Adelaide United coach Carl Veart says a high-tempo style can help unlock Melbourne City in Tuesday night's crunch A-League game.
Adelaide United coach Carl Veart is ordering a fast-paced blitz to exploit a perceived Melbourne City weakness in Tuesday night's season-defining A-League game.
Veart reckons his Reds, who must win to remain in finals contention, have a decided edge in match fitness over City.
The fixture at Sydney's ANZ Stadium will be Adelaide's fifth since the season resumption but just the second for City, who will secure a top-two berth with a victory.
"We should have a little bit better match conditioning," Veart told reporters on Monday.
"They (City) they have been training a lot but training isn't the same as playing matches.
"Our players now are playing in their fifth game tomorrow night, so they're getting to a point now where we are seeing improvement in every game in their fitness. "So we're expecting to play the game at a very high tempo to try and make it in our advantage."
The match is the last in the regular season for the Reds, who hold sixth spot with 35 points.
Seventh-placed Western United, on 33 points, have two games in hand on Adelaide but Veart said his charges were revelling in the high-stakes.
"That is when you perform at your best, when you're under the most pressure," he said.
"It's a must-win game for us - and even if we win, we're still not guaranteed a finals spot."
Second-placed City have a three-point gap, and a game in hand, on third-placed Wellington but captain Scott Jamieson has returned to Victoria ahead of the imminent birth of his first child.
A victory will deliver City a top-two finish and semi-final, and a coveted Asian Champions League berth.
"In my mind, and I hope our players are the same, is not to be calculating about how many points we need - we play all games to win," City coach Erick Mombaerts told reporters on Monday.
STATS THAT MATTER
* City's Jamie Maclaren (19 goals) is equal-leader in the golden boot race and boasts the best minutes-per-goal average (95.7) of any A-League player to have scored at least four goals this season.
* Adelaide's Riley McGree has had six goal involvements in his last seven A-League games against Victorian opposition (five goals, one assist), while this season he has 10 goals in 22 games.
* Adelaide beat City 3-1 in their most recent A-League meeting, in round 17, and also downed City 4-0 in the FFA Cup final last October.
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