and it’s a good challenge for us
“We want to better with the ball. [Last week] was put to bed now, we’re looking forward to a tough game in Adelaide. We played them recently so we have an idea what to expect.”
City face the Reds on Saturday night at Coopers Stadium, kick-off 7.50pm. Watch the match live on FOX Sports 501 and free-to-air on Ten’s ONE HD.
City return home next week to take on Champions Sydney FC at AAMI Park in a massive double header. See our women’s side against Victory at 5.20pm with A-League kick-off at 7.50pm.
