Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg was left frustrated by his side’s continual lack of both luck and composure after a late Melbourne Victory goal saw them condemned to a 3-2 loss at AAMI Park on Sunday.
Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg was left frustrated by his side’s continual lack of both luck and composure after a late Melbourne Victory goal saw them condemned to a 3-2 loss at AAMI Park on Sunday.
Gold Coast had pulled back a 2-0 deficit to 2-2 shortly after the half and had a man advantage after Rody Vargas’s first half send off but were unable to go on a claim the win thanks largely to what Bleiberg said was a unthinking desire for certain players to try and win the game off their own boot.
“I hate when there is no discipline in football when everybody thinks that he is the one who is going to save the country,” he said in reference to Victory’s winning goal 11 minutes from time.
“In the end, instead of having three or four people down back, which was the game plan, everybody went up to try to score the winning goal,” he said.
“We had the game, we were 2-0 down and we got a penalty, 2-1, then got to 2-2 two minutes into the second half and everything was looking good.”
“We had full control of the game and I told the boys, the only danger is a fast break combination between Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez and that’s what happened.”
The Gold Coast coach was also left unhappy by the attacking decisions of some of his strikers late in the game.
“You have all the freedom to go forward and you see people like Maceo Rigters and Dylan Macallister start to score goals from 40 metres. What for!” he said.
“Everybody wants to be the hero and save the country.”
“I’m not blaming them, they are a good bunch of boys and they try hard, but sometime emotion take over the brain.”
Gold Coast have scored in all but one of their matches this year, giving an indication that while they are bottom of the table, they are a side who can play entertaining football.
But the coach said the value of that is limited and the team needed to discover some resilience, having conceded 16 goals in eight games.
“Every week we are part of a good show. Every time they show highlights of a team who is playing well, I always see the white and yellow shirts and while it’s enjoyable to watch, all the time we are on the receiving end,” he said.
“That’s why we are on the bottom of the ladder. Something is not good enough about Gold Coast United and [this] was the proof.”
“One day well we will turn the corner, because on the ladder we are far behind everybody but I don’t think football wise, everybody has to give their best to beat us.”
He felt Sunday’s match was massive missed opportunity.
“When you are on the bottom of the ladder, and you get the chance to turn the corner it is like the promised land, you are close but you are not there,” he said.
