Behind the media furore, newly appointed Adelaide United coach Michael Valkanis has been working quietly and fastidiously to keep his team as competitive as possible.

Already, the former assistant coach has upped the number of training sessions and has told his team he’s not there to be soft.

“I don’t like to praise hard work,” he told Neos Kosmos.

“I think it’s a prerequisite of being a footballer. So there’s a certain intensity that I look for in every training session and I really tend to focus on how we can improve the team each week so they can get better,” he says.

It’s been a confusing and erratic couple of weeks for Adelaide United, with head coach John Kosmina resigning citing trust issues.

He left two weeks ago without saying a word to the team he coached for two years, nor to his colleagues.

The club was left to pick up the pieces, obviously not expecting the coach to leave his season contract with nine games left.

Reports mentioned that negotiations to extend his contract had stalled, angering the coach.

Reports also accused Valkanis of trying to secure the top job behind his back, but they were quashed quickly by Valkanis.

“For me, I was always the assistant and the youth team coach and I really enjoyed that role,” he said.

“… I’ve never spoken to the club about the head coach’s role and the club never spoke to me. As assistant coach I did everything that he asked me to do and even more sometimes. I worked very hard at it.”

Valkanis played under Kosmina in the club’s early years and confirmed that the pair had a discussion after the Red’s 3-1 loss to Central Coast.

“I have great respect for Kossie and played under him and played good football under him and worked very hard,” Valkanis said.

Now the club has been left with a shortage of coaches, with only Valkanis and Peter Blazincic remaining.

“We’re pretty flat out,” he told Neos Kosmos.

“We need help and we need good experienced hands to help the club move forwards”.

The club has been desperately looking to find replacement coaches this week, but knows not to settle on a coach that doesn’t match the clubs ethics.

With Valkanis’ first week as head coach, the Reds faced a tough opponent. They lost 4-2 to the Western Sydney Wanderers and in their last meeting saw Adelaide embarrassingly lose 6-1.

“It was probably was the start of our decline in form and the way we were going,” Valkanis says about their previous meeting.

He is hopeful they can at least tighten the gap between the top four these week.

“The focus is on improving our game plan and getting it right. Sometimes that can’t be achieved overnight, we’re hoping with the work we’re doing and with the effort the players are putting in, something will change,” he says.

They also face second placed Melbourne Victory on Friday.