Adelaide United defender Nigel Boogaard says he and his teammates are now prepared “to die for each other” as the honeymoon period under new coach John Kosmina continued on Wednesday with an emphatic 3-1 win over high-flying Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park.
Adelaide United defender Nigel Boogaard says he and his teammates are now prepared “to die for each other” as the honeymoon period under new coach John Kosmina continued on Wednesday with an emphatic 3-1 win over high-flying Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park.
Since Kosmina replaced Rini Coolen last month, the Reds have gone undefeated with two wins and a draw and they now provisionally find themselves in the top six after languishing near the foot of the ladder for much of the season.
And Boogaard believes the simplified approach that Kosmina has brought to Adelaide’s game plan has been integral to the rejuvenated mentality amongst the players.
“We’ve gone back to basics, we all know our roles and I think that’s key,” Boogaard said post-match.
“We believe in the game plan and are willing to go out there and die for each other at the moment.”
“And we stick to that game plan and as you saw today we got a result.”
The Heart dominated proceedings in the first 15 minutes of the match and Boogaard admitted that his team probably would have crumbled under that kind of pressure a few weeks ago rather than respond in the manner that they did.
“After two results we’ve had in the past two weeks, confidence has obviously turned around and you know if you stick to the game plan, the results will come and we’ll score goals and hopefully we won’t concede too many,” Boogaard said.
“Four or five weeks ago maybe we might have crumbled but the boys have got the confidence now to go on with games and really get a result.”
Another motivating force for Adelaide players is that they all now have to prove themselves again under Kosmina, according to Boogaard.
“Kossy’s come in with his ideas and all the boys jumped on board,” Boogaard said.
“The pleasing thing is now the boys all know their roles 100 percent and we stick to a game plan.”
But Boogaard insisted his team had a lot of improving to do despite the purple patch they are currently enjoying.
“By no means are we standing on our laurels, I know personally individually I’ve got a lot to work on and so do a lot of the boys so we know we can get better,” he said.
Kosmina quipped it was nice to ‘lose my virginity’ at Melbourne’s newest stadium and said he wasn’t surprised at how effectively his players have been carrying out his instructions in the past three matches.
“For me it’s about process so we give them ideas about how to go about their business but when the players go out there, they’re the ones that are in control of their own destiny,” Kosmina said.
“To be able to get your ideas across as easily as it’s worked out so far, for me, has been a joy and they take stuff on board, you know? They’re willing to learn.”
Meanwhile, Bruce Djite is in doubt to line up against Brisbane Roar on Saturday after he was subbed off in the 67th minute with an unspecified injury.
Kosmina praised the striker who played through pain to figure prominently in setting up the win.
“We’ll see how Bruce goes,” Kosmina said.
“Bruce has had niggles for a number of weeks now, he’s not like the six-million-dollar man because we don’t have to rebuild him, but we just need to maintain him.”
“Bruce’s attitude has been fantastic, he gets the extra treatment he needs, he looks after himself.”
“He was struggling at half-time and he went out and played with pain in the second half but he did a good job.”
