Bouzanis made a return last week in their 3-0 away loss to Sydney FC last week and Valkanis opted to use him again in last night’s 1-0 win over Adelaide United.

He was available two weeks ago in the game against Western Sydney Wanderers, but did not play after serving a five-week suspension for a foul-mouthed “gypsy” slur on Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha in February’s derby.

He has has also been singled out by Central Coast Mariners coach Paul Okon and Brisbane Roar boss John Aloisi for his poor behaviour on the pitch.

Fans were scratching their heads when Bouzanis got picked over the EPL experienced Thomas Sorensen and eyebrows were again raised on Friday night.

With his team was in cruise-control, the goalkeeper almost gifted a goal to the opposition in the 67th minute with a poor clearance. It was just one of several heart-in-mouth caused by the custodian.

But post-match Valkanis said:“I thought he had a good game, I know people panic with a mistake but that’s our style..

“We want the goalkeeper to play, to be an extra player and if he makes a mistake, we get on with it. That’s the style we want, I know people panic but it’s our belief, our philosophy.”

Valkanis acknowledged he could make better decisions.

“We’ll work on his decision-making,” he said. “There was one pass he tried to play through, which no one would dare to play and probably at that point he should have played in a wider area.

“Sometimes when he plays vertical passes into midfield, it goes unnoticed… but not by us.”

 


 

 

Valkanis also praised Tim Cahill’s trademark header goal which decided the game in the first half.

“I thought he was exceptional, he did a very good job for us,” he said.

“His performance on the pitch, his workmanlike attitude, his pressing and work rate off the ball to midfield, create an extra player and slow down the tempo when it was needed.

“His body is in great shape. It helped a lot during that period where we did rest him a little bit. We made sure that he did a certain amount of training and we were protecting him with the amount of load at training. He’s looking really good.

“He copped a knock on the shin but he was just a warrior. He just kept going, you know what Timmy’s like. I thought his goal was exceptional and his performance was very good.”