Western Sydney Wanderers coach Markus Babbel says a half-time tactical tweak was needed to ensure his side pulled off their first back-to-back win of the season.
Wanderers showed plenty of steel in the second half to take all three points at Coopers Stadium with a 3-1 victory over Adelaide United on Saturday night.
Oriol Riera opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute before second half goals by Roly Bonevacia (54’) and Abraham Majok (71’) secured all three points.
But going into the break it looked like Babbel’s men could cough up another lead.
Adelaide struck back on the cusp of half time through Ryan Kitto to level the scores and could have had the advantage but for goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic denying Craig Goodwin from the penalty spot in the 16th minute.
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“We were not playing the way we wanted to,” Babbel told Fox Sports post-match.
“We started quite well for 10-15 minutes but then the pressure was always higher and higher…we were tactically doing the wrong things.
“I was talking half time to the boys – we changed a bit – and the second half was much better.
"I said to them we drop with our sixes too deep, we were nearly in a line with them and then they had no pressure in midfield…Oriol and Roly…had no help from our midfield, so we changed things a bit and it looked much better in the second half.”
Bonevacia was immense for the Red and Black, scoring one and setting up two, but Babbel wasn’t getting carried away by his marksman’s man of the match display.
“I expect this from Roly, he’s a good player,” he said.
“For a long time we couldn’t win, now two wins in a row I hope this confidence gives him and all the other team players the next step for the next games.”
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