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Veart puts 'lethargic' Adelaide on notice

3 minute read

Adelaide's early-season promise was brought to a crashing halt with a 5-3 loss to Perth Glory at HBF Park, prompting a strong response from coach Carl Veart.

Adelaide United coach Carl Veart says all positions are up for grabs after watching his team crumble to a 5-3 A-League loss to Perth Glory.

The final scoreline of Wednesday night's match at Perth's HBF Park flattered Adelaide, who trailed 5-1 before scoring two consolation goals in the dying minutes.

The result was a huge shock for Adelaide after they had started the season with a draw against Western United and an impressive 2-0 win over Melbourne City.

The starting line-up against Glory wasn't too dissimilar to the one used against Melbourne City, and Veart now has some tough decisions to make ahead of Saturday's clash with Melbourne Victory in Adelaide.

Spanish recruit Javi Lopez (knee) is set to be available for his first match of the season, while defender Ryan Strain (groin) is also expected to be fit.

Captain Stefan Mauk (hamstring) will also aim to prove his fitness.

Veart made it clear that the display against Glory wasn't acceptable.

"We'll look at the players we left behind. I said before coming here we left some players behind with Melbourne Victory in mind for Saturday night," Veart said.

"And after tonight's performance, all positions are up for grabs.

"Strainy and Javi should be (fit to play)

"Stefan we will see when we get back to Adelaide. We'll see how he's progressed this week on the training track.

"We missed his intensity, his aggressiveness in the midfield."

Veart felt the 17-day break in between games had played a part in his team's lethargic display.

"I suppose we built up some momentum with the first two games, and then having that 17-day break ... it wasn't great," he said.

"We were slow, very lethargic. It didn't help us at all. It was very unlike the way we performed in the first two games. Too many individual mistakes.

"I suppose that's the positive thing that we have Melbourne Victory soon."

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