Josep Gombau says Adelaide United’s 2-1 away win over ladder-leaders the Brisbane Roar shows his team is slowly adapting to the style of play he is hoping to instil in them.
Josep Gombau says Adelaide United’s 2-1 away win over ladder-leaders the Brisbane Roar shows his team is slowly adapting to the style of play he is hoping to instil in them.
The Spanish coach admitted the thrilling last-minute win was not the Reds’ best performance of the season, however, while heaping praise on the Roar’s positive brand of football.
Adelaide had the best of the first half, stifling Brisbane’s famed passing game and finding a goal through Jeronimo Neumann.
The fleet-footed Argentinian won a penalty when he was brought down by Michael Theo, and though he missed the spot kick, he was able to poke in the rebound as the Roar keeper spilled his save.
The home side equalised in the 80th minute through a fit-again Besart Berisha, but Gombau maintained his side deserved their late winner, courtesy of a towering Jordan Elsey header, despite the momentum seemingly going the way of the Roar.
“For me football is not lucky or unlucky, because you need to put the ball inside the net,” he said.
“I am satisfied, I am happy.
“It’s true that today (we didn’t) play our best game, and we got the three points, but also if you see all the inconveniences we’ve had this week and all the players that we’ve missed, it means a good result.”
Adelaide were missing Sergio Cirio, Bruce Djite, Fabio Ferreira and Marcelo Carrusca through injury, as well as Jake Barker-Daish to Australian U-22 duties.
Gombau said he admired the way Brisbane kept pushing forward in search of a winner late in the game, even though they were a man down, stating his goal was to have his side playing in a similar manner to Mike Mulvey’s side.
“For my understanding of football, Brisbane is the mirror for (ourselves).
“Of course there are some movements that are different.
“But their style, to keep the ball, to play offensive football, I think is the way we want to (go).
“But they have some advantages over us because they have three or four years playing together, and we are starting.
“For me they are a team that I enjoy when I see them play.
“And more or less it’s what we want to do at Adelaide.”
The Spaniard expressed his satisfaction at the Reds’ current run of form, which has seen them secure three wins and two draws in five matches.
“Now we have five games where we’ve had positive results, that we drew or won, but for me, the last seven games or eight games, we’re playing better.
“In the beginning we tried to play but we made mistakes, because we were trying to play a style that the players had never played before, and this is difficult.
“Now every time we play there are less mistakes… and we are playing a little bit better.”