Openly admitting last Friday night’s loss to Brisbane Roar was unacceptable, Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen insists it is not panic stations at the Reds as they look to turn their fortunes around.
Openly admitting last Friday night-s loss to Brisbane Roar was unacceptable, Adelaide United head coach Rini Coolen insists it is not panic stations at the Reds as they look to turn their fortunes around.
Coolen was on the front foot today to face the criticism following the carnage of the Reds- 7-1 defeat to the league leaders. Addressing the media after the Reds returned to training for the first time since Friday-s forgettable night at Suncorp, the Reds boss did not shy away from the scale of the loss and his team-s inability to stop a first half Roar onslaught.
“If you look at the game in Brisbane, of course you-re very disappointed with a result like that. I-ve never had that before in my life as a coach, conceding so many goals in just 10 minutes…so in that way the game was only on for 30 minutes…and it definitely was not necessary,” Coolen said.
“We have to move on…we-re definitely not making any excuses for that, but we have to take that on board and be professional and do our work and change the way we-ve started the season because we-ve had a very bad season so far.”
From the time Henrique scored the Roar-s equaliser from the penalty spot, it all started to quickly unravel for United and Coolen admitted his side have some way to go before they can match the Roar.
“At that stage the team was not doing the right things so we conceded the second goal and then the gaps were getting bigger and bigger, we were losing our shape and we lost the game in 10 minutes because they scored four goals through individual mistakes and poor defending in the box,” Coolen said.
“The real story is that there-s a big gap between Brisbane and the rest of the teams, including Adelaide United.”
Despite occupying ninth position on the table with just one win from four games, Coolen maintains he will not be taking any drastic measures as the Reds try to find a winning formula.
“I prefer not to panic because if I panic then what can I ask of the players? It-s a period where you find out about people around you, in and out of the club, which mentality they have, and that-s something you have to handle as a coach…we have to move on and have confidence in the people around us and solve problems. It-s not easy but that-s our job,” Coolen said.
But while Coolen-s emphasises the importance for the club to stay united, he did not rule out the possibility of changes for Friday-s crucial home game against Melbourne Heart in what is a chance for the Reds to redeem themselves.
“Especially in this A-League and the way we prefer to play, we have to improve in a lot of things. We-re not happy because as a team we are not doing well at the moment, so we have to make some decisions,” Coolen said.
“After a game like that (against Brisbane) and again not having the result you want, you have to consider a few things, especially when there are people knocking on the door at training and in the Youth Team, that-s for us to think about and for us to consider this week.”
