Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou is predicting lots of goals when his side takes on English giant Liverpool at the MCG on Wednesday night.
Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou is predicting lots of goals when his side takes on English giant Liverpool at the MCG on Wednesday night.
It might be merely a pre-season friendly for the two sides, but both coaches are set to play as many of their stars as possible and try and entertain the expected crowd of over 90,000 people.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has already said that Luis Suarez and Steven Gerard will feature, while Postecoglou has assured fans he will have his charges ready to show just how good the standard is in the A-League.
Archie Thompson, Mark Milligan and Mitch Nichols are away with the Socceroos at the East Asian Cup and Adama Traore is out injured, but Postecoglou said that won’t stop his side going out there to beat the 18-time English League champions.
“We want entertainment and we want goals so I would settle for a 4-3,” the Victory coach said on Tuesday.
“We have been going for four weeks so our boys are in good physical condition.
“It is going to be a massive test, but what a massive opportunity for them.”
Postecoglou said his players must stick to what they have learnt at training and not get overawed by the class of the Liverpool players.
“We have got to go out there to play football as that is what we work on,” he said.
“If we change tomorrow night the players wouldn’t believe what I have been telling them for the past 18 months.
“We can go out there tomorrow and play defensively and fight for our lives, but that doesn-t become meaningful.
“I would rather go out there and give it everything we have got and we might create one or two magic moments for ourselves and a couple of individuals out there.
“If we can play our style of football against a world class opponent, even if it is in moments I reckon that is a good sign for us and where we are heading.”
And Postecoglou has told his young squad that a strong performance against Liverpool could lead his players to bigger contracts with overseas clubs.
“I always tell them that you don’t know who is watching,” he said.
“They are always in the shop window.
“Tomorrow night is an opportunity for someone to create a magic moment for them that could change their life.”
