West Adelaide coach felt players ‘didn’t really want to be there’ in shock FFA Cup loss to Tea Tree Gully he ‘saw coming a mile away’
West Adelaide soccer coach Steve De Giovanniello reckons he saw Sunday’s shock FFA Cup loss to amateur side Tea Tree Gully “coming a mile away” because it felt like the team “didn’t really want to be there”.
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West Adelaide soccer coach Steve De Giovanniello reckons he saw Sunday’s shock FFA Cup loss to amateur side Tea Tree Gully “coming a mile away” because it felt like the team “didn’t really want to be there”.
The Gullies caused one of the biggest boilovers in the knockout competition’s history when they beat the Premier League outfit 1-0 at Tilley Reserve, thanks to a 75th minute goal to Scott Williams.
De Giovanniello said his side – sitting in 10th spot on the top-flight table without a win from five its matches – was missing eight first-team regulars and the players possibly “didn’t take that game as seriously as they should have”.
Of those unavailable on Sunday, De Giovanniello said goalkeeper Lewis Moss was out with concussion, some withdrew with niggling injuries wanting to rest and four players were interstate – one for work and three others for reasons the coach wanted “to keep in-house”.
Ex-Adelaide United star Marcelo Carrusca added to West’s woes when he was substituted at half-time due to calf tightness.
“It’s very disappointing from our perspective but, to be honest, I could see it coming a mile away,” De Giovanniello said.
“I knew they’d be up for it playing at home … and it was probably their biggest game for the year and we were nowhere near ready for a game like that.
“We had quite a few players pull out for various reasons and it just felt like the team didn’t really want to be there, and the result probably reflected that.
“I think the players that were there on the day did as best they could but the amount of players missing affected the whole mood of the group.
“We got what we deserved in my opinion – and that’s not to take too much away from the opposition.
“They were fantastic and deserved to win but I dare say we contributed to a fair bit of that with our attitude.”
De Giovanniello said being the only Premier League club to be drawn to play in the cup’s first round should have been a positive for West because “we probably needed the game just to get a bit of confidence”
“We were able to give some younger players an opportunity but unfortunately they didn’t step up,” he said.
Sunday’s surprise defeat followed the club’s 7-2 league drubbing by Raiders a week earlier and 4-2 loss to Adelaide United youth a fortnight ago.
But first-year West coach De Giovanniello was confident he was the best person for the job and said the club had been very supportive of him and the squad.
“The players are extremely positive and hanging in there,” he said.
“We’ve been pretty unlucky in some of the games and, besides the Raiders game, we’ve been more than competitive, and probably should’ve picked up points.
“Sometimes when things aren’t going well, they seem to snowball.
“Things just aren’t rolling for us at the moment.
“It’s a difficult time.
“You’ve just got to hang in there and weather the storm.
“I think we’re one win away from changing things.”
De Giovanniello expected the majority of players who were missing on Sunday would be available to face fellow winless side Para Hills away this Saturday.
“It’s a massive game and the players know that,” he said.
“We’ve got ourselves in this situation so now we’ve got to get ourselves out of it – that’s football isn’t it?”
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