Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg says he is happy to have the grudge match with Brisbane behind him and is now looking forward to the rest of the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League season.
Much of the pre-season hype was centered around Bleiberg’s return to Suncorp Stadium, but after defeating the team he once coached he can now concentrate on the next challenge – North Queensland.
“To say it was a huge relief (to beat the Roar) would be an understatement,” Bleiberg said.
“It was a huge game for both teams but now we have that out of our system the league starts now.”
“Lucky for us, we are starting the season on three points.”
After treating the local derby like a stand alone match, Bleiberg now shifts his focus to the competition’s other new club.
Since receiving Hyundai A-League licenses in October 2008 both clubs have gone about their business in contrasting fashions, while United has been at the media forefront the Fury have taken a more low-key approach.
“It’s a challenge for myself and for Fury coach Ian Ferguson,” Bleiberg said.
“We both started about 10 months ago with a blank sheet so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.”
The former Israeli Army officer went on to make comparisons between the franchises and their key personnel.
“I am an experienced coach and Ferguson is a rookie coach, but with a rookie coach comes fresh ideas.”
“We chose a marquee player who is a Qantas Socceroo (Jason Culina), they chose a marquee player from the EPL (Robbie Fowler).”
While there is no doubt Fowler would be the Fury’s go-to man, Bleiberg offered an alternative analogy for stopping the former Liverpool striker.
“We are not putting the emphasis on Fowler; we will put the emphasis on his supply lines,” he said.
“In the army if you don’t feed the soldiers they will starve, it doesn’t matter how good they are, if you do not feed them they will not fight for you.”
“If they want to supply him ball through the air we have the aerial power to stop it, if they want to supply the ball on the ground we will make sure those who are supposed to do the job are unable to supply him.”
“We will starve him of the ball and that’s it.”
Meanwhile, Adelaide United signings Inseob Shin and Mark Rudan will be able to take on Sydney FC this weekend after both that Football Federation Australia had officially received International Transfer Certificates for the duo.
