Caretaker Michael Valkanis says he’ll let the dust settle on a wasted A-League season before deciding whether to apply for Adelaide United’s vacant coaching job.
Valkanis’ tenure as Adelaide’s interim coach ended on Sunday with a 2-1 elimination final loss to Brisbane Roar.
Valkanis posted with two wins, four losses and four draws since taking charge when John Kosmina quit the club in late January.
The United stalwart refused to comment on his future plans after the defeat to Brisbane.
“Not now,” Valkanis said.
“We’re very disappointed with this result. We’ll let the dust settle.
“I think it’s all about the club today. The season is over, it’s not about individuals.”
Adelaide failed to capitalise on early season promise which Valkanis largely credited to the club’s Asian Champions League campaign.
The Reds were match fit and playing in Asia while other A-League clubs were in pre-season training.
“We started a lot earlier than all of the other A-League clubs … and that helped kick-start our A-League season, we were in front of a lot of teams,” Valkanis said.
But he said United unravelled from round 12, when they were thumped 6-1 by Western Sydney Wanderers.
“From round 12, that is when teams started overtaking us, we were losing a lot of games,” he said.
“We were inconsistent, even during games. We would only play in patches, not for longer periods.
“And probably towards the end (of the season) we had a lot of players that missed through injury or suspensions and we couldn’t quite keep a consistent 11 either.
“But I think from round 12 onwards, there was a problem.”
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I'm guessing it will be one of the two, though much depends on who else is looking for a gig and prepared to meet the AUFC budget.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Haha wow. I thought they played extremely well at the start of the season.
Ballymore
Guest
Did anyone else notice Vidosic's post-match stab at JK? Roughly goes like - "At the start of the season we played with no structure, full credit to the boys (emphasis added) for getting as far as we did".
Ballymore
Guest
Bullet.
pete4
Guest
Yep only 2 wins from the last 10 matches isn't much to go to the table with
Cameron
Roar Guru
One can only wonder how Adelaide may have gone with Kosmina actually given the backing of the board? Maybe they would have won more than two out, of their last 10.
Franko
Guest
The worst coach United has had. He must be the first part of the clean out. I would be happier with Mori if he had some A-League coaching experience, or better yet, some coaching overseas. Phil Stubbins is our best budget option (and it seems budget is key) But don't be surprised if they do something crazy like apoint Ross Aloisi. Is KG still calling for Malcolm Blight?