Carl Veart has delivered a blunt ultimatum to his Adelaide United side: get a grip on things this week or wave goodbye to your chance of playing in the A-League Men finals.
Winless in their past five games, Veart’s men were languishing in 10th spot heading into round 19 - eight points off the top six.
The Reds boast the worst away record in the competition this season, with just one win from seven fixtures on the road.
And things don’t get any easier for Adelaide’s hopes of stopping the rot as they head to Wellington to face the table-topping Phoenix.
With nine games of the regular season still to play, the odds are stacked against Adelaide.
But Veart is confident that if they can shock the Phoenix, his side have the ability to re-enter the finals race.
“We know what we need to do to make finals - we just have to start winning games,” Veart said.
“And that starts this week; we have to win, well, we just can't lose.
“That's where it's at, we just can't afford to lose any more games and we need to start getting points.
“I don’t think our football has been that bad. Starting this week, we have to go there and not lose.
“Hopefully that brings a little bit more confidence to the playing group. And then from there, we can go on a run. We've shown previously that we can do (that).”
Adelaide’s season of struggle is uncharted territory under Veart, who took them to the finals in each of his three previous years at the helm.
But the Reds boss was keen to point out the teething issues they have encountered were reflective of the regeneration of his squad.
“I don't know why they (fans) would lose faith in the direction of the club,” Veart said.
“We've come out and said that we're always going to be a club that's going to be producing South Australian players, and that's what we've done again this year, and there's going to be times where we're going to be selling those players.
“It’s unfortunate. or fortunate, that we’ve sold a lot of our players, which means we're in a sort of a rebuilding phase.”
