Marco Kurz admitted he was disappointed with the reaction from his players after falling behind against Newcastle Jets just after half-time at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.
Adelaide United suffered their third straight loss of the season following a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle in the Remembrance Round clash.
Kurz revealed he was delighted with the way his team started proceedings after dominating the opening 35 minutes.
The Jets struggled to get out of their half and Nikola Mileusnic deservedly gave Adelaide the lead with a clinical finish in the 24th minute.
“The start today was very good,” Kurz explained in the post-game press conference.
“I think the first thirty-five minutes we had the control of the game and we created a couple of chances.
“And today we finished and we scored, that was positive.
“But then Newcastle made more pressure and in these moments we dropped too far back.
“And again after a set-piece we gave the opponent a chance to score.”
The boss is open book following our match tonight. #ADLvNEW #RemembranceRound #AUFC #ForeverUnited pic.twitter.com/CVMWIzQ8Zv
— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) November 11, 2017
Ernie Merrick’s men equalised on the stroke of half-time through Ben Kantarovski off a short corner routine.
And the visitors grabbed the advantage when Andrew Nabbout intercepted an errant back pass to easily score into an empty net.
Despite the mistake, Kurz was more incensed about the lack of a response and inability from his players to remain structured across the field.
“… I was not angry about the mistake, I was angry about the ten minutes after the mistake,” he said.
“Because we lost the complete discipline out of our positions and that cannot happen.
“I said to the players, ‘what if we got a penalty and it’s not a penalty and then we stopped playing?’
“We have forty-five minutes plus overtime to score a goal or to get a draw or to win and that’s for me the biggest error today.
“In the last fifteen, twenty minutes we had chances but no luck … We are not happy with the result.”
Congratulations to our Captain, @isaias_sc8, who has been voted the Stillwell Hyundai Player of the Match for Round 6 by our #AUFC members. pic.twitter.com/0aDOSFgFgo
— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) November 12, 2017
Adelaide must now turn their attention to the match against Central Coast Mariners on Thursday night.
Kurz said he and the coaching staff will closely analyse the Jets’ match in order to improve their performance against the Gosford-based club.
“We are professional players and we start again, every game is the same as when we win games,” he said.
“… I think it’s our job to analyse the game (thoroughly against Newcastle) to learn in Central Coast and be better.
“When we travel to Central Coast we want to win, we play for three points and I hope we play better and we have a chance for the points.”
Adelaide United will face Central Coast Mariners in Round 7 of the Hyundai A-League 2017/18 season on Thursday, 16 November at Central Coast Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.20pm ACDT.
