Well, the Heart’s loss to Adelaide United yesterday, what can be said? We did say in our blog leading up to this match that if any team becomes complacent, then they will be punished. We were lucky to only lose 1-0; if it wasn’t for Bolton’s great saves and a little luck on our side, the score could have been far worse. Aloisi’s comments after the game were spot on – Heart were complacent and lost the game. He was very upset with the low standard of play from the Heart.

The signs for Heart weren’t good right from the start. Colosimo had to get his head repaired from a head injury and after continuing on he didn’t seem up to his best. He made a few bad decisions, one of which cost us the only goal and another one which nearly cost us another. The other main issue was our bad crosses in attack, they were either too far or straight to the keeper.

Adelaide didn’t win, Heart lost.  We were controlling the game for the first 15 minutes of both halves, with Adelaide getting the better of us during the later stints. Complacent teams this season get punished and Heart need to keep playing their ‘A’ game for the whole match every game. It seems that when they go through a low patch, the other teams penalise Heart and get the goals. Heart just need to work harder on staying focused as a team for the full 90 minutes.

There were some positives; apart from Bolton’s great saves, when we did combine well we looked very dangerous. It was only a week ago that we put four past Brisbane! Also, this time last year Heart were sitting with only 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses and right now Heart are 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. There’s not much difference and yet we did make the finals last year. Hopefully Fred and Grella will come into the line up soon, which should strengthen the midfield and see Heart control far more of the game with minimal lapses.

Coming off a big home win against Brisbane, the Heart are on the bus to Adelaide this weekend hoping to back up with another win. Their record at Hindmarsh Stadium is not too bad: out of 4 games they have had 1 win, 1 loss and 2 draws. They have kicked 6 goals and had 6 goals scored against them. Although Adelaide has only one loss to their name for this season, this game is looking to be one both teams don’t want to lose. Heart need to consolidate their positioning in the top 6 and Adelaide will want to stay near the pointy end.

Adelaide will not be an easy team to beat, they have had good form coming into this season from competing in the Asian championship during the break. After 6 rounds in the 2012/2013 season they are sitting 2nd on the ladder, with their last game a draw against Perth who are also playing well. They are also very comfortable playing at their home stadium – out of a total of 92 games to date at Hindmarsh stadium they have only lost 27 times.

Heart’s season to date on the field has been very solid, and probably have been unlucky with some of the results. The last game against Roar was a fantastic result, especially when you consider that Fred was not in the line up due to injury. Last season we were struggling to win any games when Fred was out of the line up, so the signs are good. But Heart cannot be complacent at any point in this season, because when teams get complacent in a game, like Victory and Sydney have done, they get punished.

Stats/Info against Adelaide:

• Played Adelaide: 6 times. 1 win. 2 Draw. 3 Loses.
• Last time they met at Adelaide: Attendance 6,411, draw 1 all, Babalj scored.
• Last Adelaide game a draw against Perth Glory.