Young midfielder Nathan Konstandopoulos has credited Adelaide United boss Marco Kurz for his emergence as a key player for the Reds in the Hyundai A-League this season.
The 21-year-old has played 13 games so far in the 2017/18 Season, making seven starts in the Reds’ star-studded midfield.
His composure and work-rate has been a real feature of his play, while he capped a strong start to the campaign with his first career goal in the 3-0 win over Perth Glory on Friday night.
And the youngster paid tribute to Adelaide’s German tactician for his string of fine displays.
“The boss has said that he has got confidence in me and I repay his confidence by working hard and giving everything in each game,” Konstandopoulos said.
“He’s been really good to me, he talks to me all the time and tells me what I need to improve on, so he’s been really good, the boss is great.
“If you make a mistake he’ll obviously pull you aside and say what you can do better and how you can improve.
“And then he’ll give you the confidence to go again and he said to me make plenty of mistakes have confidence in yourself and I think he’s really good in that regard.”
The next challenge for Konstandopoulos, who recently signed a two-year contract extension with the club, is maintaining his form as the Reds look to consolidate a top six berth.
And they’ll get a stern test of those finals credentials on Wednesday night with a tricky trip to ANZ Stadium to play the resurgent Western Sydney Wanderers.
Adelaide are currently in fourth spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder, three ahead of the Wanderers in sixth.
“The mood is good in the change room at the moment,” Konstandopoulos said.
“We recognise how close the league is at the moment, we know that a good result can put us further up the table.
“But I think we are just focusing on ourselves, we are listening to the boss on what he has to say and listening to the structures for this week and we’ll go from there.
“We know that Josep [Gombau] has a very well structured team, he like to play a certain style. And we know that we are in for a tough game every time we play his teams.”
