28-year-old Central Coast midfielder Adriano Pellegrino believes the culture instilled at the Mariners is a primary reason behind the club’s success on the park over the past few campaigns.
28-year-old Central Coast midfielder Adriano Pellegrino believes the culture at the Mariners is a primary reason behind the club-s success on the park over the past few campaigns.
Pellegrino played in the Mariners first round draw with Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday evening, and on Sunday said that he thinks that Graham Arnold has instilled a unique ethos among the playing group.
This culture, according to Pellegrino, has played an integral role in ensuring the men from Bluetongue Stadium have largely risen above the challenge of their opponents throughout the last few seasons.
“I-ve been at three A-League clubs now and I have to say hands down that my time here at the Mariners – the morale and the atmosphere around the Club – is the best I have ever been involved in,” Pellegrino said.
“I think that all starts from ‘Arnie- (Graham Arnold) and getting that culture around the team. It-s really hard to find that in a football club.”
“I think that-s been the main reason the boys have been successful over the last two or three seasons,” he said.
Pellegrino is in line to face one of his former Clubs in the form of Perth Glory when the purple-whites visit fortress Bluetongue on Sunday 14 October. Kick-off is 5pm.
And, with the game against Glory less than a week away, the former Adelaide City and Panachaiki midfielder said that the Mariners had taken much from their opening round draw.
“We took a lot of positives from our first game,” he said.
“We go out to win games and we set a plan to go out and take the three points. To give them (Wanderers) credit, they came out and running on adrenalin they made it difficult for us.”
The Mariners had the league-s best defence throughout the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League campaign. Notoriously tough to break down, especially at home, Pellegrino also shared his thoughts on his team-s last line of defence.
“Mat (Ryan) is phenomenal,” he said. “He-s a big talent. Seeing him in training day in and day out, you see just what he-s capable of and how well he uses his feet. It is an asset not many goalkeepers have.”
Central Coast Mariners vs. Perth Glory
Sunday 14 October, 2012 – Kick-off 5:00pm (local)
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium
Tickets: Please CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the match.
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter. The official match hashtag is #CCMvPG
