Gertjan Verbeek is starting to plant the seeds of his footballing philosophy at Adelaide United, and Mirko Boland can’t wait until the Dutchman’s plan comes into fruition.
Verbeek has promised attacking football in the mould of two of Europe’s most storied club sides, Ajax and Barcelona, as the blueprint for life in the City of Churches.
And although the 56-year-old has only had a matter of weeks with his charges on the training pitch, German midfielder Boland is enjoying the possession-based ideals of the new Adelaide boss.
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“I like his style of football,” Boland told the club’s official website. “He likes to keep the ball, to go more into possession and the ball for him is the best friend.
“We want to have the ball a lot of the time and that’s what I like and I’m looking forward to that.”
Boland – who joined Adelaide in July 2018 – has been along admirer of Verbeek’s work.
The 32-year-old came up against Verbeek’s Bochum and Nurnberg sides in Germany when he was on the books of former club Eintracht Braunschweig, for whom he gave nearly a decade of service.
“Every time it was hard to play against him because his teams have a really good style of football. It was difficult to play against them,” Boland said.
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