Liam Reddy has hailed Tony Popovic as the best coach that he’s worked under during his 19-year senior career.
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Before being reunited here in the West, the two men worked together at Sydney FC and then at Western Sydney Wanderers who will provide the opposition for Glory this weekend.
And Reddy is unequivocal in his praise of Popovic’s management style.
“With Tony coming in,” he said, “he’s brought a level of professionalism that he expects and the boys have all embraced that.
“I had him for a short stint at Wanderers and also had him as an assistant coach at Sydney FC and he’s definitely the best coach that I’ve had.
“That’s not a pop at any other coaches I’ve had, but he’s definitely got the best out of me in terms of my performance and more so what it is to be a professional off the field too.
“That’s a big difference that I’ve noticed in terms of me and also with the squad this year. A lot of players are at levels they haven’t been at before.
“He’s just got a way of doing it and if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it, but you won’t be involved.
“The good thing is that every player has embraced that. That’s why he’s a good coach.”
In terms of Sunday’s game, meanwhile, Glory will be out shore up top spot by securing what would be their seventh away win of the season, but their first away at Western Sydney since 2015.
Not that Reddy is underestimating the hosts who come into the game off the back of consecutive wins over Central Coast and Adelaide and have not lost at home to the WA side since 2015.
“We know there’s still a lot of work to be done and it starts again this week with Western Sydney,” he said.
“They’ve given us some problems this season, so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
“They’re dangerous going forward. They have the likes of [Roly] Bonevacia and [Oriol] Riera and have just signed Mitch Duke and we saw when they came here that they scored three goals against us. So they are dangerous and we’ll need to be at our best to get the three points.”
#OneGlory
