It’s worth reflecting on the ride with Rini so far.

Week 1 at home v the Jets: no goals and no real chances created, but a clean sheet meant a point.

Week 2 away to the Mariners: a good first half with a goal & chances created. Not so good in the second half, but still, a point gained albeit with a large slice of luck.

Week 3 at home to the Heart:  not as much possession, but three goals after being twice pegged back, and most importantly a win.

Week 4 away to the Fury. plenty of possession, once again three goals, once again a win, and enough character to not only come from behind but also withstand a nervous final five minutes.

When you think it’s taken Neil Craig years at the Crows to build a team in his image, and he still hasn’t got there, Coolen—although granted it is early days—has made remarkable progress given the Reds well publicised injury list.

In the humidity of Townsville, Adelaide not only won, but they did it against a team that has already taken five points from Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.

The match also put one other fairly long-standing statistic to bed, as it was the first time United has come from behind to win an A-League match since Oct 26, 2008.

On that particular Sunday afternoon at Hindmarsh, Perth Glory led through Socceroo Nikita Rukyavitsa’s 54th minute strike, only for late goals by Alemao and Dodd to seal a 2-1 victory.

United has now scored seven goals this season in just four games. It took eight matches to rack up the same tally last season.

And to complete the statistical navel-gazing, United is now unbeaten in its past six A-League games after winning its final two fixtures last season.

One of the many impressive features of this latest Reds performance was the amount of possession they enjoyed. Overall it was only 51% but during the second half Adelaide had large periods with the ball as once again Marcos Flores weaved some beautiful combinations with Leckie, Pantelis and van Dijk.

And speaking of Flores, his goal, if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGrLeV9btrc  and spooling through to 1:45 for an early contender for goal of the season. The celebration wasn’t bad either.

Quite simply Adelaide United has no one who can replace Flores , and he’s one of the few players in the A-League that you will pay money to see play.

 Initially it looked like Flores might struggle to adapt to the more physical tempo of the A-League compared to the ACL, with reports Rini Coolen was struggling to get his message through to the Argentinean number 10.

But not anymore.

Last week against the Heart, Flores was imperious. Against the Fury, his debut A-league goal was the least his graft deserved, as he continues to lead the bidding for early favourtism for the Johnny Warren Medal.

But yes it is very early days, as we may find out next week when Adelaide travels to Sydney to confront the winless Champions at a ground where the Reds have won once and lost seven times in nine visits.

Because the fact can’t be ignored, Adelaide is relative bare bones operation at the moment, simply trying to regain some credibility.  

They have taken significant steps towards doing that, and while this season is still in its infancy, coming off a wooden spoon, second spot and four games unbeaten is certainly worth feeling good about.

A first home win for the season, three A-League goals at Hindmarsh for the first time since August 28 last year, and being forced to twice regain the initiative after conceding equalizing goals despite playing with a bare-bones squad, makes this a massive victory.

United, if only for 24 hours can even enjoy looking down from the summit of the competition such is the tightness of the league in the early days of season six.

Sometimes you get a feeling about a game and tonight was one of those, because despite the absence of Sergio van Dijk, who didn’t even make it through the warm-up with his sore calf, the pace of Leckie was always likely to cause a problem.

Throw in the equally rapid Iain Ramsay, the nimble Pantelis and the guile of Flores—who was behind everything creative tonight in his best game in a Reds shirt— and there existed enough ammunition to give John van’t Skip a heart attack.

And while it’s a while away yet, you will eventually be able to add Travis Dodd to that mix too.

As anticipated Adelaide did struggle down their right hand side with stand-in right back Cameron Watson regularly exposed by Dean Heffernan and Matt Thompson, who both can claim assists for Worm’s and Bahalj’s goals respectively.

Adelaide also failed to control possession, at one stage the Heart was enjoying 66% of the play, and this will remain a concern for Rini Coolen along with his side’s inability to convert their chances more efficiently.

Sure Adelaide scored three goals, but they should have had that tally by half-time with the excellent Leckie culpable for making the wrong choice or not finishing as well as he could have done.

But such was the pace and movement of players in the front third, it will be interesting to see how Rini Coolen manages Sergio van Dijk when he is fit again, which should be next week.

