Undefeated, unfazed, unconventional, unprecedented: the story of Adelaide’s season so far
Jacob Stevens 
Jay Barnett, Dylan Pierias and Stefan Mauk celebrate against the Western Sydney Wanderers. Photo: Joshua Davis/Round Ball Australia.
It’s the best ever start to an A-League Men season for Adelaide United. They sit happily in second, undefeated through seven games and with an air of confidence about the playing group.
For a side that last season missed out on finals, Adelaide look rejuvenated this season, despite little action in the transfer market, and are playing dynamic, attacking football with flair and poise.
It’s a far cry from what many were expecting heading into the season. But here they are.
So how did Adelaide turn their fortunes around? And, is it really too good to be true, or are they legitimate contenders?
Transfer business
It would be remiss to talk about Adelaide United’s success without touching on the business they did in the off-season transfer window.
Deadwood like Nick Ansell, Ben Warland and Ben Halloran were all cut, alongside Harry Van der Saag. Additionally, Hiroshi Ibusuki was not renewed, opting to switch to Western United, and Nestory Irankunda and Giuseppe Bovalina were sold.
It left United in what many perceived to be a tricky situation.
Yes, they had dropped a lot of the players, particularly defensively, that weren’t up to standard. But they’d also let go of a proven veteran goalscorer and promising young full back (Irankunda being more or less an inevitability).
The ins, at the time, didn’t inspire massive confidence. Archie Goodwin has always been earmarked as a talented prospect, but his injury history leaves something to be desired.
Meanwhile, Dylan Pierias was seen by some fans as nothing more than a quick, explosive winger lacking in final product.
Bart Vriends was a sign of intent, for sure. The experienced Eredivisie captain filling one of the many holes in defence, but news quickly spread that he was injured, and was absent for the entirety of the club’s pre-season preparations.
With so many gaps defensively, beggars cannot afford to be choosers, and Adelaide also brought back Jordan Elsey as a stop gap to fill some holes. Naturally, of course, he then suffered another injury.
It looked, on the balance of probabilities, that this season would be one of rebuilding. The signings were all either unproven, injured, or both. And there were still glaring inadequacies in the squad.
Notably, the club signed a couple of promising youngsters to long term contracts: Ethan Alagich and Panagiotis Kikianis. The two were already starting to get proper minutes last season, and it was clear at the time that the club were going to be heavily reliant on their contributions this season.
Then there was the Ben Folami business. Signing a veteran winger who has not shown real signs of brilliance in years, is tremendously inconsistent and suffers from niggling injuries hardly seems a smart move.
Add to that the fact that reports stated Melbourne Victory will continue to pay half his wages this season, and it seemed a desperate move for a player that the Victory wanted so little to do with that they’d happily pay to play against him.
In fact, head coach Carl Veart made comments prior to the side’s first game of the season that he had been frustrated with the club’s recruitment strategy throughout his tenure.
“I’ve made my thoughts very clear to the club that the players that we do bring in have to be high quality,” he said.
“And at times, we haven’t got that right, and we’ll see this year.”
Little did we know at the time, though, that Carl Veart and Ernest Faber had something properly cooking on the pitch.
Style of play
Graphics: Jacob Stevens, created with Flourish
One of the big critiques of Adelaide last season was that they lacked identity on the pitch. They were Irankunda’s team. But that was about it.
This season, though, the coaching and technical staff have clearly worked hard on finding something that would work with the squad they’ve built.
In possession, the side takes up a dynamic, fluid shape. While it’s not quite as expressive as Sydney FC’s relationist-influenced football, it has creative underpinnings in positional freedom.
Take Zach Clough, for instance. During his time with the Reds, he has been used both centrally as a 10, and out wide as a winger.
When playing centrally, he has great penetration and makes fantastic line splitting balls through to runners breaking the defensive line. He’s also great at carrying the ball, and can work his way out of tight spaces.
Out wide, he can deliver a wicked ball from the half space, and operates well in tandem with aggressive fullbacks to create overloads.
To get the best of both worlds, Veart has employed Clough as a sort of wide 10. He has the freedom to drift and move around to find space: linking up with Pierias on the right, or dropping into the middle to help progression centrally.
