Adelaide United’s elevated position on the Hyundai A-League ladder does not surprise Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John Aloisi, despite the Reds’ stuttering campaign last season.
Adelaide United-s elevated position on the Hyundai A-League ladder does not surprise Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John Aloisi, despite the Reds- stuttering campaign last season.
The Reds finished second last in season 2011-12, but John Kosmina-s side have registered vastly improved performances this season and loom as one of the competition-s title favourites.
Having lost just four out of its 16 matches this season, Adelaide travel to Melbourne two points adrift of league leaders Central Coast Mariners with the intention of leapfrogging Graham Arnold-s side into pole position tomorrow night.
While current form favours United, history also suggests Adelaide could cause the Red and White further heart-ache, with the two matches between these sides played at AAMI Park ending in victory to the South Australians.
However, while Aloisi recognises the challenge the Reds present, he believes his side is ready to bounce back from last weekend-s 2-1 loss against Sydney FC.
“I look at [Adelaide-s] squad and they have a very good squad, so I-m not surprised [they are second],” Aloisi said.
“They have a good side and it will be a tough game for us tomorrow.
“We just have to be careful of their danger players, [Dario] Vidosic and [Jeronimo] Neumann mostly.
“[But] I’m sure that if we play like we did last week and move the ball quickly, we’ll open up and be able to find their holes [in Adelaide-s defence].”
Aloisi said the coaching staff and players had reviewed the final 10 minutes of its match against Sydney last week, which had only whetted his side-s appetite to put on a dominant display and register a third success at home in 2013.
“We had to get over it pretty quickly because it-s a short turn around,” Aloisi said.
“But the beauty about football is that there is a game around the corner to get things right and we-re prepared for tomorrow, ready for the game and to make sure that we get three points at home.”
With Aloisi set to finalise his squad tomorrow, the Heart Head Coach has a further selection headache in midfield, with David Williams returning suspension, Nick Kalmar in form, Golgol Mebrahtu pushing to be fit for the fixture and Ben Garuccio back in contention.
“It-s important for us to get a win because we want to get back into the top six,” Aloisi said.
“It-ll give the players confidence that they can beat a team that is sitting second top; the players are confident that they can put on a good performance and win the game.”
“We-re one point outside the six and we know a win will probably take us back into the six.”
