Marrone compares Adelaide’s start to title-winning season

Adelaide United have won four straight Hyundai A-League games and nobody knows the importance of stringing together a strong run of results better than Michael Marrone.

The Reds lifted the Premiers Plate in 2015/16 after not winning any of their first eight matches. They sat in ninth place on three points at the end of November.

Head coach Guillermo Amor’s side then went on a 14-match unbeaten streak, which included 11 wins, and nicked the title by a single point from Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar.

After not taking maximum points from a match until December 6, the Reds also went on to lift the Championship with a 3-1 win over Tony Popovic’s Wanderers in the Grand Final 2016.

Marrone, who played 26 games that season, is drawing from the highs and low of 2015/16 to help keep Gertjan Verbeek’s team in check.

“We doing well, we’ll stay grounded, stay humble and not get ahead of ourselves,” Marrone said.

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“I know how quickly things can change. The year we won it, we didn’t win a game for the first [eight] games.

“Your form can go up and down. It’s just about trying to be consistent and keeping momentum.” 

Marrone and Jordan Elsey are the only remaining players who have been pulling on a Reds jersey every year since that fateful season, but one other current Red made his professional debut in 2015/16.

A 17-year-old Riley McGree came on as a substitute for one minute during that double-winning campaign. 

Now 21, McGree has been lighting up the City of Churches since his return this off-season, scoring six goals in six Hyundai A-League matches since his homecoming.

Another local boy, James Troisi, has also helped transform the Reds’ fortunes, but Marrone insists the key to their successful run is far more deep-rooted than that.

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“It’s not just one week’s preparation, it’s been the whole season,” he added.

“It’s the way we want to set up, led by the coach, and the players themselves.

“Even the first two games that we lost are a little bit unfortunate. 

“Another day we could have got a draw or a win, we had a red card in one.

“We’re playing good football and we’ve got to focus on keep doing what we’re doing, and not over-complicated it.”

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Adelaide United host Wellington Phoenix in Round 8 on Sunday, 1 December. Kick-off at Coopers Stadium is at 5.30pm local, 6pm AEDT.
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