Throughout his football career, whether it as a coach or a player, John Kosmina has never been one to quit or give up the fight, and he is not about to start now.
Throughout his football career, whether it as a coach or a player, John Kosmina has never been one to quit or give up the fight, and he is not about to start now.
Despite the Reds- current predicament, which has them seven points out of the top six with five games remaining, Kosmina refuses to concede that the season is done and dusted while the possibility of a finals spot is still alive.
“There are 15 (points) available and 15 would be ideal and that-s the target you set,” Kosmina said.
“And if we don-t get a result next week then we-ll look at 12. After 12 I think we-re going to struggle.”
As has become somewhat common over the past month, the Reds- troubles in finding the back of the net again haunted them against Sydney on Sunday. While there is an element of luck (or unluckiness) involved, Kosmina is not shying away from the efficiency and ruthlessness in front of goal being an area that needs real improvement.
“We were very unlucky but it comes down to taking chances as well,” Kosmina said.
“We didn-t finish when we had good opportunities but having said that, we changed shape, I think that worked quite well in terms of pressing and protecting our defence a bit more and getting some more width that we-ve lacked in weeks gone by.”
“We got a lot of balls into the box and we created a lot of good opportunities so from that perspective it was a good solid performance.”
However, from where the squad that he inherited has come from since early in the season in regards to the players- mentality and other areas of their game, the former Socceroos captain believes they have along in leaps and bounds. This improvement, he believes, can only help the squad going forward.
An open and honest Kosmina reinforced the importance on reiterating the good things rather than get bogged down by the negatives.
“It-s always frustration when you don-t win and you make so many chances and that-s been the story of the last six to seven weeks to be really honest about the whole thing,” Kosmina said.
“But there is a lot of heart, you-ve got to take the positives out of it. The effort that they showed, when you think that it was their third game in a week, it was a phenomenal effort and you look at what their fitness levels are now as to what they were before Christmas, and they-re far better off and far better positioned to get some positive outcomes.”
