Adelaide United manager Carl Veart has thrown down the gauntlet to his charges after a shambolic performance saw them lose 5-3 to Perth Glory in the recent game between the two sides.
That game happened to be the first A-League game of the season for Richard Garcia’s men, who ran riot at the Perth Rectangular Stadium as the visitors were thoroughly outplayed for almost the entire 90 minutes.
Neil Kilkenny started the scoring converting a penalty, while Nicholas D’Agostino doubled the lead. Nathan Konstandopoulos pulled one back against the run of play to bring Adelaide back into the game. But goals from Bruno Fornaroli, D’Agostino and Carlo Armiento made it 5-1 in favour of the men in purple.
Mohamed Toure and Ben Halloran scored towards the end of the game, but those efforts only proved to be a consolation on the back of a deflating performance.
With only a short time between the defeat and the upcoming clash with Melbourne Victory, the 50-year-old was asked whether he intends to change by handing new signing Javi Lopez an A-League debut against Grant Brebner’s men. But Veart kept his cards close to his chest and insisted that no player can take his spot for granted following the loss to Perth.
“When we get back into Adelaide, we’ll reassess the squad from tonight and see how everyone pulled up,” he told reporters after the defeat in Western Australia.
“Then we’ll look at the players that we left behind and you know, I said before coming here we are leaving some players behind with Melbourne Victory in mind for Saturday night.
“On tonight’s performances, all 11 positions are up for grabs.”
Adelaide United play host to Melbourne Victory at the Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday night.
