Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou is hoping the Roar’s upcoming break in the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League season will propel the men in orange back into form and off the foot of the ladder.
The Roar face Adelaide United this Friday, but then enjoy a two-week layoff before hosting Melbourne on November 21.
Postecoglou, having only been at the helm for two games since taking over from Frank Farina, was in no two minds when asked about the potential harms and/or benefits of the break on Wednesday.
“We need a break,” he said bluntly.
“We need to get a couple of players back and it will give me a good chance to work on some things in terms of our structure.”
“I am trying to get the players to play a different way and you can’t do that overnight, so it’ll be good for me to have two weeks on the training track with them.”
“The week off is going to do us a lot of good.”
The Roar are set to welcome back Brazilian striker Reinaldo on Friday night, but Charlie Miller (groin), Massimo Murdocca (broken leg), Michael Zullo (groin), Liam Reddy (quadriceps) and Henrique (medial ligament) all remain sidelined.
Postecoglou was confident the majority of his lame contingent would be fighting fit after the week off.
“We’ll have a full compliment of players with a bit of luck, and that is going to help us enormously.”
“Massimo’s just about ready to go and Henrique is not far off either.”
“They’re going to help enormously with the style of game I want to play, because they’re both very mobile, they’re both technically very good and they are both positive footballers.”
Postecoglou’s diagnosis of Miller was a little grimmer.
“He’s not even training yet. Until Charlie starts training, it’s going to be hard for me to assess where he’s at.”
“Also, the more games he misses, the longer it takes to get back … that’s a bit of an issue because we need Charlie out there and training with the lot.”
Postecoglou denied he was feeling any pressure to register his first win as an Hyundai A-League coach, and was adamant the game against the Reds was not a ‘must-win’.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about them (the players). It’s about the club.”
“There’s a lot at stake, but with 14 games to go, we’re certainly not at desperation stakes.”
“I don’t need a win, it’s just the club needs a win to get a bit of momentum going. Because once we do, we’re going to be hard to stop.”
