It's time to draw a line in the sand on Adelaide United's chronic defensive issues
- Antonis Pagonis
- Apr 4
- 5 min read
A poor but predictable defensive run has derailed Adelaide United's season. Something must fundamentally change if the Reds are to shake the backhanded compliment of being the best side to watch for the neutral and make an impact in the last part of the A-League Men season.
Adelaide United's dejected travelling contingent watch on as their side concede the second of five goals against Melbourne Victory. (Image: Brock Pearson Photography)
It was probably some point between Dylan McGowan snatching the club's Golden Boot from "Own Goal" with an impressive, for a defender, four goals and the failed signing of Jordy Thomassen to cover the ever-injured Baba Diawara the following season. That would be my best guess when a young, naive Adelaide United fan would have wished upon a star for their football side to start scoring more goals.
Flash forward to about eight years later, and that fan, grown up, is faced with a much different proposition. Their Reds side is the second most prolific in scoring, a theme in recent seasons. But the other side of the ball may have them thinking a monkey's paw was present when their innocent younger self made that wish.
Adelaide United are coming off an Original Rivalry defeat, having conceded 28 goals across their last 10 games, a whopping 10 of them coming just in the previous two.
This abysmal defensive record has led the Reds to freefall from a premiership contender after an unbeaten first seven games of the season to hang on for dear life within the A-League Men's top six.
Now, this is nothing new. Carl Veart's side has excelled at scoring as much as they struggled to defend across the previous two seasons.
Season 2022/23 saw Adelaide United score 53 goals—the second-best record in the league—while conceding 46, with only wooden-spooners Macarthur outdoing them in that department. The 2023/24 campaign followed a similar suit, with a league-best 52 goals cancelled out by the fourth-worst defending record in the competition, 53 allowed.
Having become the neutral's favourite side to watch, few will be surprised to hear that Adelaide United are currently tied in second for most goals scored in season 2024/25 (46), while their goals conceded column (45) is only better than cellar-dwellers Perth Glory (51).
Unfortunately for the Reds, the admiration of the neutrals is fleeting and wins no silverware. Personnel has changed over the off-season, but the issues remain.
On paper, the Reds should be nowhere near bad defensively. The partnership between Bart Vriends and Panagiotis Kikianis is strong, blending youth and experience. Meanwhile, Jay Barnett and Ethan Alagich's double pivot in midfield shows they can do a defensive job.
A harsh reality must be addressed while Adelaide United continues crafting its identity as a club. While entertaining, the club's current football style is not sustainable.
The main takeaways from Carl Veart's press conference after the Reds' 5-3 loss to Melbourne Victory—the club's sixth consecutive winless match—were mainly the VAR controversy for the third goal and his players' lack of confidence.
While Veart made some valid points about the VAR process, you must look no further than the first two goals to find the root cause of the club's defensive and confidence struggles.
Seventeen minutes after the Reds opened the scoring away from home, Daniel Arzani, a Socceroo, equalised with a goal that would look oddly comfortable in training, let alone a rivalry match. The winger was allowed an extreme amount of time and space by senior Adelaide players and managed to cut in and bend home a goal, a trademark move that most defensive units can foresee and limit.
Ten minutes later, another Socceroo, Nishan Velupillay, was allowed similar space on the edge of the box, and his shot left James Delianov watching on helpless in goal.
The Reds fought back to regain the lead, and the VAR call allowed Arzani to equal the scoreline before Victory ran away with two Nikos Vergos goals on the counterattack. While disappointing, adequate defending earlier in the match would have ensured this point of desperation never arrived.
Should we play the game of hypotheticals, Victory likely finds another avenue to goal against one of the league's loosest defensive units, even if the penalty is not given.
Now, when it comes to players not displaying confidence with the ball, it is hardly surprising when their team is conceding, on average, a goal every 18 minutes across their past two matches. The two sides of the ball are interconnected; a cavalier attitude to one side of the game will inevitably affect how players mentally approach the other.
That issue is further exacerbated in a young, inexperienced squad still finding its mental and physical footing in the competition.
No one is asking for the proverbial bus to be parked. Just as the club has recently made promoting young South Australian talent a part of its identity, pride in limiting goals conceded has to be a feature on the pitch.
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Many may pinpoint the birth of the club's local renaissance to when Marco Kurz's depleted side ended a scoreless draw against Sydney FC with nine South Australians on the field, 11 featuring overall. It is important to remember that the pride was evident because a group of young locals managed to work as a unit to keep Graham Arnold's all-conquering juggernaut scoreless.
This focus must be restored and instilled into Adelaide United's identity if the club is to go anywhere in the pointy end of the season, where high-scoring shootouts are often the exception, not the norm.
This approach cannot come from one person alone but must be a concerted effort.
A happy medium that allows the young side to feel freedom in attack while remaining solid defensively must be devised. Be it Technical Director Ernest Faber and coach Carl Veart or, as reported by commentator Robbie Thompson on his A-League Off Air podcast, a potential new face on the touchline, this is a priority for the club to progress.
In fairness to Veart, he conceded that the coaching staff might have to finally re-evaluate the team's defensive approach after the Victory loss, and that is something that must be explored in the coming weeks if he is to salvage his side's spiralling season and perhaps his job.
The forthcoming off-season has a Craig-Goodwin-sized question written all over it. While Football Director Marius Zanin will obviously have that discussion, he must use the forecasted free Visa spots to reinforce this focus. Of course, this is where the ownership group's purse strings need to comply, which may be the more significant issue.
In the immediate future, Adelaide needs to address this slide. The task does not get any easier with the free-scoring Sydney FC coming to town on Saturday. The Reds will more than likely continue playing their season in the Russian roulette of a high-scoring shootout, but when you concede an average of 2.8 goals a game across your last 10 outings, hanging onto a Finals Series spot by three points and facing the team directly below you, there is little room for error.
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