Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau has hosed down title-winning talk following Sunday’s 1-0 win over the second-placed Western Sydney Wanderers at Coopers Stadium.
Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau has hosed down title-winning talk following Sunday’s 1-0 win over the second-placed Western Sydney Wanderers at Coopers Stadium.
The giant-killing Reds, fresh off stunning the ladder-leading Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium, are the A-League’s form side, riding a six-game unbeaten streak, which culminated in Sunday’s leap from ninth to fifth on the ladder with a 5-5-5 record.
Gombau remains committed to fully implementing his Spanish style tiki-taka for long-term benefits and believes the rest will take care of itself.
“It is early to say this (championship-winning speculation),” Gombau said.
“Honestly, it’s not in our plan or in our mind.
“It’s more to build this project.
“Our philosophy is to create this club long-term and of course to win every single game.
“If we do that we are in the finals.”
Marcelo Carrusca’s fourth-minute goal stunned the Wanderers from the outset and United looked hot early.
Michael Zullo limped off after sustaining a right hamstring injury – the extent of which Gombau said would be tested on Monday – and the Reds went missing in patches thereafter but still withstood every punch the gallant visitors were able to summon.
“We started very well – we had 25-30 minutes of good football,” Gombau said.
“But after Zullo’s injury, we lost control of the game in the last 15 minutes of the first half.
“In the second half we were not playing the best football that we can but we did enough to get the result.”
Zullo is in doubt for this Saturday’s clash with Melbourne Heart, but Jeronimo Neumann should play despite suffering breathing difficulties at times against Western Sydney, which raised some concern.
“It’s not physical, it’s more he cannot breathe the air in,” Gombau said.
“I am worried for him. The most important thing is the health of the players.
“This summer we had a (respiratory) problem with him.
“Every time you see something (like that), we are worried.”
While Gombau continues to remain focused on the bigger picture, he is nevertheless excited by his team’s vast improvement across the past month.
According to the Adelaide coach, cutting out basic skill errors and tidying up defensively have made a huge scoreboard difference.
“We are doing less mistakes,” Gombau said.
“In the beginning (of the season) we made a lot of mistakes and these cost us games.
“We score goals – we are a team that creates chances.
“Now we are defensively more consistent. This makes the results come.”
