FFA Cup holders Adelaide United will need to navigate past a ‘fired up’ Melbourne Knights to start their trophy defence, says Michael Marrone.
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New head coach Gertjan Verbeek has to deal with one of the smallest roster turnovers of all Hyundai A-League clubs heading into the 2019/20 season, with only four players departing.
Riley McGree, Michael Maria and Kristian Opseth are the Reds’ new arrivals and the continuity in camp is something the Marrone believes will help the defending champions take care of business, even against a ‘fired up’ NPL Victoria side.
“When you play state league clubs they’re going to be fired up because it’s an all-in game,” he told adelaideunited.com.au
“The advantage for them is that they’re in season and they’ve been playing together for quite a while.
“But I think also on the flip side, we’re not a new team, we’ve got a few additions, but most of our team has remained the same and we’re all learning the same process together.
“So we’ll be fine and we’ve played a couple of games now so we’ve got some minutes in the legs and I’m sure it’ll help with all the preparation necessary to be successful.
“It doesn’t really come down to one thing, it’s doing everything right and taking the game very serious and getting the result.”
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