Australia went to the tournament in the UAE as defending champions, but were knocked out by the hosts at the quarter-final stage.

Arnold copped heavy criticism for the early exit, but Ikonomidis believes the Socceroos have a lot of potential with the coach at the helm.

"It's the start of a really exciting era under Arnie with the Socceroos, he brought in some great talent," the Perth Glory forward told FTBL.

"There's so much potential and we're going to get so much better as a group. The time the next qualifiers and the next things come around we're going to see a really exciting attacking brand of football that will put fear into countries when we come up against them.

"It's always as a player about working with top-quality people. I'm fortunate enough now to have two coaches, one at the my club and one with the national team, that are top quality and get the best out of me.

"I just found the system and the attacking style of play with Arnie in the Socceroos, I just thrive on that sort of attacking football. It was a bonus for me."

Ikonomidis was one of the standouts of Australia's Asian Cup campaign, scoring a goal and playing in every game as he made the left wing position his own.

The 23-year-old, who made his international debut under Ange Postecoglou against Macedonia in 2015, remembers his time at the tournament fondly.

"I look back at is as a positive month for me and also as a positive month for the team," he said.

"It's something special to play in your first major tournament and to feature as much as I did was fantastic for me. My family was very proud, everyone back at Perth Glory made me feel really, really nice about the month I had.

"I look back at the Asian Cup with fond memories and a really nice step for my career."