Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou and skipper Matt McKay have insisted goals will flow if the team continues with their on-field flair and intensity, backing tomorrow night’s match against Melbourne Heart as the best time to start their goal scoring run.
Postecoglou said he wasn-t worried about the lack of goals, given the style of play the squad has adapted to enormously well in the past few weeks.
“It-s still about performances for me, but obviously we-d like to score goals,” he said.
“I think if we weren-t creating chances and playing a defensive style of game, we-d have to address that but I think we-re getting into forward areas really well.
“I think there is a bit of a misconception that we don-t take shots on goal but the fact that we get a lot of shots on target shows we get pretty close.
“I-m not overly concerned because I know the style of game we play will produce goals.”
Brisbane will welcome back Luke DeVere and Mitch Nichols into the squad after a week away with Qantas Olyroos duty, but will be without striker Jean Carlo Solorzano after he failed to recover from a quad strain during the week.
Even at this early stage in the season, Postecoglou has already witnessed promising signs of team development in his players at every game which he says will be important given the minor injury setbacks Brisbane may face over the campaign.
“I-m happy with the progression with the team every week and the way they react to challenges.
“Last week at least we reacted well after going a goal down, which we hadn-t done the week before, which I guess is the kind of things you look for in improvement.
“We-re still not playing up to what I think we can but it would be unrealistic for me or anyone to think that we are, because we-re basically a new side as well.”
Brisbane captain Matt McKay agreed with his coach-s comments, saying the Roar boys were comfortable with each of their roles within the team and there was no room for error heading into Saturday night-s game.
“We have a good bunch of lads here, we-ve gelled and the proof is in the results from now on,” he said.
“We-ve got no excuses, every week we should be getting three points.
“We-ve got that winning philosophy now and that winning attitude we-re hoping it will follow through for the rest of the season.”
Melbourne Heart have only kept one clean sheet to their name this season, and despite Brisbane-s low goal tally, McKay said the Brisbane strikers had been impressive at training and predicted that his teammates would find their goal-scoring form soon.
“They-re working very hard,” he said. “Our defence starts from the front and they-ve shown that in the last six weeks.
“We-ll continue on with the effort from them, and the goals will come.
“The finishing at training has been good and that will show in games soon enough.”
When asked if he-d done his homework on tomorrow-s opponents, McKay said the Heart had shown in their recent outings that Brisbane would have to be on their toes right from the opening whistle.
“They-ve got some extremely experienced players and that-s hard to find, the type of experience they-ve got,” he said.
“Right from their goalkeeper Clint Bolton, right through to John Aloisi out the front.
“We-ll try and exploit some of the weaknesses we think they have, but we-ll have to wait and see how it unfolds on the day.”
Hopeful of extending their unbeaten run at home to five goals, McKay said the squad had worked on fixing last week-s errors in training and was confident the team could continue the momentum onto the field at Suncorp Stadium.
“We-ve got to defend right from the start and keep that intensity right from the start because we didn-t do that last week but we-ve worked on it this week.
“The beauty of this game is having an opportunity every week to make up for your mistakes the week before.
“We want to keep a clean sheet, which we haven-t done in the past two games, and the more goals the better.”
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Brisbane Roar vs. Melbourne Heart
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Local Kick-Off: 5:15pm
Referee: Chris Boyle
Assistant referees: Denis Silk & Nathan Macdonald
Fourth official: Alan Milliner
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 3, FS3 HD and delayed on Sky Sport 3 (NZ).
Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Matt SMITH, 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Shane STEFANUTTO, 6.Erik PAARTALU, 7.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 8.Massimo MURDOCCA, 9.Jean Carlos SOLORZANO, 11.REINALDO, 12.Matt MUNDY, 14.Rocky VICSCONTE, 15.Matt McKAY (c), 17.Mitch NICHOLS, 21.James MEYER, 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Milan SUSAK, 30.Matt ACTON (gk)
*two to be omitted*
In: 3. Luke DEVERE (returns from international duty), 17. Mitch NICHOLS (returns from international duty)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: 5. Ivan FRANJIC (quad strain – 1 weeks), 10. HENRIQUE (broken arm – indefinite)
Melbourne Heart FC squad: 1.Clint BOLTON (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 4.Simon COLOSIMO (c), 6.Matt THOMPSON, 7.Rutger WORM, 9.Gerald SIBON, 10.Wayne SRHOJ, 11.ALEX TERRA, 12.Peter ZOIS (gk), 14.Kamal IBRAHIM,15.John ALOISI, 18.Ante TOMIC, 20.Josip SKOKO, 21.Kliment TASESKI, 22.Nick KALMAR, 23.Dean HEFFERNAN, 24.Aziz BEHICH, 25.Adrian ZAHRA
*Three to be omitted*
In: 18.Ante TOMIC (promoted), 14.Kamal IBRAHIM (promoted), 21.Kliment TASESKI (promoted), 24.Aziz BEHICH (promoted), 25.Adrian ZAHRA (promoted)
Out: 3. Brendan HAMILL (International Duty), 19.Eli BABALJ (International Duty),
Unavailable: Kristian SARKIES (Leg – Indefinite), Michael BEAUCHAMP (Suspension – 1 week), Jason HOFFMAN (International Duty)
Head-to-Head: No previous meetings
