Dodd's Blog
Adelaide United Determined To Bounce Back Post by: Travis Dodd 9 September, 2009 - 2:05 PM
What a frustrating couple of weeks it has been. Being injured sucks, and having to watch your team mates play while I am stuck on the side lines is even worse. The guys that have been out with the dreaded calf strains will be back this week though. Cassio, Fabian and I have been working hard in rehab to get back to training and we were all back with the main group on Monday. The only one not to make it through yet is Sarkies, we expect him to start training next week.
Our performances over the last two weeks have bee well below par. We are conceding to many soft goals and still not finishing off the chances we are creating. We all know its not good enough and are working hard every day to get things right so we can get our season back on track. I guess the good thing is it is still early in the season and we still have time to turn our form around.
Lloyd had scans this week on his neck after the collision with Michael Marrone on the weekend. I have to admit I thought initially he had done some serious damage, the way he was flapping around on the ground like a fish out of water! It turns out he only had a little scratch on his head that needed one or two stitches. He even wore a neck brace on the plane home, I think to try o get some sympathy from the air stewards so he could get an upgrade to business class. Unlucky mate, didn't work!
The scans cleared him of any serious damage, but he has got bruising on the spinal cord in the mid neck region. We are already going through a bad patch with injuries, but this is getting beyond a joke! It looks like Lloyd will miss this week. Hopefully he can get through training next week and be available for our game against Melbourne Victory.
Last week some of the young boys modelled for the Hair Machine Fashion Show. Birras, Fabs, Dan Mullen and Jambo were there. I was asked to go along and make sure they were well behaved. Of course I obliged, it was for charity after all. We did it with a few players from the Crows and also had the professionals there... So we could show them how it was done on the runway!
Now you know when Birras is around he is bound to say or do something dumb. He was true to form, almost causing a pile up on the end of the runway. We were required to strut out one at a time and then go out together at the end. Birras was leading the way, when he got to the end he stopped and started wiggling his hips a la Ricky Martin! All to impress his mum who had flown over from Perth to see his first (and last) fashion show. There was a bit of trouble with the guys bumping into each other, but we made it off unscathed.
One person who was not impressed with his antics was Fabs. Rumour has it he had called a few modelling agencies to come down and check him out, with the hope of securing future modelling gigs. The last thing he wanted was Mark mucking around and almost ruining his routine. When questioned about this he denied it vehemently... As you would expect, but we wouldn't put it past him to make a few sneaky calls!!
We come up against the Mariners this week, after coming off a fortunate win against Perth on the weekend. They will be coming here full of confidence, while we need to dig deep and find confidence of our own. The determination and fight we showed in round 1 is what we need if we want any chance of winning this week. So far the intensity has been there, we know we are a better side than where we are sitting on the table. A win on Friday is what the club needs to lift everyone and especially to get us off the foot of the table.
I know it has been a rough few weeks for our supporters. Being sidelined and watching a game gives you a different perspective. It was frustrating for me to watch and I imagine it would be just the same for our fans. I suppose winning games makes he bad performances go away and that's exactly what we have to start doing.
So with that, I urge all of our supporters to come out Friday night and get behind us. Your presence at the ground is a huge lift for the boys and we know that you are as desperate for us to win as we are. Keep sticking with us, the better times are just around the corner.
See you at Hindmarsh!
Can Adelaide bounce back against the Mariners?
