The Brisbane Roar equalled the Hyundai A-League record of 13 games undefeated with a well-deserved 3-2 win over the Perth Glory, but Ange Postecoglou says an overwhelming schedule meant the feat hadn’t even been on the radar.
The Roar’s hectic schedule, which includes seven games in November, has meant the competition leaders haven’t had a moment to take a breath and appreciate their success.
Taking stock in the post-match press conference, Postecoglou said it was a great reward for his hard-working troops.
“What record?” said Postecoglou.
“No, I’m just joking. It’s not that we were ignoring it, but we had so many games that it just creeps up on you.”
“You’re just so focused on the next game that we haven’t looked at that. But it has been a remarkable feat by the players, considering the program that we’ve had.”
“It’s been 13 games and 13 tough games. We’ve had to travel away, we’ve had to play a lot of mid-week games, back up for a lot of games, and we’ve won the majority of them as well – we haven’t been drawing a lot of games.”
“It’s a credit to the players and their effort. I spoke to them during the week (and said) that when you’re in the middle of it sometimes you don’t appreciate what a fantastic effort it’s been by the players through this period.”
Brisbane have sailed through to the record, managing their gruelling workload without dropping a game, and with their youthful, mobile side they’ve even managed to outwork their fresher opposition.
But there have been times in recent weeks when they’ve moved away from the short-passing, highly-active style of play that has carried them to the record.
Postecoglou says the chance to train without a focus on recovery will take his side to another level, and give them a chance to iron out some minor flaws.
“We just want to be able to have a few normal training weeks and work on some of the things that have crept into our game over the last few weeks,” he said.
“It’s nothing major, nothing drastic, and you can’t really blame the players. We’ve had so many games that you tend to focus on playing and being right physically, and sometimes mentally you tend to go through the motions a little bit.”
