Isaias not worried by Victory furore says McGowan

The storm that surrounded Adelaide United star Isaias after the first-round game against Melbourne Victory has been "like water off a duck's back" for the controversial Spaniard.

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Isaias collapsed after Victory captain Leigh Broxham's arm connected with the back of his head in an aerial contest. Referee Peter Green issued Broxham with a second yellow and therefore a red card.

Immediately after the game, Victory coach Kevin Muscat was critical of Isaias and said "the player he (Broxham)  is competing against in every challenge always hits the deck."

That was just the start of the criticism of Isaias, with some commentators and media getting stuck into him for what has been described as a history of exaggerating the effects of contact.

The publicity might have put a less experienced player at risk of becoming distracted, but Adelaide central defender Dylan McGowan said the drama had not upset Isaias and that the midfielder was preparing as normal for Friday night's home game against Western Sydney Wanderers. 

"He's an experienced player and he's been about a bit," McGowan said.

"I don't think he had read or heard a lot of the criticism over the weekend, but he was certainly made aware of it on Monday. But it's water off a duck's back for him.

"He's a competitive guy and a warrior for us. We enjoy playing with him and I wouldn't have him any other way.

"I travel with him to training and on our way in on Monday I gave him the heads up that he had copped a bit of a spray in a few of the media outlets.

"The only point he wanted to make was that he didn't know it was Broxham, he couldn't see him coming, so his reaction wasn't intentional to get him sent off. It was to win a foul and he did that and at the end of the day it was the referee's decision to send off Broxham.

"Had it been Broxham's first yellow, I don't think a lot would have been made of it.

"But it's one of those difficult things. It's obviously been brought up in the media, but we've got no doubt about how Isaias will bounce back.

"He's an experienced guy, he's played a lot of games in Spain, so he'll be fine. He's not bothered by it. He was just having a bit of a laugh about it, explaining his reasons behind it, and I think everyone can see that.

"At the end of the day the decision was out of his hands and the referee made it. It's an obvious thing to look at the players, but if it's the wrong decision then the referee has got to be looked at as well."

McGowan said Wanderers would come with plenty of attacking threats who got into position to score numerous times against Brisbane Roar last week but ended up losing 3-1.

"The new Italian up front (Federico Piovaccari), Mitch Nichols, Dario Vidosic, all these guys who are new to the team," he said.

"A lot of the boys at our club know Dario well from when he played here and say he's a great talent, he's a good two-footed player who can finish, and he'll certainly be on our radar come Friday night.

"Nichols as well, he was good against Brisbane. I think as defenders we have to worry about all of them, there is always someone who is going to give us a problem, so we'll definitely be on our toes.

"We've worked on it during the week, trying to shut down attacking spaces for these players. Hopefully it works for us on Friday night."

McGowan said young Adelaide goalkeeper John Hall, who will continue to deputise for the injured Eugene Galekovic, got a lot of benefit from the role he played in the 0-0 draw with Victory.

Galekovic looks likely to miss the next six weeks with a troublesome knee injury.

"We've got full confidence in him, but at the back we've got to make sure we protect him," McGowan said.

"It's always difficult getting used to players you haven't played with before, but he's a great young guy and most importantly he's a good listener.

"If you ask him to do something, he'll do it to the best of his ability. Against Victory he was full of confidence and that bodes well for us moving on into the season."