FTS A-League Preview Round 15: Adelaide United vs. Newcastle Jets

Adelaide United goes into this game full of confidence after toppling league leaders Perth Glory away last time out. Not only did they beat Perth away they did it without influential mid fielder Marcello Carrusca. Adelaide will have used the break to reaffirm their strong Tiki taka strategy and ball possession game. Josep Gombau has Adelaide playing a good to watch brand of football and no doubt over the break they have been practising putting the ball into the net the only real element lacking form the Adelaide repertoire. Gombau has stated in the press that this season only finishing in the top two can be considered a success and now the club needs to stand up and make that happen. They definitely have the players and have shown that they are the equal of any club in the league this year but they need to make the most of the riches they currently have.

Newcastle Jets have been having an awful year but last time out they drew with Sydney in a big boost for their confidence. Jets have gone from strong performances like that one to woeful ones like the capitulation against Brisbane earlier in the season. Phil Stubbins is sticking by his men though and has not been making rash line-up changes. Recently they have lost both their CEO and the Chairman and this has caused more instability at the club. Nathan Tinkler has come back from Singapore to run the club in the meantime and settle things down and looks to have made his presence felt. Next five games loom very large for the Jets as it is now or never to get their season back on track.

Head to Head:

Played 32. Adelaide United 12; Draw 10; Newcastle Jets 10

Last Meeting:

20/12/2014: Hunter Stadium: Newcastle 2-1 Adelaide

Form Guide:

Adelaide: WLWLW      (4th 26 pts)

Newcastle: LWLLD      (9th 8 pts)

Absentee List:

Adelaide; Galekovic (international duty), Elsey (injured).

Newcastle: Flores (released), Virgili (injured), Gallaway (released)

Adelaide Probable: Izzo (GK), McGowan, Elrich, Malik, Boogarde, Isaisis, Jeggo, Carrusca, Cirio , Mabil, Djite

Newcastle probable: Kennedy (GK), Jaliens, Carney, Celeski, Hoole, Neville, Madaschi, Kantarovski, Montano, Griffiths, Pepper.

Eyes on:  Awer Mabil… The Kenyan born winger has just spent a week on trial at Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam and despite not being offered a contract the experience will be invaluable and it should spur him on to improve his game and really set the A-League alight. If he improves his scoring rate he could be the x factor to take Adelaide all the way!

Prediction: Adelaide 3-0. Too strong all over the park and a much more settled team than Newcastle, Hindmarsh is a tough place for other clubs to come this season and with players leaving and boardroom trouble the Jets should not be too much worry for the high flying Reds.

FTSAUS fact:  Newcastle has never beaten Adelaide by more than two goals. Biggest margin between the two teams was when Adelaide beat the Jets 5-1 way back in 2006!

Google+