Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou conceded that his side was ‘very ordinary’ and never got out of first gear as they were held 1-1 by battlers Perth Glory at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
The visitors took a shock lead in the first half through Mile Sterjovski but thanks to some lively work from substitute Henrique, Brisbane found an equalizer through Mitch Nichols, which extended their unbeaten run to an impressive 20 games.
But despite rescuing a point, Postecoglou was far from happy with the effort put in by his troops, who couldn’t find their usually dynamic, one-touch passing game that has seen them make top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder their home for most of the season.
“We just as a collective didn’t play at the intensity we usually do and that gives the opposition to get into the game and to Perth’s credit, they were very good,” he said. “That combination made us struggle tonight. They were well organised and worked really hard. Defensively they did a good job and they were always threatening on attacks.”
“Maybe on the back of last week when we had such a fantastic performance, we expected things to happen for us and we didn’t go out there with the intention of making it happen. When you do that you pay a price.”
“We like to start right on the front foot and put oppositions on the back foot and we didn’t today. I think some of the younger players got ahead of themselves a little bit and some of the leaders of the group didn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck. “
“We could have won tonight and it wouldn’t have changed my opinion of the way we played. That’s what we’ve been on about all year. It’s not about getting a result for just a result’s sake – it’s about actually trying to play to a certain level and a certain way.”
“To me, it’s all about the performance. It’s the only positive or negative you can take out of every week. The result is the end product of that.”
“For us, the performance tonight wasn’t anywhere near the standard we expect and we’ve been working hard to strive for. But there’s still challenges ahead and improvements in us and we’ll keep working hard and keep doing the right things.”
A delighted Perth Glory boss Ian Ferguson was full of praise for the Roar after the game, saying they rank as the best side he’s seen during his time in Australia – which made stealing a point from them all the more sweeter.
Combined with holding their archrivals Gold Coast United to a scoreless draw earlier in the week, and the Glory will be heading back to Western Australia beaming with their efforts.
“For me the Roar are by far the best team in the A-League and the best team I’ve seen in Australia. Their movement is very hard to control; they play in little triangles which is very difficult, but we showed the boys this morning and during the week the way they play, where to close them down and so on,” Ferguson said.
“They’re very difficult to stop, but it’s 11 versus 11 out there and anything can happen. Bottom can beat top in this league. It was pleasing to see we frustrated them a bit. When you play two of the top teams and you get points from those away trips, you’re very pleased.”
