R22 Preview: MetroStars v West Adelaide
MetroStars v West Adelaide
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Round 22
When: Saturday, July 18th. Kick-off 5:00pm
Where: TK Shutter Reserve, Fourth Avenue, KLEMZIG
Teams:
MetroStars: 22 S. Campagnale, 23 M. Crooks, 11 M. Deegan, 17 J. Negus, 1 C. Piantadosi, 14 S. Simic, 4 A. Tamburrino, 20 D. Godley, 7 M. D Aloisio, 12 A. Dyer, 2 D. Menechella, 21 A. Van Dommele, 18 F. Barbiero, 9 S. Grelli, 19 J. Polisena, 15 L. Wooding, 16 A. Orphanou, 8 R. Callisto, 3 A. Jakob, 10 S. Savino
West Adelaide: 14 N. Andijanto, 13 M. Bouzalas, 11 T. Briscoe, 10 R. Da Silva, 20 T. Hatzis, 8 A. Koutoulogenis, 5 R. Lippett, 9 A. Rideout, 15 A. Taye, 3 L. Vallelonga, T. Veart, 6 E. Vlassis, 7 J. Wrigh, t1 L. Moss
Form:
MetroStars: D D L
Round 19: Adelaide City 1 MetroStars 1, Adelaide City Park
Round 20: MetroStars 2 White City 2, TK Shutter Reserve
Round 21: MetroStars 2 South Adelaide 4, TK Shutter Reserve
West Adelaide: L D L
Round 19: South Adelaide 3 West Adelaide 2, O’Sullivans Beach Sports Complex
Round 20: Adelaide Blue Eagles 0 West Adelaide 0, Marden Sports Centre
Round 21: West Adelaide 0 Para Hills Knights 1, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Preview:
MetroStars and West Adelaide will look to return to the winners circle in Round 22 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia after a string of poor results in recent weeks.
Both sides experienced upset defeats to teams in the bottom half of the table in Round 21, with second placed West Adelaide falling to last placed Para Hills in what is sure to be the upset of the season, while South Adelaide managed to put four past MetroStars.
It has been a disappointing month for West Adelaide, accumulating 2 points out of a possible 12 against lower placed opposition.
West Adelaide’s Robby Lippett said confidence within the side was an issue after a barren month.
“We haven’t been scoring goals and when we score goals everyone lifts in the team.
“It’s not like we have conceded many goals, we’re just not capitalising in the final third; I put that down to confidence, we still believe we’re the best team in the league but sometimes the games don’t go the way you want.
“As you can tell by the last month it hasn’t been the best, but we tend to play better against better opposition, so we go into the game knowing it’s going to be a tough battle.”
Only three points separate West Adelaide and top of the table West Torrens Birkalla, and with hopes of returning to the summit by seasons end, Lippett labelled this week a six pointer.
“We have five games left and we have to win them all, this week is a six pointer for us, every game for the rest of the season is going to be a six pointer, every game is a final now.
“We want to finish top, not second or third, but we’re looking at this week only and once we get through Saturday we’ll look at the next game.”
MetroStars’ goalkeeper Daniel Godley labelled last week’s 4-2 defeat at the hands of South Adelaide as ‘horrific’ and their ‘worst performance of the season’, but a mounting injury list has done the club no favours.
Key players Jonathon Negus and Anthony Solagna, as well as goal machine Perry Mitris amongst others, are all missing for the North East club, something that Godley hasn’t witnessed before during his time at the club.
“We’re missing a lot of key players, a lot of young players have stepped up and done a job but our squad is ridiculously thin at the moment.
“I have never seen such an injury list in my time playing, especially here. We’ve been lucky over the last three years to keep as many people as possible on the pitch and we’ve never really been struck by injuries but we’re paying for that this year.
“Somebody has broken a mirror.”
MetroStars are in a similar situation to West Adelaide, with only four points being the difference in a top sixth birth for Metro.
Godley said this week was important in getting back to playing good football with a hectic schedule fast approaching.
“It’s not just about getting the three points; it’s about getting back to playing well.
“We have an FFA Cup game in two weeks and we are playing terrible football at the moment, so it’s a matter of getting back to the basics and not worrying about the league.
“If we get things right the league will sort itself out but we just have to worry about getting it right ourselves.”
Article by Brendan Simpkins
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