Adelaide United coach Carl Veart keen to keep expectations in check

Adelaide United coach Carl Veart has made it ‘very clear’ to club officials about the quality of players he would like to be able to lure to the Reds.

Adelaide United coach Carl Veart has tempered expectations of the Reds this season, suggesting a tight budget means he may often have to rely on young South Australian talent rather than “high-quality” players.

Having had a bye last weekend, the Reds start their latest A-League campaign on Saturday afternoon against the Central Coast Mariners at Coopers Stadium.

The Reds have lost the likes of teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda, Japanese striker Hiroshi Ibusuki and former Socceroo Ben Halloran from last season’s squad, with new faces including former Melbourne Victory attacker Ben Folami, ex-Western Sydney winger Dylan Pierias and experienced Dutch defender Bart Vriends.

Veart said he had “big confidence” in his squad but said the Reds were facing similar issues to many other A-League clubs.

Former Victory attacker Ben Folami is one of Adelaide United’s new faces this season. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“The club aren’t really financing us to be able to bring in some high-quality players, so we have to make do with what we’re producing here, and I’m happy to be doing that but our expectation has to be in line with that,” Adelaide’s coach said.

“I have very big confidence in the squad, but you’re just a couple of injuries away from being in with a lot of our younger players, which we showed in the Australia Cup when we had a few players out.

“We’re the same as a lot of teams. Your first 11 is very strong, and then we’re reliant on our younger players to fill those roles when our main 11 aren’t playing.

“It’s something I’ve had to deal with the whole time I’ve been at the club.

“I’m happy to take that pressure, I’m happy to give those opportunities to young South Australian players.

“I’ve done that since the first day I was in charge at the club and I’ll do that the whole time that I’m here. It’s important that we provided that pathway for our young players.”

Veart admitted the Reds had not always got their recruitment right, and had made it “very clear” to the club – whose majority owner is Dutchman Cor Adriaanse – that players signed had to be “high-quality”.

“We’ll see this year,” he said.

The Reds will be without injured centre-backs Vriends and Jordan Elsey on Saturday, meaning veteran midfielder Isaias will almost certainly be used in the heart of Adealaide’s defence.

“`Is’ has played nearly all our pre-season games as a central defender. He’s more than capable of playing there,” Veart said.

Adelaide will face a travel-weary Mariners outfit, who have returned from China following a 3-2 AFC Champions League Elite loss to Shanghai Port on Tuesday night.

“You can say we’re fresh and we haven’t had a game, but it always takes three or four games before you get up to speed, and they (the Mariners) have had that. so I wouldn’t expect them to be too tired from their trip,” Veart said.

“They did it last year and they did it successfully last year, so we know it’s going to be a tough game.”

Originally published as Adelaide United coach Carl Veart keen to keep expectations in check