You can be sure Ramsay & Leckie won’t play that well every week simply because they are young, and in sport youth equals inconsistency, but it’s a nice situation to have because while Coolen doesn’t have many fit players to choose from, he does now have confident players.

With trips to North Queensland and Sydney to follow before the next home game against the Jets, that extra confidence will be valuable because as things stand you can see improvement in their performance every time Adelaide walks out onto the pitch.

When Adelaide United’s injury list grew by one this week, and that crocked player was none other than the Reds only fit striker, it would be easy to think that all hope of a season opening win against the Melbourne Heart went down the gurgler.

But maybe not.

Of course, Sergio van Dijk is still a chance to play, and Rini Coolen’s says he’ll wait until the pre-match warm-up before making a decision. But, given the cold weather in Adelaide at the moment taking a risk on van Dijk’s dodgy calf might just be too much of a big call.

Listening to Coolen today it sounds like if there’s ANY risk then the former Brisbane Roar striker won’t be risked, but he should at least be on the bench. If so that leaves Matthew Leckie as his obvious replacement.

Notwithstanding ex United midfielder Michael Marrone will have passed on what he knows about Coolen’s squad to Heart boss John van’t Schip, Leckie is such a different player to van Dijk it may work in United’s favour.

 Coolen has said he will play a 4-3-3 formation but if van Dijk fails a fitness test it may suit Adelaide to switch to a 4-2-3-1 where Leckie could utilise his pace. And why wouldn’t he consider this when the Jets did exactly that last week in their dominating performance against the Heart.

Coolen’s other option, as he alluded to today, could be to change to a 4-4-2 formation for a final 15 minute surge with either van Dijk or even the fit again Robbie Cornthwaite thrown up front with Leckie.

It’s in neither side’s interests to play for a draw at Hindmarsh,so action should be guaranteed, and with Skoko injured and the Heart still to gel, the Reds should be able to win the midfield battles. They could also have an advantage in leg-speed because if van Dijk does not play, besides Leckie, Ramsay should start along of course with Pantelis.

As we saw last week, United’s defence isn’t too bad, but with Cameron Watson penciled in for the problematic right-back spot, it remains to be seen whether that will be something the Heart can exploit.

So it could be that United’s biggest problem is one that’s plagued them through all of last season and all but one half of this season’s…keeping the ball.

The Heart may be yet to set the world on fire in their debut A-League season, but they certainly have a better credentialed squad than Adelaide and one day will gel.

But this week may be too soon because importantly, despite a below par performance from van Dijk, the Reds looked more potent in the opening 45 minutes against the Mariners than the Heart did at any stage against the Jets.

So if they can keep the ball, and Flores can play the “killing pass” that Coolen knows he is capable of, then the Reds and their fans should enjoy a rare home win.

That Griffith-Jones was only a few metres away and seemingly watching the ball makes it hard to understand how he didn’t award the Mariners a chance to win the game from 12 yards. That he didn’t will be seized on by Rini Coolen who needs any positives he can find, because it looks like it will be some time before the Reds are challenging at the top end of the league.

It’s early days of course so there’s no reason to rule out a late finals rush as United’s injured players regain fitness and form, but for now fans will have to eke out the positives wherever they can be found.

But against the Mariners there were several obvious “good things.”

After the sterile performance against the Jets, the chances began to flow again in Gosford. That said it was also a case of back to the future because like last season, those chances went largely unconverted.

Adelaide’s delivery from set-pieces has certainly improved, with Pantelis and Reid knocking in plenty decent balls over the past two weeks. With chances from open play seemingly at a premium, Coolen’s emphasis on improving dead-ball delivery could pay healthy dividends.

And speaking of Reid, his return to fitness could not have been more timely. How Adelaide missed him last season when he played eight games. His experience, leadership and composure is standing out in the engine room and Reid’s stated aim to play “every game” this season could ultimately determine how high Adelaide climbs the table.

In his first start for United, Korean import Insoeb Shin showed some glimpses of promise particularly after half time, and may have done enough to get another chance next week. And who can gauge what simply building confidence might lead to.

