Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou has made it clear to his players that he won’t be content with finishing off the season quietly.
Brisbane Roar officially won the club-s first ever piece of silverware on Friday after second-placed Central Coast Mariners drew 1-all with Melbourne Heart in a rain-soaked encounter at AAMI Park.
With two matches left to play in the regular season, Postecoglou wanted his side to end their stellar campaign with a bang to demonstrate what he believed was a true reflection of their success.
“I-ve said all along, we-ve had such a good year that I want the table at the end of the year to reflect how good it has been,” he said.
“I said a while ago that we may have had enough points two or three weeks ago to have won it but we want to finish with a difference of two to three games because that-s been the difference all year.
“If we win it by a couple of points or just limp over the line, it will detract from how dominant we-ve been.
“We want to finish off well and with finals just around the corner, we want good form, we don-t want to be struggling.”
The Roar will be without midfield workhorse Massimo Murdocca and Costa Rican striker Jean Carlos Solorzano for the North Queensland clash, both players still on the comeback trail after picking up quad injuries last week.
Despite already sealing this season-s premiership, Postecoglou denied resting the two players for any other reasons other than recovery time, highlighting momentum as a key factor for his team heading into finals.
“I don-t think preservation is anything to do with us or what we-ve done this year,” he said.
“For us, it-s about continually extending ourselves and we are not going to change that, regardless of the stage of our season.
“We only know how to play one way – we like to attack, we like to play aggressive football and that won-t change in these last two games.”
Even without Murdocca and Solorzano, Brisbane will receive a massive boost with the return of influential leader Matt McKay back in the starting eleven for the first time since the Boxing Day blockbuster against Gold Coast United after a month away on Qantas Socceroos duty in the AFC Asian Cup.
In-form striker James Meyer is set to play a key role tomorrow night at Skilled Park and after zippy winger Henrique proved his fitness with an enthusiastic 45 minute stint in the National Youth League on the weekend, Postecoglou had no issues about the attacking abilities of his side.
“Obviously James Meyer can certainly play up front, he-s our first option and over the next two games, I expect Henrique to get more game time as well,” the Brisbane boss said.
“James has been great, he-s been fantastic and you can just see that with the goals he-s scored and the way he-s played, he-s a lot more confident.
“Even at training, he-s starting to take on a little bit more responsibility and it helps, confidence is a big thing for any sportsman.”
