Adelaide United has sunk to its lowest ebb in its five-year A-League existence and it’s a situation that deeply concerns interim manager Phil Stubbins.
Stubbins remains hopeful his side can rise out of its current mire, but insists everyone needs to have a look at themselves and ask some tough questions before progress can be made.
“I’ll be honest, it’s a big hole,” Stubbins said following the Reds’ disappointing 2-0 loss to Newcastle on Friday night.
“Can we get out of it from here? Yes, we can.”
“Things have to change … there’s some soul-searching and some questions that need to be asked and some honest answers need to be forthcoming if we are to get out of it.”
“There are a number of questions that need to be asked that are cutting and to the bone.”
Stubbins, who will return to his normal post as assistant coach for this week’s clash in Brisbane with head honcho Aurelio Vidmar having completed his two-match suspension, did not see Adelaide’s fall from grace coming, especially after such successful campaigns in the A-League and Asian Champions League last year.
“It’s a difficult position we’re in at the moment,” he said. “The cliche is that we’ve got to keep fighting and stay positive – that’s exactly what we need to do.”
“Everyone needs to be accountable for their actions and what they do at the club.”
“It (bottom place) is a position that history suggests is something we’ve not had before.”
“We’ve not become a bad team overnight. We’re in a position that no-one (associated with the club) wants us to be in or potentially we foresaw ourselves to fall into, but that’s the position we’re in.”
“Every which way we turn we seem to hit the bar or miss the chance and everything seems to be going against us.”
“For whatever reason we are where we are and everyone needs to put their hand up and say ‘I’m part of the reason’.”
Reds skipper Travis Dodd acknowledged the dire position the club finds itself in and stressed the importance of unity from the playing group’s persepctive.
“To be honest, it’s a terrible feeling and the club’s in a terrible position,” he said. “It’s a place we’ve never been before.”
“As a playing group, now’s the time we need to ask ourselves if we want to be here and if we’re going to give everything 100 percent because that’s exactly what we need now – everyone to stick together and work ourselves out of it.”
“More now than ever, we need to stick together.”