Daniel Mullen also looked comfortable in the centre of defence, while Marcos Flores, despite fading after the break, helped restore crucial balance to the team as it allowed Pantelis to return to his favoured left side.

The right side was a worry though, and will remain so with stand-in Adam Hughes, set to miss the visit by Melbourne Heart through suspension. In what may have been a second lucky stroke for the Reds, Hughes may be counting himself lucky not to be shown a straight red for a crude challenge and forearm strike to Josh Rose’s face after just 15 minutes. Replays showed it to be an ugly action, but given Hughes was booked there is no possibility of further intervention by the FFA.

How Rini Coolen replaces Hughes next week though appears problematical, with arguably midfielder Cameron Watson the only obvious possibility. Like Hughes, who had never played right-back before today, Watson may have to suck it and see until Cornthwaite’s return allows Mullen to revert to his previous position.

Iain Ramsay may have been unlucky to be dropped to the bench for the trip to Gosford, but if he remains as a sub on Friday, he at least can add some impact when he’s called on.

And as for Friday night and the visit of Melbourne Heart, it will be a case of double Dutch, with Coolen tangling wits with compatriot John van’t Schip. Neither side has won, and with only two goals between them the portents for a fourth 3-all draw this season do not look encouraging. But regardless, the tactical duel should be fascinating.

Coolen’s post match analysis was that United defended well,  had some good moments out wide, needed more time to increase their “attacking moments,” but a draw was a fair result.

The facts are though, Adelaide was lucky to get a draw, and despite having a goal correctly ruled out for off-side, barely created a chance.

The Jets drew several saves from Galekovic, and D’Apuzzo missed a gilt edged chance inside the first 20 minutes when Bridges played him in on Galekovic but he shot with his preferred left foot rather than his right.

In Coolen’s defence after training for three weeks playing a certain system, Adelaide was suddenly missing its creative cog. But boy how they missed Marcos Flores!

The Argentinian number 10 succumbed to a thigh strain and Coolen said it wasn’t worth the risk to play him, but the fact is there is no one in the Adelaide squad who can replace him.

Lucas Pantelis was given the task but by his own admission, creative playmaker is not his role, so as a result the little left-footer struggled to impose himself on the game. Not that he had much of a chance against the two excellent Jets holding midfielders Kasey Wehrman & Ben Kanterovski.

The Jets had a superb structure with Abbas & Jesic buzzing about, Bridges playing in behind the lone striker Rooney, and Milicevic and Topor-Stanley (until he went off injured) solid at the back.

If Rooney can find some sharpness, or Culina get something more from his striker Zheng Shao then the Jets could be right in the mix come the business end of the season.

Based on this performance Adelaide can only dream of such ambition.

Last season they couldn’t convert their chances, tonight they failed to create pretty much any chances.

Big difference.

Flores should be back next week but somewhat worryingly there’s no one else available that can help change things around.

Dodd won’t play for at least six weeks and Barbiero four and arguably the final option Shin is probably not yet able to replace Flores.

And with those creative options missing, the effect on van Dijk was pronounced as he struggled to generate any real threat. He also fell over a lot which suggests either his boots were not suitable or he was playing for too many free kicks.

So while not a disaster, to fail to score let alone win the first home game of the season is not encouraging for Reds fans.

Coolen says it will take time to see the results of his labours, and there’s no doubt he is right, but for the short term at least it won’t get easier from here with a trip to the Central Coast next on the calendar.

For now though we have to believe that Rini will revive the Reds.

But how much different life will be for the Reds under Coolen is not going to be apparent anytime soon, because  by his own admission, the new manager is in no hurry to thrust his blueprint on the squad.

My colleague, and one time 36ers basketball coach Phil Smyth suggested Coolen’s press conference today was 80% truth and 20% sell, in other-words a solid opening statement from the former FC Twente boss.

It didn’t inspire, didn’t seem unbelievable (Remember Gullit’s sexy football?), but didn’t underwhelm either.

When pressed with the inevitable question about the style his team’s like to play, Coolen said being Dutch he’d “prefer to play with good organisation, like to decide what happens on the field with a lot of goal scoring chances, a lot of technical moments, not too many high balls, nice football.”

