Adelaide United’s red faces continue after yet another loss to Melbourne Victory

ONE of the ugliest chapters that Adelaide United — and possibly the A-League has seen continued with the Reds suffering yet another loss to Melbourne Victory on Saturday Night.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 28: Gui Finkler of the Victory is challenged by George Mells of Adelaide United during the round eight A-League match between Melbourne City FC and Adelaide United at Etihad Stadium on November 28, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

UNITED is now playing for respect. Because at this very moment — eight games into the club’s 11th season — the 23 Reds men are creating one of the ugliest chapters that the club — and possibly the A-League — has seen.

Three miserable points is all Adelaide has to show out of 24 and on Saturday night the Reds eternal nemesis toyed with Adelaide for much of the game.

It’s not to say Adelaide didn’t offer any resistance but Victory’s 2-1 win at Etihad Stadium yet again demonstrated the current Reds formula is toxic.

Adelaide only came to life when Marcelo Carrusca entered the fray off the bench in the 60th minute, when Victory had the game in the bag. With 30 minutes down, Adelaide and Victory traded 10 shots — five apiece with two shots on target each.

But it was Victory leading 2-0 after two dead-ball kicks did the damage.

The first was a penalty from Besart Berisha, the second a 20m dead ball from Socceroos Oliver Bozanic, which caught skipper Eugene Galekovic short at the near post.

Adelaide scored a consolation goal three minutes from time when Carrusca scored from the penalty spot after Craig Goodwin was fouled by Kosta Barbarouses inside the box.

But Victory had its first chance when the game was barely 10 seconds old, as Jordan Elsey cleared a tantalising cross from Fahid Ben Khalfallah for a corner, before Adelaide had the home side under the pump — briefly.

Sergio Cirio had Danny Vukovic at full stretch after a mistake from Daniel Georgievski, but shots from Goodwin and Bruce Djite failed to test the gloveman.

But in the eighth minute Victory got the upper hand after a clever ball from Barbarouses to Jason Geria inside the box saw the right back tumble over the right leg of Elsey, before referee Jarred Gillet pointed to the spot.

Berisha wrong-footed Galekovic to score his 11th goal against Adelaide in 15 appearances.

Goodwin had Vukovic scrambling to make a brilliant stop from a free kick taken from an acute angle after Cirio was fouled in the 15th minute but from that point the game was bossed by Victory, and in the 29th minute Jimmy Jeggo brought down Barbarouses outside the box, allowing Bozanic to step up for his party piece.

His left-foot shot evaded the wall and landed in the back of the net after a valiant attempt from Galekovic’s big palms.

Both teams headed to break after Cirio’s attempt to get the ball past Vukovic from another set piece sailed over the bar in the 41st minute.

Goodwin earned the Reds’ fourth caution of the evening and the 200th yellow card between the two sides since 2005 when he fouled Gui Finkler with a late challenge when the second half was less than 30 seconds old.

Having lost stopper Matthieu Delpierre at halftime because of a hamstring strain, Berisha almost became the second casualty when Elsey was booked for a late challenge on the Albanian.

Ben Khalfallah then forced a brilliant save from Galekovic after yet again another set piece in the 55th minute, before Reds coach Guillermo Amor unloaded some of his bench.

Reds marquee star Carrusca replaced Jeggo and Pablo Sanchez was moved to the striker’s position for Djite on the hour.

But it was Victory still peppering Adelaide’s goal.

Berisha had a chance to make it 3-0 when he beat the off-side trap after a Ben Khalfallah ball before the Tunisian had the audacity to nutmeg George Mells on the edge of his own box when defending seconds later.

Elsey had a 20m shot off target on the 72nd minute when Adelaide did have a good spell and Goodwin watched Vukovic parry another effort five minutes later.

Sanchez then had Vukovic at full stretch from a header after a super cross from Cirio in the 79th minute as gaps started to appear in the Victory defence.

Melbourne Victory 2 (Besart Berisha 13m, Oliver Bozanic 30m) Adelaide United 1 (Marcelo Carrusca 87m) at Etihad Stadium — Referee: Jarred Gillett — Crowd: 23,415.

FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. Marcelo Carrusca is the Reds’ only true creative outlet. United loses a massive dose of flair when he’s not there. Benching Carrusca again for Victory clash saw the Reds again struggle to break the defensive lines of the hosts until he came on.

2. If striker Eli Babalj once fit doesn’t start firing goals in the back of the net, Adelaide must go to the market for a prolific goalscorer. It’s now more than 300 days since Bruce Djite scored in the A-League after Saturday night firing blanks for the 14th consecutive match. He hasn’t scored against Victory in 15 matches.

3. Reds coach Guillermo Amor is too much of a nice guy. So is his No. 2 Pau Marti. Adelaide may need to explore options of finding an assistant coach who is respected among the group and will fire rockets when the team needs them. They’re clearly not responding to this very passive coaching style.

4. Still on Djite he’s not going to score goals taking a pass on the left wing or receiving a throw in on the right wing. He’s hardly in position centrally when the Reds do have numbers inside the box. It’s a major dilemma and the unknown is if he’s playing to instructions.

5. Adelaide did win something last night — the yellow card count. But it will cost the club $7000 in fines from Football Federation Australia after seven men were booked for the Reds.

Originally published as Adelaide United’s red faces continue after yet another loss to Melbourne Victory