A wasteful Adelaide United is keen to improve its finishing in time to test goalkeeper Tando Velaphi when the Reds tackle Perth Glory at ME Stadium on Friday night.
Velaphi is again under pressure after making his second costly blunder for the season last week. On Saturday he scored an own goal against North Queensland after being bustled over the line by Fury substitute Chris Grossman and he gifted the Central Coast a victory when he misjudged a ball back in Round 5.
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar said the team was focussed on improving its own attacking game, rather than targeting individuals, but did admit his players would be throwing everything at Velaphi.
“We’d like to test him absolutely, we like to test every keeper whether it’s a shot from distance or putting a little bit of danger and threat when there’s a set piece,” Vidmar said.
“He won’t be specifically targeted; we don’t go to target any player in any team.”
Vidmar said making the most of opportunities was the Reds’ top priority.
“That’s certainly one thing we haven’t been doing is getting enough shots on target, we went through the DVD of the game against Newcastle and it was incredible, we doubled the amount of crosses into the box than Newcastle did,” he said.
“We had 38 crosses into the box and only about half a dozen of those were actually anything worthy of putting something on target.”
“The build-up play, everything is fine, the amount of possession that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks has been fine. I’ve been very pleased with that, it’s just that final cross, it’s just something that we are really missing.”
“We’ve had a lot of numbers in the box, 3-4 players in the box with just about every cross but we haven’t been picking targets and that makes a big difference.”
Adelaide United is also keen to perform in Perth for captain Travis Dodd’s 100th Hyundai A-League game.
“Travis is one of those that keeps going on, it doesn’t matter injury, no injury, he’ll keep plugging away and that’s fantastic,” Vidmar said.
“He’s a very good leader for us, he’s a very explosive player, someone who can change the face of a game at any point so we are pleased he’s playing for Adelaide United and leading Adelaide United and obviously a fantastic milestone.”
Dodd said it was a ‘special honour’ to become just the second Hyundai A-League player to reach the 100-game mark.
“I feel pretty good about it,” he said.
“Saying that, at the end of the day it’s another game for me and we’ve got to go over to Perth and concentrate on getting the three points.”
