COACH Arthur Papas was encouraged by "some good moments" from the new additions to his rejigged Newcastle Jets outfit but conceded "they were a little bit off in terms of movement and the speed of the way we do things".
The Jets crashed at the first hurdle of the Australia Cup, going down 2-0 to Adelaide in front of 4669 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
George Blackwood put the visitors up on the stroke of half time, nodding a header into the left corner after the Jets failed to deal with a curling Zac Clough freekick.
Japanese import Hiroshi Ibusuki sealed the deal for the visitors with a spectacular bicycle kick in the 80th minute.
It took the Jets 50 minutes to get going. They dominated possession in the second half and crafted 13 shots in total.
But Newcastle keeper Michael Weir was the busier of the keepers, including three fantastic saves in the first half.
"We started playing too late in the game," Papas lamented. "The first half was a poor half in terms of the kind of control we want to have. We turned the ball over too easily, we didn't get our press right and we conceded from a set piece on the stroke of half-time.
"Fair play to Adelaide, they were the better team.
"Second half, we were good for most parts without creating enough quality chances. We still created but they were half chances. We needed to open them up a bit better, more concisely. Then they score a top goal, credit to the guy for pulling it off."
Three of the Jets' eight new arrivals started.
Brandon O'Neill commanded the base of midfield, while Trent Buhagiar and Jaushua Sotirio played in a front three either side of Beka Mikeltadze, who had a frustrating night.
Buhagiar made the most of his first opportunity. He pushed and probed, got in behind, created half chances and had a shot well saved by Joe Gauci.
"There were some good moments for all of them," Papas said. "Then there were some moments where they were a little bit off in terms of movement and the speed of the way we do things. Being in certain positions at certain times.
"They have been with us for three weeks and it is clearly a very different way of playing. They will get better."
James McGarry (20 minutes), Mark Natta (12) and Rory Jordan (12) made their debut of the bench but Reno Piscopo didn't play.
"Reno has a slight knock," Papas said. "I know it was an important game, but he is a crucial part of what we are doing here. The high performance staff decided today was not the right day for him."
The Jets could welcome two more players this week, with Perth Glory duo Callum Timmins and Daniel Stynes linked to a move to the Hunter. Timmins, 23, was in the A-League All Stars side that took on Barcelona in May.
Papas had put a high focus on the Australia Cup and will now activate plan-B in terms of preparation for the A-League, starting with a friendly against Northern NSW club Weston next weekend.
Hiro-ic effort! 🤯🚲@HiroshiIbusuki on his wrong side somehow finds the net.
— Australia Cup (@AustraliaCup) July 30, 2022
🎥: @10FootballAU
#AustraliaCup #MagicOfTheCup #NEWvADL pic.twitter.com/D0GN7oecZv
"We had a plan if we continued in Australia Cup and we had a plan if we didn't continue," Papas said. "We will activate that straight away. It will give us an opportunity to focus on a lot of things that we saw tonight that will have to be a bit better come round one, and they will be.
"We will play local teams and A-League clubs. We need games. We need to integrate a lot of players.
"We definitely want to go on a camp. Ideally two camps."
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