Rini keeping cool ahead of Melbourne Victory grudge match

Adelaide United Coach Rini Coolen is staying positive ahead of his side’s meeting with Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium this Saturday night.

The Reds have faced criticism in recent weeks for failing to live up to their pre-season hype but Coolen remains upbeat in the lead-up to his team’s must-win clash against the Victory.

“You prefer to pay attention to the positive things and we weren’t positive last week, but having the Champion’s League that’s very positive and I have a lot of new players coming back from injury that are available, that’s fantastic,” Coolen said.

The Dutch tactician will welcome striker Sergio van Dijk back to his starting 11, while Socceroo Dario Vidosic is back in training and barring a late setback, could feature in the Hyundai A-League fixture.

Adelaide’s Captain Jon McKain laments the squad’s early season form but said the Reds are intent on putting their season back on track.

“It’s been frustrating for us, everyone knows it hasn’t been a great start and it’s been well-documented but we know we can turn it around, it’s that simple,” McKain said.

“We want to look forward there’s been so much negativity and negative comments about how we’ve played and rightfully so, we haven’t done well, but at the end of the day it’s the start of the season still and we can still turn the fortunes around and we’re not going to gain anything by dwelling on what’s been.”

Coolen will face fellow under-fire coach Mehmet Durakovic and with the added spice to the clash the Dutchman can’t wait to take on Adelaide’s fiercest rival.

“I’m looking forward to play against Melbourne Victory, it’s always a special game, you don’t have to motivate your players for games like that so it’s a nice challenge... and if we stay focused and in a positive way we can get a result over the Victory,” Coolen said.

McKain echoed Coolen’s sentiments and believes that rectifying their early-season form starts by taking three points on Saturday.

“We’re going into Victory this week confident, we’ve had a good week on the park with Rini, the boys coming back has freshened it up... and hopefully in the next few weeks we can build a bit of a platform,” McKain said.