Coach Marco Kurz has Reds on-song as Adelaide United connects with fans
THERE’S a fluency about Adelaide United, a rhythm and a tempo that say they are a well organised team under coach Marco Kurz — with the ball and without it. And this makes the Reds a good team to watch.
ADELAIDE United is good to watch … as it was last season.
There’s a fluency about the Reds, a rhythm and a tempo that say they are a well organised team, with the ball and without it.
Not for the first time, coach Marco Kurz mentioned structure and discipline in his post-match interview with Foxsports — they have been a hallmark of his tenure at United to date.
You can’t have structure without discipline.
The players all know their jobs (structure) and they stick to task (discipline) … it is what makes you hard to beat and is the difference between winning and losing.
Sydney has been able to open most teams up for the past two seasons. I say most because it hasn’t been able to do it to Adelaide since the arrival of Kurz last year.
All their matches have been close. Friday night was no different and at the end of the game a draw was a fair outcome, although it must be said Adelaide was the better performed in my humble opinion.
The Reds looked the most likely to get a win but Sydney, as it has done so well these past two seasons, survived a lot of pressure and created a goal when it didn’t look like it had one in it to salvage a point.
I tipped a Sydney win before the game. To be honest I haven’t seen a lot of either team in the pre-season.
The FFA Cup, as great a competition as it is, is not a fair indicator of form at this time of the year, although in the case of Adelaide, not conceding a goal in the run to the final says enough.
I saw the Reds play poorly against Queensland Lions but defend well and do enough to snatch a win, and against Bentleigh Greens in the semi-final, when they controlled the game from start to finish and should have scored six!
I saw Sydney against the Wanderers in the semi-final and thought, based on that performance, it had overcome the loss of key players and made the coaching transition from Graham Arnold to Steve Corica comfortably, but in hindsight the Wanderers, who I’ve tipped for the spoon this season, flattered it … hence my tip for Friday’s game.
I wrote last week that this was a big season for the game, and talked about supporters turning up and clubs On-s engaging local football communities. Based on what I saw Friday, Adelaide United’s new owners are doing just that.
One of my great football experiences was being involved with United at its very beginning. The feeling around the club, the atmosphere on matchday, the crowds … it was special. Over the years it’s waxed and waned and the community engagement has deteriorated but on Friday night I got the feeling things are on the improve again.
The club is making a big effort to go ‘back to the future’ with innovations like the IGA Family Park behind the southern stand. The new corporate super box at the southern end is a winner as well.
The Adelaide football community was well represented and that will go a long way to creating the ‘unity’ I talked about last week.