Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen has not ruled out disillusioned midfielder Paul Reid taking further part in the Reds’ A-League finals campaign.
Speaking after Adelaide’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix in Friday’s elimination final clash at Hindmarsh, Coolen confirmed he would sit down and talk to Reid about a possible reconciliation and the prospect of re-joining the squad as the Reds enter the second week of the finals.
“I will have a meeting with him (Reid) during the day (Saturday),” Coolen said.
“It was good to just give him some rest the last couple of days and it was also good for our team to just focus without Reid.”
“Next there’s recovery training – Reidy’s not (going to be) there, but during the day I’ll have a chat with him and see what we can do for the next period.”
Coolen on Thursday labelled Reid as ‘not professional’ for walking out on United a day before their most important fixture of the year after a contract dispute, Coolen denying Reid’s request to exit his contract early to join Sydney FC for the Sky Blues’ upcoming ACL campaign.
But Adelaide’s first-year mentor appears to have softened his stance.
“You need all the players in your squad,” he said. “We don’t have a big squad but if everyone is available, we have a couple of choices to make and I think that’s important.”
“If you have to play a couple of games then you need more players than only 11 and you can only win something with the whole squad, so it’s not easy to lose a player.”
“That’s also the reason why we prefer to keep him here instead of letting him go to Sydney.”
“Still we have to speak about a couple of things and it’s better if I can get a reaction after I’ve spoken with him.”
The addition of a focused, commited and rested Reid would be a massive boost for the Reds who were outplayed for prolonged stretches and forced to scrap it out with a gallant Phoenix outfit in appalling, unseasonal conditions, with driving rain and swirly winds playing havoc.
Fresh legs could prove the difference.
“Things were not easy,” Coolen said. “The pitch was good, the surface was okay, but It was tough for the players, especially at the end of the game.”
“It’s acceptable, the level that we played today … I think we deserved the win.”
“We’re happy with the mentality of the team – they showed they could fight for the 90 minutes. It was not a game that we controlled for the whole 90 minutes, definitely not.”
Captain Travis Dodd’s 70th minute goal – his second in as many weeks in a couple of big games – proved decisive.
“I said to a couple of the Wellington players they were lucky as it was like they had the home ground advantage in the first half with the wind and rain and puddles on the pitch,” said Dodd, who has publicly stated that Reid is welcome back at the club as far as the playing group is concerned.
“It was difficult to play in, there’s no doubt about it – something we’re certainly not used to playing at Hindmarsh, but we got through it.”
Dodd has endured a frustrating season personally in more ways than one, but the skipper appears to really be hitting his straps, just when the club needs him the most.
“As far as my form was concerned I knew that I was going to be slow getting back into it, missing all the pre-season and then the first 10 rounds or so,” he said.
“To get my match fitness back and slowly work my way back into the game, I knew it was going to take time.”
“Thankfully the form has come and the fitness is back towards the most impiortant part of the season so I’ve just got to go out there and keep focusing on my football.”
