Adelaide United winger Ryan Kitto reckons the short turnaround from their Round 10 loss will benefit the Reds – as will returning star Sergio Cirio as they kick off Round 11 with Harvey Norman Friday Night Football tonight.
The reigning Hyundai A-League champions are in a rain-soaked Hunter for tonight’s clash with the improving Newcastle Jets.Â
Hyundai A-League preview: Jets v Adelaide
Having notched their first win of the 2016/17 Season a fortnight ago, the reigning Hyundai A-League champions slumped to a 4-0 defeat in Brisbane last Sunday, which saw Adelaide fall back to last in the standings.
There hasn’t been much time for coach Guillermo Amor to work with his players this week, with the Reds on the road again ahead of their clash with Jets tonight night.
But speaking on Thursday, Kitto – who will come up against his former club – argued Adelaide can’t wait to play again so soon.
“Obviously we’re hungry after last week’s result how it happened but the best thing in football is we’ve had a short turnaround and the best thing is to go out there and get things right the next week,” he told reporters.
Adelaide will enter the match at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium with the second-worst conversion rate in the Hyundai A-League.
The Reds have only scored with 11.8 per cent of their shots this term, ahead of only Wellington Phoenix (9.7%) and just behind their Round 11 opponents the Jets (12.4%).
Last week’s loss was a clear reminder of Adelaide’s problems in front of goal as Amor’s troops had more shots (12-9), corners (19-3), entries into the penalty area (53-27) and crosses (22-9) compared to Brisbane but Roar made their opportunities count to win comfortably.
The Reds know they must improve in front of goal.
“We didn’t play too bad [against Roar],” Kitto said.
“We started quite well but unfortunately Brisbane were clinical and they took their chances, so we’ve addressed a few things this week and we’ll be ready to go come Friday night.”
In a boost to Adelaide’s attacking set-up, Spanish winger Sergio Cirio could be ready to start against Newcastle after making his return from a knee injury off the bench versus Brisbane.
“He’s [Cirio] been training really well and we saw the impact he had when he come on last week, so we can’t wait to have him back out there,” Kitto said.
“He’s a very important player for us.”
The Reds drew 1-1 away to the Jets in the opening round of this season.
