Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou admits that the better captain Matt McKay performs for the Socceroos at the Asian Cup, the more likely it is that an overseas club will move in for his services.
Speaking in the aftermath of Brisbane’s hard-earned 2-0 win over Wellington Phoenix on Australia Day, Postecoglou said that his midfield general has provided Australia with a much-needed spark but if interest in him rises, he is confident the Roar has the stock to cover his absence.
One such player who stepped up on Wednesday was James Meyer, who came off the bench to score the two goals that ultimately decided the contest.
“I know (McKay’s) got one eye on what’s happening here. It’s fantastic for our club to have someone represent us on the international stage like that,” Postecoglou said.
“You can just tell he’s playing with real enthusiasm and I think he’s added something to the Socceroo team, and something that needed to be added in terms of energy.”
When asked if he expected an offer to come in for McKay, Postecoglou said: “Probably, why not? I’d sign him. That’s a fact of life and the better we do, the more attention our players get and that’s fine. I’m totally comfortable with that, but the key is that we keep investing in our football department.”
“If we do, I’m confident we can continue on the way we’ve started. Letting players move on is not such a negative thing. They’re going onto bigger and better things and that’s an acknowledgement of the work we’re doing here.”
“We’ve had a small squad this year, only 20 players, we haven’t used many injury replacements and the key to all that was that we wanted everyone to make a contribution, and they have.”
“James (Meyer) has worked hard at training, played in the youth team, waited for his opportunity and now he’s got three goals in probably half an hour of football. That’s another very key ingredient to what we do.”
Postecoglou also paid tribute to not only his players, who put in a good shift against a stubborn Phoenix outfit that eventually was unable to contain the ladder leaders for the full 90 minutes, but to the 3500-odd fans in attendance who travelled down the M1 to watch Brisbane after flood damage to Suncorp Stadium.
“It was a night where perseverance was probably the key. It wasn’t an easy night with the way Wellington set up,” he said.
“They come here trying to stop us playing and they sat pretty deep, and with the pitch the way it is it was very hard to play any sort of fluent football.”
“We expected them to set up that way and on nights like that, you can get frustrated and sometimes lose a little bit of concentration at the back and give them a goal. We just stuck to our task and I think that’s a good test of our character. We won’t deviate from what we’re trying to do.”
“We had 3,500 people come down the highway. That’s just unbelievable to me. To come and support us and put their orange jerseys on, to me that’s inspirational and motivational enough.”
“So many people came down to watch their team play after a difficult couple of weeks that everyone in Brisbane and Queensland has had.”
