Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou believes his high-flying side still have plenty of work to do before they can be considered a genuine contender for the A-League title.
The Roar continued their strong start to this campaign as the out-played defending champions Sydney FC on their home turf at the SFS on Saturday night but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
The visitors, who had never won at the venue in eight previous games, dominated the match for long periods but was forced to settle for a point after Alex Brosque cancelled out Luke DeVere’s early goal.
The result means Postecoglou’s side remain in second place just two points behind leaders Adelaide United.
Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka and skipper Terry McFlynn were both glowing in their praise for the Roar at full-time, labelling them the best team in the competition but the Brisbane boss isn’t getting too carried away.
“Not on today’s performance we’re not, we’ve still got work to do,” Postecoglou said.
“We’re still a work on process and we’ve still got things to improve. To Sydney’s credit they worked hard, they’re a team that’s desperate and as the season goes on we’re going to play more teams that are desperate for points.”
“In the first half our passing wasn-t as good as it has been and our movement wasn-t as good as has been.”
“You can create opportunities a number of ways and put pressure on you opposition and we didn-t do it in the first half.”
“We had too many touches of the ball, our movement wasn-t good but in the second half when did that we showed we can really put pressure on teams.”
“We’ve got to keep working hard. We’re not going to change the way we play but we’ve got to improve for sure.”
As do the Sky Blues, who remain on the bottom of the A-League ladder, as their struggles to mount a serious defence of the title continued.
After breaking through for the first win of the season last weekend after going the opening 10 rounds without a win, Lavicka’s side were hoping to keep the momentum going.
But the home side were second best for much of the contest as they struggled to deal with the passing and movement of the Roar.
Despite failing to post back-to-back wins, Lavicka was pleased with the result given the way the match panned out.
“Sometimes when you get one point it’s like losing and sometimes it’s like a win,” the Sydney boss.
“Tonight I have to say one point for us is lucky because the opponent played better than us.”
“For most of the game the opponent was better than us.”
“But I have to give credit to the Sydney FC boys also because they worked very hard and gave maximum effort for team success and also full credit for opponent.”
Sydney have another home match next weekend against the Newcastle Jets, while the Roar travel to Wellington to play the Phoenix on Wednesday night.
