Adelaide United have remarkably surged into top spot on the A-League ladder with a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing over Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.
Goals from Dylan McGowan, Stefan Mauk, Bruce Djite and Pablo Sanchez extended United’s unbeaten streak to a club record 14 matches and send a huge statement to their title rivals.
With Western Sydney Wanderers losing to Brisbane Roar yesterday, Guillermo Amor’s men knew a triumph would catapult them to the summit of the competition.
But the South Australians did not have the brightest of starts. An apparent groin injury to Tarek Elrich forced an early defensive reshuffle for the Reds with Iacopo La Rocca brought on, shifting Jordan Elsey to left-back.
And the newly adjusted back-four had to survive a barrage of Wellington attacks.
However, Adelaide took the lead, albeit against the run of play from a corner, when Elsey’s deflected header fell into the path of McGowan who duly dispatched his effort.
The Reds then grabbed a second courtesy of a swift counter-attack with Sergio Cirio releasing Marcelo Carrusca whose perfectly weighted pass enabled Mauk to clinically finish past a helpless Glen Moss.
After the interval, Djite completed a well-constructed goal as Carrusca’s incisive through ball found Craig Goodwin whose magnificent cross handed the striker a simple tap-in.
Sanchez put the icing on the cake with a sumptuous strike in stoppage time – giving the visitors an impressive victory.
Goals coming from all areas
With the highly-publicised goal-drought of Bruce Djite for the first-half of the season, many pundits questioned who would score Adelaide’s goals. Given that virtually every side in the top seven has a prolific goal-scorer (except the Reds) fans and critics alike remained sceptical if they could continue their staggering resurgence. However, Adelaide have proven that goals do not have to be concentrated to one or two players.
Once again the goals came from different players just like the previous week against the Roar, highlighting the unpredictability to the Reds’ game. This campaign Sanchez has scored six, Djite and Carrusca have netted five times, while Goodwin and Cirio have hit the back-of-the-net four times. Bruce Kamau and Mauk have contributed with two goals each, while the defenders have also chipped in.
Wellington struggle in the final third
Despite the Phoenix scoring nine goals in the preceding three matches, Ernie Merrick’s troops lacked fluidity in the attacking third. The likes of Michael McGlinchey, Hamish Watson and Matthew Ridenton were mostly incoherent during the encounter as either passes were misplaced or they failed to read each other’s attacking movements. Since the departure of Nathan Burns over the offseason, compounded by the injury to Roy Krishna Wellington have largely grappled with goal-scoring issues and have not been able to find an adequate solution.
Adelaide the real deal
In what was another dominant display by the Reds, in which they surged into first place in the league standings United are now favourites to claim the Premier’s Plate. The excellent performance also set a club record 14 games without loss and are undoubtedly the form team of the competition. Nobody appears to be able to contain the rampant Reds and have the capability and guile to claim an unprecedented inaugural A-League title, following such a disastrous start to the season. It was unthinkable as 99 days ago they were rooted to the bottom of the table, after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory. Consequently, credit must go to Amor for staying positive and maintaining belief in his squad. Just who can stop the Adelaide juggernaut?
Outside90 Player of the Year Votes
3 – Stefan Mauk
2 – Marcelo Carrusca
1 – Dylan McGowan
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