Adelaide United head coach Josep Gombau has claimed simple errors are stopping his team from turning good performances into points.
Adelaide United head coach Josep Gombau has claimed simple errors are stopping his team from turning good performances into points.
The 37-year-old Spaniard has been employed by Adelaide to overhaul the Reds’ playing style to resemble that of his alma mater Barcelona.
But after seven rounds, Adelaide have won just once under Gombau – in round one – and suffered their fourth defeat of the season away to Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.
Despite having watched his team extend their winless streak to six matches, Gombau maintained his positive outlook after the 3-0 loss in Melbourne and argued Adelaide would have won but for their mistakes.
“I think we did a good game but we make mistakes and these mistakes mean that we lose,” Gombau said.
“But the last 20 minutes of the first half and the first 20 minutes of the second half, I think we played very good football.
“We have the ball, we have (Victory) in their half and we’re playing in their half and we have possession of the ball.
“We have chances to score, not one or two, we have many, many. We miss a penalty and I think this penalty changed the game. If we scored in that moment with 1-1, we go up and they go down.”
After a first-half red card to Melbourne’s Adrian Leijer, Adelaide had 45 minutes against just 10 opposition players and although they had over 65 per cent possession throughout the match and took 22 shots, they only tested Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe five times.
The closest the Reds came to scoring was a penalty just after the hour mark that Sergio Cirio tamely struck, allowing Coe to save.
But Gombau did not blame his compatriot for failing to convert from the spot, with the Catalan instead explaining his team should not lose possession so easily after four months with him at the helm.
“The first goal (for Victory) is a big mistake for us because in our style, the winger, he cannot lose the ball with a square pass and we lose this ball,” Gombau said.
“This kind of mistake after the time that we are working, we cannot lose the ball in this kind of mistake.”
The loss at Etihad Stadium leaves Adelaide in eighth on the A-League ladder, 10 points adrift of league leaders Brisbane Roar.
But Gombau insisted he does not care how many times his team suffers defeat, he will keep trying to teach them the possession-based style he has grown up with.
“This is my way,” the former Barcelona youth academy coach said.
“I don’t change nothing. I was very honest when the club contacted me and I explained what I want to do.
“This is the way that I believe in football, this is what I learnt in Barcelona and this is what I will do.”