But, he added there was no point in enforcing such a style until he had assessed the type of players at his disposal.

A sound approach if you look at the World Cup as a guide. Two eminent football people Fabio Capello and Diego Maradona selected their best 23 players and then tried to force them into a style they wanted to play.  The result was failure. 

On the other hand, Germany’s Joachim Loew decided on a style and then set about choosing the squad that would best suit his tactical master plan. Simple. Successful.

Of course, Coolen won’t have the luxury (for this season at least) of handpicking his squad, as only between one and four players can be added to the team before the A-League starts on August 6.

On top of that, Adelaide has spent most of its salary cap and has got its quota of foreigners, so there ain’t much room to move.

In reality “success” should not be hard for Coolen to achieve, as anywhere above bottom will be an improvement. But based on last season when Aurelio Vidmar alternated between 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1 and the traditional Dutch 4-3-3 formation, will we see much of a change in how Adelaide United look on the field?

Possession is without doubt a foundation of Dutch football, but last season United was often unable to keep the ball for any real period of time. The addition of Marcos Flores can somewhat rectify that and a fit Paul Reid will also be a boost.  That however is about it, although IF he can rediscover the confidence he appeared to lose very quickly last campaign, Insoeb Shin could also be a factor.

Dutch coaches also like wingers. Dodd can be one, but will need to improve the consistency of his crossing. On the left, Pantelis is the only obvious choice. With Jamieson now in Sydney, unless Cassio has the legs to play both forward and back, United will lack real width.

A narrow United might be a problem for Sergio van Dijk who should be keenly anticipating the arrival of his compatriot.  A proven goalscorer at the Roar, van Dijk scored in his second game for the Reds but then appeared to lose his way under Aurelio Vidmar’s rigid system. Whether he is more suited to a 4-4-2 will soon become apparent.

Under a Dutch system, United would more often play the ball out from the back. In Mullen, Fyfe, Barbiero and of course Reid, United has the players who can do this. Cornthwaite is not such a player but is injured anyway and given he won’t be fit for the start of the season, a solid start by the Reds might make it hard for him to reclaim a spot in the starting 11.

So the bare bones are there, but there is a question mark over depth, and crucially there is not much time.

Coolen is now back in Holland and won’t be back until the day of the Wellington trial game on the 16th, so between now and then it’s down to Phil Stubbins to ready the team. Stubbins will also play a big role when Coolen returns because in the boss’ eyes, Stubbins is the head coach and Coolen is the manager. And as a manager Coolen says, he like “to delegate. “

So while Coolen gets his eye in, Stubbins will have the major say in how this team plays and who plays in it from which it’s easy to assume United will start the new campaign playing in a similar way to last season.

United CEO Sam Ciccarello, admitted that Stubbins is “feeling pretty raw” at missing out on the top job, but Stubbins says he has “moved on” from that disappointment and is very excited about working under Rini. There is no doubt though, being given more responsibility has greatly helped ease Stubbins’ disappointment.

Fact is, any bruised egos could bring the whole house of cards down.

Rini Coolen may not have been a name on anyone’s lips, and another Dutch coach may not prove to be the right road to go down, but as much as Phil Stubbins deserves an A-League coaching job it would have been a shame for a pile of overseas coaches to apply for this job only for it to go to a local.

So like Rob Baan and John van t’Schip,  Rini Coolen becomes the third former FC Twente coach to join the Aussie football revolution.

He has scouted for Pim Verbeek and was once in the frame for the Sydney FC job, so a job in Australia has been a dream for some time.

That dream is now Coolen’s reality but what happens from here of course is unknown. That shouldn’t be a problem here though because Australian football is very much on a voyage of discovery of its own. Whatever happens, the Rini Coolen experiment will be a fascinating one to observe from close quarters.

When Jet-heeled teen star Matthew Leckie sprinted from deep in the Reds attacking half to tackle Jason Culina five yards out from the Adelaide goal, not only did it deny the Goald Coast skipper a certain goal, it set a bar for the rest of the team to aspire to.