This is enabled by the double pivot, usually composed of Jay Barnett and Alagich, who set the shape and occupy opposition midfielders on the ball.
Coming back to Pierias – this is where the side has seen it’s most drastic change.
Rather than simply using aggressive fullbacks, where the player is still expected to be part of the rest defence – something that caught the side out last season – Veart has instead used Pierias in a width-holding role, and Ryan Kitto in an edge-setting left defensive role.
Pierias has always had talent, but perhaps lacked the poise to be the isolated winger in a traditional sense, while also not being defensively reliable enough to stay deeper as a conventional fullback.
Again, as with Clough, this new position is a sort of compromise which looks to bring the best out of him in both attacking and defensive phases of play.
Veart has spoken extensively about this role, and how it feeds into Pierias’ strengths, but also reflects his openness to trying new things to find the best roles for the players he has.
“There’s no secret in the way that we play – we play with that right back very high and they cause a lot of threat because of that explosive speed,” Veart said after the Reds’ tight 4-3 win over the Wanderers earlier this season.
“It suits him playing that way. And that’s what we try to do: we try to find a system that suits our players and that can bring the best out of our players.”
The out of possession shape also sees compromise. As aforementioned, Kitto sets the left edge of a three-man defensive unit, with a tight double pivot, Barnett employed more to sweep behind Alagich, who is typically higher in possession and transition.
It’s not how some conventional, modern teams would play a 3-2 rest defence – usually instead seeing a fullback invert to overload the midfield.
But nothing about this team is conventional anyway, and it suits the player profiles available.
Kitto was frequently out of position last season, tracking back too late after attacking phases. Keeping him deeper limits that threat and allows Kitto to be more restrained in possession and pick his chances to get involved much better.
Veart has then used Vriends to sit on the right. As the most experienced and clinical defender, he’s been asked to do the most spacial work – often responsible for two players while Pierias works back.
So, rather than throw Kikianis to the wolves, it makes sense to use the guy who captained Sparta Rotterdam for some 200 matches.
It’s unconventional. But it works.
And it works even better when the players are buying into it and backing themselves.
Mentality and ambition
Naturally, with an undefeated record, the side are feeling themselves and looking better each week.
But a big thing that people are overlooking is that the players looked just as confident in the Australia Cup in preseason, and ran the Victory close in the semi final with a depleted squad.
There’s a clear mentality in the playing group this year: they want to achieve something.
Adelaide United hasn’t won silverware since the 2019 Australia Cup, falling at semi-finals on four occasions.
It’s something that can sometimes ruin a team’s mentality and cause a down season. But not this squad. Their mental resilience has been on full display already – with tight results aplenty.
Speaking with Adelaide United Media, Zach Clough has lauded the side’s perseverance and mentality to stay in games, and has credited that to the side’s form this season.
“I always feel like we’re going to get back into the game no matter what. Even if we go behind, we just don’t panic,” he said.
“It’s because of the way we play, the belief we have in each other, and the quality that runs through the squad. There’s a real sense that, no matter the situation, we can turn things around.”
There’s a clear sign that this playing group want to win. Even when, on paper, they’re no match for their opposition.
Biggest test yet
With Sydney FC at home on Friday night, the Reds face their toughest challenge. But, buoyed by the confidence of their resounding win over the Mariners, Adelaide’s mentality is sky high.
Veart, speaking to media ahead of the game, says the group are confident, and looking to play well against Sydney to prove their intentions of being competitors this season.
“The group is very confident, and we put in a good performance last week,” Veart said.
“The performances have been improving every week, and we’ll be looking for some more improvement in the game against Sydney.
“It’s going to be an exciting game, and hopefully, we can carry on the form we’ve shown so far this season.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for the playing group, and I’m excited to see how we adapt to it.”
It’s clear that Adelaide are unfazed. They won’t back down from a challenge, and are embracing the opportunity to prove themselves against a side that many consider to be one of the best in the league this season.
It might be a fairy tale start, but there’s everything to suggest that, especially with the January window and chance to further strengthen the squad, this United team has the style of play, squad composition and mentality to be a top side.
And a result against the Sky Blues? Well, that would have even most professional of haters starting to believe in this team.