Valkanis blasts insipid Adelaide

2 March 2013 13:48

Adelaide United caretaker coach Michael Valkanis blasted his team's 'stupid errors' in Saturday's 1-0 loss to Brisbane Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium.

An enraged Valkanis screamed himself hoarse from the sidelines while watching the Reds do their best to make life easier for the visitors, who were dominant for most of the contest but could not put Adelaide away until the 81st minute.

"We didn't turn up," Valkanis said.

"We didn't play the football we want to play.

"There were too many stupid errors, too many turnovers, going backwards when we should have gone forwards, and even the goal was comical with two players (Osama Malik and Iain Ramsay) crashing into each other.

"It was poor. It looked like we wanted to score for them in the first half.

"We were waiting for a (Brisbane) goal ... we wanted to concede."

Valkanis was at a loss to comprehend how United could play with such little desperation or smarts when so much was at stake.

He also took a jab at the Reds' mental toughness.

"I can't understand their mentality," he said.

"It's something we have to work on and have to fix.

"To me it seems like it's mental because there are days where they can turn it on and play good football and there are days like today where they didn't turn up.

"It was a complete difference from the week before (a 2-2 draw against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium).

"We have to find that consistency quickly. We have to find the players that will stick to the game-plan … that will stick to the things we're working on and consistently do it.

"It has to become habit. We will force it to become habit and keep working on it."

Saved by several Brisbane near-misses, Adelaide somehow went into the interval level at 0-0.

Star Roar striker Besart Berisha uncharacteristically missed a penalty early in the second half, which appeared to kick into action the reprieved Reds, who played their best 20 or so minutes of the afternoon immediately afterwards.

But the revival didn't last.

"They (players) got back on the ball," Valkanis said, reflecting on United's brief spell of ascendancy.

"They started to go forwards, started believing in themselves.

"If things are going well, these boys can play unbelievably.

"But it can change like that. This game reminded me a bit of the Sydney game in the first half - like we were going through the motions," he said, referring to a 2-1 loss a fortnight ago at Allianz Stadium.

"We didn't even try to keep the ball - we were trying to turn it over.

"We were giving it away for no reason.

"When we got stuck, we didn't find solutions."