From then on Adelaide looked REASONABLY comfortably and fully deserved to win, but ultimately it was the same old story, an inability to score, and the Reds have one more chance to keep themselves in play-off contention.

Dodd had chances, so did Leckie, Cristiano and others, but as we have seen this so often this season none were converted and Adelaide paid the ultimate price

Travis Dodd’s goal so nearly made the difference, but its construction also demonstrated the regards Matthew Leckie is held in.

In supplying the pass for Dodd to score his first goal from open play this season, three Gold Coast defenders were drawn to him leaving Dodd unmarked to angle his shot past van Stratten.

It would have been easy to imagine Adelaide just shutting up shop from there but after rather comfortably negotiating to remainder of the first half, Aurelio Vidmar had time to plot the expected onslaught from the home team.

But aside from Culina’s chance there wasn’t really much of an onslaught.

 Not only did Vidmar cope with the loss of Iain Fyfe just four minutes into the second half, but he also nullified the Coast wide men and as a result the pressure on the United rear-guard was managed ALMOST to perfection.

 Just a little space was all Jason Culina needed to fire in a wonderful cross for Shane Smeltz to head home from a tricky angle deep into injury time.

The effect that goal has on the Reds remains to be seen but providing a crumb of comfort is that the Mariners are on a shocking run and won’t be fancying the trip to Adelaide on Friday night.

That said, the Mariners also need a win and know that United’s confidence is fragile at best.

At this early stage, Fyfe looks likely to miss the crucial clash, and Reid may force his way back in, but based on what we saw there’s no real need to change much more.

Dodd, Leckie, Cassio and Marrone looked confident up until Smeltz’s killer goal and Rudan and Mullen look good enough at the back.

So bring on Friday, because until the numbers say so Adelaide can’t give up, but based on what we saw on the Gold Coast, Smeltz’s equaliser may have been the fatal blow.

Mathematically with such a small spread of points between the bottom six sides of course not, but looking at the draw then you’d have to say it’s unlikely.

Two away games are next on the calendar, against Sydney & Gold Coast, then it’s consecutive home games against Central Coast and Perth.

Melbourne and Wellington follow in two (at this point in time) impossible looking away trips, before the final home game against the Roar and a season ending trip to Newcastle.

Ignoring the fact that United has the worst away record in the league, they have only once won in Sydney, are yet to play on the Gold Coast, have no idea how to beat the Victory, but generally do well in New Zealand where the Reds are yet to lose to the Phoenix.

Adelaide does have a decent record at home to the Mariners and Perth, and despite two home defeats to Brisbane, generally gets results against the Roar.

That leaves a trip to Newcastle where United has had mixed results, but has not won there since season one of the A-League.

So based on those stats, United could quite possibly:

Lose to Sydney, lose to the Gold Coast, beat the Mariners and Perth, lose to Melbourne, draw with the ‘Nix, defeat Brisbane and draw with the Jets.

Tally up the points from those eight games and the total reaches 11, and add that to what the Reds have now and the magic number is 32.

Melbourne has already surpassed that and Sydney needs another point, with Gold Coast five points shy.

The club currently in 6^th is Perth with 23 from 18 games played and aside from the game in Adelaide the Glory’s run home reads:

Gold Coast (a),  Jets (h) , Sydney (h), Victory (a), then Adelaide,  Wellington (h), Mariners (h), Sydney (a) and Brisbane (h).

It’s not an easy draw but wins at home to the Jets, Wellington and Brisbane are definitely good bets, and that would give them 32 points.

The Mariners 5^th (24 points) should also rack up another eight points against:

Bris (h),  Sydney (a),  Wellington (h), North Queensland (h), Adel  (a), Gold Coast (h), Perth (a) and Jets (h).

And just to be sure, the Jets (4^th, 25 points) have these remaining nine games to contemplate.

Fury (h),  Perth (a), Victory (h), Gold Coast (a), Bris (a), Sydney (h), Fury (a), Mariners (a), Adelaide (h), Wellington (a).

To be sure this is a tough run, so the game against Adelaide looks key, but with two matches against the Fury confidence must be high that the Jets can also surpass 32 points.

