Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar has warned some of his key players in regards to their performances and injuries this season. Ahead of tomorrow night's clash with Gold Coast United at Hindmarsh Stadium which is a must-win for the Reds, Vidmar sent a stern warning to some players who have been struggling of late.
Young left-back Scott Jamieson, striker Lloyd Owusu and injury-prone Paul Reid are the main trio that have copped warnings as Vidmar strives to put a poor first half of the season behind him.
"We are not going to make the mistake three times (of playing Reid too soon after injuries)," Vidmar said.
"He joined the group at the beginning of this week. So he needs to complete a whole week and there won't be any game for Paul this week, complete a second week with the group and then he'll be considered for a game with the National Youth League."
In regards to Jamieson, Vidmar said he needed to improve his performances but maintained faith that he would because of his overall quality.
"By his own admission he's not the player that he was last year. He's a good kid, a very good professional, he's got a very good outlook on training and his career on where he wants to go and where he wants to be," he said.
"He's having a tough time at the moment absolutely but I have all the faith in him that he'll get back to the sort of form that he showed last year.
"It's always difficult, you hear it so many times that after a good first year you get the second-year blues."
The Reds have once again struggled for goals this season despite bringing in hulking English striker Owusu from Cheltenham Town and between he, Brazilian striker Cristiano and captain Travis Dodd, there has been little joy up front for the South Australians.
"They know it hasn't been good enough in front of goal and people have said it, we've played some good football but we haven't finished," Vidmar added.
"We've worked quite hard last week and again this week on a few occasions about finishing and making sure we're doing that under pressure and it has worked quite well.
"Now it's about making sure that we translate what we did at training on the pitch."