Brisbane’s three-game losing streak has thrown the Australian football community into a frenzy, but Ange Postecoglou remains calm and collected, reminding all that his side have the title, are gunning for another and would not be perturbed by a few bad results.
The Roar’s poor recent form patch, hot on the heels of a record 36-game undefeated streak, has placed the club under a level of scrutiny not seen since Postecoglou first arrived in town and began cleaning house.
Then, as now, Postecoglou scoffed at the negative attention, showing steadfast belief in his club’s personnel, systems and capacity to improve and perform.
The Roar’s achievements since suggest he knows what he’s doing.
On the eve of Brisbane’s blockbuster with Central Coast at Suncorp Stadium, the reigning Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year remained nonplussed by the hype and hope of his outfit losing their stranglehold on the competition.
“I understand people will be trying to pull it apart at the moment and that’s fine, that’s the game we’re in,” Postecoglou said.
“You win, everyone’s pumping you up; you lose and everyone’s looking for reasons why. But it’s all irrelevant to me; I don’t care, I don’t buy into it and at the end of the day, it’s about what we do and how we’re playing.”
“Until someone taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘sorry, mate, your time’s up’, no one’s going to change my opinion of what I think makes a successful football club, and ultimately, I reckon the biggest measure out of everything is titles – we’ve got one and we’re after another.”
Postecoglou was not denying that his side had failed to live up to the standards that have had them labelled by many as Australia’s best ever club side, admitting that everyone was experiencing a heightened level of pressure.
“I understand that losses – accumulative losses, especially – test people out. It’s testing the players out, the coaches and the whole club, our supporters and the media,” Postecoglou said.
“You’re all being tested and I’m watching very closely to how everyone reacts to that pressure.”
“But from my point of view, we just keep doing what we’re doing. All along I’ve been saying that for us it’s about performance and not results, so if I start changing that just because we’ve lost a couple of games, everything I’ve said in the past would have a real false ring to it.”
“We’re just lacking some goals at the moment and that’s something we have to address. Once we start scoring again, which I think is not too far away, the results will come.”
“We will try to win every game of football we play and we’ll try to win it our way – that isn’t going to change.”
“If we go out tomorrow night and play our game, our usual game, and dominate the opposition and take the game to them, I’ll be satisfied, no matter the outcome.”
