Adelaide boss Gertjan Verbeek has slammed his side’s attitude and took aim at the reds star players in a 2-1 loss to Mariners
Adelaide United’s Ben Halloran has claimed VAR missed a certain penalty call in Gosford after his side lost to Central Coast in the A-League on Sunday.
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Adelaide United coach Gertjan Verbeek took aim at the attitude of his men, revealing why his star players will also suffer regardless of their CVs in a 2-1 away loss to Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
Adelaide crashed after two Mariners first half goals from Kye Rowles and Milan Duric bookmarked a poor Reds first half performance which the Dutchman said lacked focus, aggression and intensity.
Verbeek first hooked experienced defender Michael Marrone for Jordan Elsey at the break.
Curacao international Michael Maria followed Marrone to the dressing room 10 minutes later before playmaker James Troisi was dragged for the first time in the 64th minute since making his Adelaide debut in round three.
“I found we had a big problem, the opponent was playing long balls with headers and Jordan Elsey is a better header than Mickey (Marrone),’’ Verbeek said.
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“Michael Maria already had a yellow (card) and he made a big mistake just after half time so I had to protect him.
“Troisi was giving a lot of wrong passes, so when you’re not playing well and you’re unlucky in passing you get changed.”
Verbeek said Adelaide would continue to lose games if it continued to have a wrong mindset.
Adelaide for the second time in three matches lost to a side that started its day at the foot of the table.
Wellington Phoenix fired the first warning, upsetting the Reds at home 2-1 in round eight before the Mariners moved off the A-League floor with Adelaide’s scalp at Central Coast Stadium.
Verbeek said Adelaide cannot afford to have a collective off day claiming reigning premier Perth Glory, reigning champion Sydney FC and cashed up Melbourne City can still win games with a poor performance because they have that “extra quality.”
“If the attitude and the mentality is not the same like the opponent, you can lose every game,’’ he said.
“We don’t have that extra quality and OK we say “we have an off day but we can still win.”
“I think Perth has that, Sydney has that and maybe City, but we don’t.
“We have to be top every game, if not then we can lose.”
Adelaide’s Ben Halloran echoed his boss’s sentiment after he swung the Reds into life with a stunning goal seconds into the second half.
“Not a great game we were second to everything in the first half,’’ Halloran said.
“We weren’t aggressive enough and Central Coast outplayed us in that first half, we showed a bit more desperation in that second half but it was probably a bit too late by then.”
Halloran was also perplexed when the video assistant referee didn’t get involved in what appeared to be a foul from Mariners Tommy Oar inside the box in the second half.
Oar’s boot appeared to catch Halloran’s leg during a turn before he hit the deck.
“I don’t know why I’d be falling over then when I’m clear through on goal,” Halloran said.
“I thought it was a penalty, there was clear contact, you know VAR is pretty contentious and I don’t want to get into that.”