Key players Matt McKay and Michael Zullo both came through training today and the pair take their seats the plane to South Australia tomorrow.

Joining them are Stuart McLaren, Massimo Murdocca and Chris Grossman with the Roar boss electing to take 16 players to Adelaide as a precautionary measure.

Definitely out though is Danny Tiatto, who is set to miss at least a further week with a groin injury, and Brazilian playmaker Marcinho, who is near to full fitness but won’t be risked.

The return of influential livewire McKay is a shot in the arm for Farina who is expecting a tough outing against arguably the league’s form side.

“Adelaide are a very good team and I said that after round one. They’ve got good players, they’re very mobile and they’re at home; it’s going to be tough for us, no question.

“Our intention is to go there and get a result. We did well there last season and hopefully we can get something there this time as well. Any points we can get at Hindmarsh will be good points and we’ll have to work hard for them,” said Farina.

“Matt McKay is looking pretty good. There’s still 48 hours to go before the game so he’ll certainly travel; it’s a pleasant bonus for us. We’ll be taking an extra player with us though, just in case. Unfortunately Marcinho is out this week with a hamstring injury. He’s close, but not worth risking,” he added.

The Roar boss tinkered with his line-up at today’s training session and is yet to settle on a final midfield combination who will have their work cut out to cope with United’s clever movement.

“We’ve tried a few different midfield combinations today at training with Stuart (McLaren), Massimo (Murdocca), Mitch Nichols and Chris Grossman, so we have a few different options. I haven’t finalised that yet though and we have a training session in Adelaide tomorrow to go over a few more things,” Farina said.

After shipping three goals at home last week to Perth Glory, Farina said there would be no finger-pointing towards his defensive troops, preferring to treat the problem as a team issue.

“It was a collective thing the other night. We started slow and were ordinary all over the park for that first 30 minutes. Defensive lapses are normally the result of mistakes elsewhere on the field as well so we’ve been working on a few things this week to try and stop that happening again. We don’t point the finger at the defenders as such; it’s an issue for everyone to take note of,” he said.