Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar says his team needs to dramatically improve its ball control, or enlist the help of a miracle worker up front, if it’s any chance of beating Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium on Tuesday.
United, which has scored just 18 goals in 22 games this season, could have further attacking woes if its in-form captain Travis Dodd doesn’t overcome a hip injury.
Without him the Reds will be relying on teenager Mathew Leckie and Lloyd Owusu, who’s only been back in the senior side for one game, to spearhead their attack.
Vidmar said it was the team’s poor ball use, rather than the strikers, which had been disappointing in their last outing against the Central Coast Mariners.
“I think Lloyd will get another sniff at it tomorrow. Look, really you could have had Jesus Christ up there on Friday and we just didn’t play very well in terms of trying to keep the ball, we just butchered a fair bit of the ball in that first half and really didn’t give anyone any possibility of trying to do anything with the ball,” he said.
Vidmar said his team needed to be more diligent in possession and in doing so could have a greater control on the contest.
“There’s always freedom when we’ve got the ball. When we have possession we can do what we like,” he said.
“When we don’t have the ball there’s a few rules we need to follow.”
Dodd picked a corked hip muscle during the match against the Mariners and didn’t take part in United’s Sunday training session.
Vidmar said it was hard to say whether his skipper would be ready to take on Perth.
“We’ll have to wait and see. Once again, like we did with Fyfey (Iain Fyfe) last weekend, we’ll give him every opportunity to get himself right,” Vidmar said.
“If he can join the group that’ll be great. He’s got to give us a fair bit of indication of how he’s going to be. Probably something like that on the hip always takes a little bit longer than a usual corkie.”
Adelaide United has named an extended squad for Tuesday’s match with Alemao back from his own hip injury while banished defenders Robbie Corthwaite and Scott Jamieson have been named too. Vidmar did not indicate what changes would be made for the match but admitted it was a cut-throat contest for his boys.
“It’s real clear now, with a few games to go that nothing less than a win (will do) for tomorrow night,” he said.
“We’ve just got to keep believing and knocking on the door, we’ve had nine draws during the season. The more you do that the harder it gets during the course of the year.”
In other United news, injury-prone Paul Reid is set to spend another couple of weeks on the sidelines after injuring his groin in a National Youth League match.
