Is Adelaide’s busy schedule finally starting to take its toll? Aurelio Vidmar will hope that’s not true, but he admitted that Tuesday’s loss to Melbourne was one of the flattest performances of the season.
Date: Friday January 9
Kick-off: 8:00pm AEDT, 7:30pm ACDT
Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
TV and Radio:
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and Sky Sport 1. Hyundai A-League club radio broadcast partner is FRESH FM (Adelaide) and 1233 ABC Newcastle. To purchase tickets visit www.venuetix.com.au
Head-to-head
12 Hyundai A-League meetings: Adelaide – 5 wins, Newcastle – 4 wins, Draws – 3
Previous meeting
Newcastle 1, Adelaide 1, EnergyAustralia Stadium, Round 13, November 2008
Past Five Games
Adelaide United:
Round 13: Newcastle Jets 1, Adelaide United 1, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 14: Adelaide United 6, Wellington Phoenix 1, Hindmarsh Stadium
Round 17: Perth Glory 0, Adelaide United 1, Members Equity Stadium
Round 18: Adelaide United 2, Sydney FC 0. Adelaide Oval
Round 15: Melbourne Victory 1, Newcastle Jets 0, Telstra Dome
Newcastle Jets:
Round 14: Newcastle Jets 1, Sydney FC 2, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 15: Queensland Roar 2, Newcastle Jets 1, Suncorp Stadium
Round 16: Newcastle Jets 4, Melbourne Victory 2, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 17: Newcastle Jets 1, Central Coast Mariners 2, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 18: Wellington Phoenix 3, Newcastle Jets 0, Wellington Phoenix
Analysis
Is Adelaide’s busy schedule finally starting to take its toll? Aurelio Vidmar will hope that’s not true, but he admitted that Tuesday’s loss to Melbourne was one of the flattest performances of the season.
The Reds have has just three days to get themselves motivated again, but with top spot still well and truly up for grabs, there is plenty to get the players fired up. The premiership is still the Reds for the taking given they trail Melbourne by two points and have a game in hand against Queensland next Wednesday.
This game will tell us a lot about where the Reds are at. Prior to that defeat in Melbourne they had won four of their past five and looked the team to beat for the title. As Vidmar pointed out on Tuesday, the Reds have won nothing so far this season, despite their heroics on the bigger stage and the season will count for little if they don’t get some silverware by season’s end.
Angelo Costanzo and Michael Valkanis have been included in an extended squad, while dynamic Brazilian Diego is out for another week.
The Jets’ title defence was officially ended with the 3-0 defeat in Wellington last week and they look set for the wooden spoon unless there is a dramatic change in fortune in the final three matches.
As far as 3-0 defeats go, last week’s match wasn’t the worst of them. The Jets dominated much of the first half and should have led at half time. They had more shots on target than their rivals forcing Glen Moss into eight saves for the match. But as has been case all season, hitting the back of the net was the problem.
They have now won just one of their past ten matches, and while they drew with the Reds when they last played them, they were beaten 2-0 on their trip to Hindmarsh earlier in the season.
Gary Van Egmond has called back import Jesper Hakansson, while Shaun Ontong, Justin Pasfield and Brodie Mooy come in while Ben McNamara misses out.
Adelaide United Squad. 20.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 3.ALEMAO, 4.Angelo COSTANZO, 5. Michael VALKANIS, 6.CASSIO, 8.Kristian SARKIES, 10.CRISTIANO, 13.Travis DODD (capt.), 14.Scott JAMIESON, 16.Daniel MULLEN, 18.Fabian BARBIERO, 19.Sasa OGNENOVSKI, 21.Jason SPAGNUOLO, 24.Paul REID, 25.Robert YOUNIS, 50.Matthew NASH.
* 2 to be omitted
In. Angelo COSTANZO (promoted), Michael VALKANIS (promoted).
Out. Nil.
Unavailable. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk) (ankle – 3 weeks), DIEGO (quad – 1 week), Daniel BELTRAME (gk) (knee – season).
Newcastle Jets Squad: 1.Ante COVIC, 2.Adam GRIFFITHS, 6.Jesper HAKANSSON, 7.Kaz PATAFTA, 8.Matt THOMPSON, 9.Joel GRIFFITHS, 10.Jin-Hyung SONG, 11.Tarek ELRICH, 12.Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 13.Adam D’APUZZO, 14.Shaun ONTONG, 16.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 17.Antun KOVACIC, 26.Mark MILLIGAN, 29.Sean ROONEY, 30.Justin PASFIELD, 31.James VIRGILI, 32.Brodie MOOY.
*three to be omitted.
In. 6.Jesper HAKANSSON, 14.Shaun ONTONG, 30.Justin Pasfield, 32.Brodie Mooy.
Out. 40.Ben McNamara.
Unavailable. 15.Jason Hoffman (knee – season), 19.Jason Naidovski (knee – season), 18.Noel Spencer (ankle – season), 20.Ben Kennedy (ankle – season), 24.Marko Jesic (knee – season).
