Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes a sense of the occasion got to some of his players in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory.
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes a sense of the occasion got to some of his players in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory.
The Reds held the lead for four minutes at Etihad Stadium through a Dario Vidosic penalty, with Mark Milligan restoring parity soon after.
Marco Rojas’ 67th-minute strike handed Victory their first win of the season, and Kosmina said his side had to improve their cutting edge if they wished to win high-profile matches like those against their traditional rivals.
“People have to want to win. Jeronimo (Neumann) makes a great run (in the second half), gets behind and we’ve got two blokes standing on the edge of the box getting a sun tan instead of busting their arse to get on the line and tap it into the net,” he told reporters.
“You’ve got to be hungry to win, and that’s one thing we’ve got to learn. We play some nice football, knock the ball around … very pretty.
“But you’ve still got to have that little bit of hunger. Winners make those hard runs, even when they’re tired.”
Kosmina singled out the performances of two of his players, describing central defender Antony Golec as ‘outstanding’ and saying defensive midfielder Osama Malik was a prospect for the Australia national team.
He was equally forthcoming on the showings of several of his other players, though maintaining his belief in his squad.
“A lot of those players, if they have played here before, it hasn’t been very often,” he said.
“Certainly for Fabio (Ferreira), I think the lights were too bright for him.
“Jeronimo wasn-t quite as sharp as he was last week. There was a couple of guys that got a little bit rattled, and even Bowlesy (Daniel Bowles) had a couple of really bad touches in the first half, but come really good in the second
“I’ve got faith in all the players that we can go on with the job, so for tonight, for them, it’s a real big learning experience.”