Of course, Adelaide could go on a massive run and rack up more than 11 points in their remaining eight games, but after the draw against the ‘Nix, it’s hard to see it happening.

There was, as per usual, plenty of endeavour but no real end product, and if Matthew Leckie’s dicky knee really flares up then it that might just be the end of the road for the Reds.

Aurelio Vidmar looks like he has some major work to do before the ACL starts in February.

Five changes–four unforced and one because of injury—is a big call within the space of seven days, especially when so much is at stake.

North Queensland’s gutsy win over Perth has only emphasized the importance of the trip to Suncorp, with the Fury now four points clear of the beleaguered Reds.

A win for Brisbane will at the very least leave Adelaide four points adrift, but given the club says it has tried everything else to address its six game winless run, then why not throw the kids in.

Sarkies’ injury is disappointing but Alemao can replace him in midfield, but three changes to the back four has a real death or glory feel to it.

On the positive side, five teams including Melbourne have conceded more goals than Adelaide this season, while the Roar has only scored 11 goals from 10 home games.

On the negative side, United’s revamped rearguard might not run like a well oiled machine, but may have a little more pace if, as you might expect Marrone is placed outside of a Fyfe & Mullen central pairing, with Jamieson on the left.

Vidmar today said he wants the back four to play out a little quicker than they have recently, well for most of the season really.

As he showed last season, Marrone can beat players and is a decent crosser, which gives the Reds an option that Iain Fyfe has not really been able to provide.

Mullen deserves a chance after injury and international duty cost him at the beginning of the season and in Fyfe he has good experience alongside him.

Rudan (definitely) and Cornthwaite(arguably) haven’t really done anything wrong, but with goals going in at the wrong end and not going in at the right end, something had to give.

Rudan and Mullen might have been a decent combination too, but for the moment Fyfe gets another chance to win a number of skeptical fans over.

The other inclusion Shin, looks likely to come off the bench, and if he has regained his confidence could work ok against tiring legs.

Brisbane actually has the worst home record in the league with just 11 points from 10 matches, but Adelaide cancels that out by having the worst away record (five points from seven games).

But what Brisbane does have is a goal-scorer.

Sergio van Dijk scored twice against Adelaide when the two teams last met and will be anticipating testing out a new-look defence.

Henrique and the returning Murdocca will also be looking forward to running at the boys in black.

Adelaide has a good record at Suncorp, winning three and drawing the remainder of their six clashes, and that will be a confidence booster, but whether it’s enough to instill some seriously missing self-belief is another story.

Simply it will be a case of who wants it more.

“It’s a big hole…can we get out of it from here, I think we can.

“There’s some soul searching, there’s some questions that need to be asked.

“Some honest answers need to be forthcoming if we are to get out of it.

So what are the questions Phil Stubbins was referring to at the press conference after another dismal Adelaide United performance?

Well given how many times Adelaide has been in this situation this season, presumably a lot of questions have already been asked.

Either way, Stubbins response was that there’s a lot of them, a  lot of cutting questions, but he couldn’t provide any more light into what the questions are

Stubbins also refused to get too negative about player’s performances believing negativity regarding individual performances will only result in more negativity.

Travis Dodd suggested one question everyone should ask themselves is whether they wanted to be at Adelaide, because if they do its imperative to stick together and not start blaming each other for the shocking series of results.

And while the coaches and players continue to insist that the mood remains positive, it certainly doesn’t look like that on the pitch after a fourth 0-2 home loss this season.

Sure, players are down on confidence and couldn’t/didn’t take the opportunities they had in the first half.

And then they succumbed to a sucker punch with a goal in first half stoppage time, which Stubbins said they never really recovered from.

The crowd isn’t receovering too with just 8500 rolling up and many left as soon as Song put his 79^th minute penalty into the net.

So where to now?

Well it’s Brisbane next where another team close to United will have a chance to put some daylight between themselves and Adelaide.

There was a suggestion to try and do something a bit different in the build-up, something out of left-field to try and break the routine, but after so much talking and no real change in results, what left is there to try?

Perhaps a stop at a pharmacy might be in order for a few shots of passion and commitment because judging by how some player’s played tonight, that’s what’s needed.