Elrich said he had been very sad to see Gombau leave because the coach had given him the most responsibility he had ever had as a player.
"Josep gave me a lot of confidence as player," Elrich said. "He saw things that other coaches didn't see in me, you know. In the past, I've had coaches tell me 'keep it simple' or 'keep it one or two touch', where he told me to push myself and run with the ball.
"He made me feel like I had a bit of responsibility when I played and that was great for my football.
"I think Adelaide has gone forward with the coaching style and playing style we've adopted in the last two years and the quality we've got in the squad made it easier to do that.
"The coach can bring his own style, but if you don't quite have the players to do what you want then it's not going to work out. Josep brought in a few new players and with the good players we already had in the squad and a bit of direction you saw how successful we were.
"Everyone picked up their game 10, 20 per cent and when we're 'on' I think not only do we play the best style of football in the A-League, but we can match it with the best.
"So with Josep going it wasn't going to be easy - not only is he a great coach, he's a great person as well - but Guillermo Amor was already here as his assistant and he has pretty much picked up where Josep left off.
"We're continuing to do what we were doing, with a few tweaks here and there. We'll pretty much play the same style, but Guillermo will add his influence to it and hopefully that gets us to the grand final this season."
A one-on-one meeting with Amor convinced Elrich he would continue to improve as a footballer under the new coach.
"We've all had meetings with Guillermo and he has said nothing will change," Elrich said. "We'll still be playing the style we played last season and in the meeting with me he said he was happy with the way I was playing and he wanted that to continue the same way for him.
"He was happy with me at left back. He did ask me that - if I was happy playing there - and I said 'look, I'm a natural right-footer and sometimes I've make mistakes using the wrong technique in trying to control the ball with my right when it should be with my left, but I enjoy playing there'.
"I get to cut in on my right foot, but I'm comfortable on my left as well, so it's good to have that extra dynamic, I think."
Adelaide, the FFA Cup winner from last season, will face Sydney FC in a round of 16 match in that competition at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday, 26 August.
Last season, the two teams played against each other five times - three in the regular season of the A-League, once in the finals and once in the FFA Cup.
Sydney's 4-1 win over Adelaide in the A-League semi-final was for a place in the grand final, which the Sky Blues lost 3-0 to Melbourne Victory.
"It will be a good test for us," Elrich said. "They beat us to get to the grand final, but I don't think the 4-1 score did us justice. We missed some chances in periods of the game where we were on top and could have been in front, but it was just one of those days.
"We just couldn't convert and when we pushed numbers forward to try to get level they went up the other end and got the goals."
Elrich is working hard to keep his place in the Socceroos squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying games against Bangladesh In Perth on 3 September and away to Tajikistan five days later.
"Now that I've had a taste of it, I want to be involved more and more," Elrich said. "I've been training very hard at Adelaide and played some good pre-season games against Manchester City and Liverpool.
"I've been getting as much game-time as I can and giving myself every chance of being selected for Australia. If I didn't make the squad I'd be very disappointed, because I've worked ever so hard to get there. I'm doing everything I can to get picked again."
