Adelaide boss hits out at ground

Concert, AFLX ruin pitch

Adelaide United coach Marco Kurz was so upset with the state of the Hindmarsh pitch during the AFLX exhibition match on Thursday night he turned off his TV in disgust.

But Kurz would not let his emotions run wild at a media conference at the ground yesterday.

The pitch was riddled with divots and was missing large chunks of grass after a rock concert first killed the colouring of the pitch before the AFLX clash ruined the deck.

United are due to play Central Coast today and Kurz could delay striker Dzengis Cavusevic’s A-League debut due to the poor pitch and the Slovenian’s lack of match conditioning.

Kurz had announced Cavusevic and Mark Ochieng in an extended 18-man squad for the game.

“I think for a home game, please don’t make a big tournament from the AFL,’’ Kurz said.

“I watched on TV but turned it off after two seconds.

“The pitch looks not good. It’s much worse than for the last game (a 2-1 win over Perth Glory).

“But it’s the same pitch for both teams and we have no chance to make it better.

“I said to the players don’t think about the pitch, think about our football and the game plan for tomorrow.

“We cannot change the pitch for tomorrow. The quality for training was good and the focus was high and I feel the hunger from the boys.”

Kurz said both teams would have to change their tactics to suit the less-than-ideal deck.

“Be careful with a high focus in the passing,’’ Kurz said.

“Maybe I don’t think a pass will be safe. The ball can bounce a lot.

“It’s not our style always to play long balls sometimes, maybe tomorrow we need more long balls.

“But it’s also difficult for Central Coast technically.”

Despite stadium staff working frantically overnight to have the pitch presented in the best possible condition Kurz said he felt sorry for them.

He also welcomed the fortnight’s break, revealing Ersan Gulum (ankle), Jordan Elsey (concussion) and George Blackwood (knock) had overcome injuries.

“Johan Absalonsen (glute) he will train full with the team from next Tuesday,’’ Kurz said.

“The plan for Vinnie Lia (knee) [is] to train with the team from next Tuesday and Tarek Elirch (knee) looks good after training for two or three weeks with the team but he needs performance as well.

“The only boy that needs more time is Baba Diawara (thigh). He started running training but I don’t know how long he needs to come back to full training.”

Adelaide have had two straight victories and will be out to extend their streak against Paul Okon’s team.