Roar coach Ange Postecoglou says he expects people to jump off the Brisbane bandwagon as his side isn’t meeting the high standards people have come to expect of it.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou says he can already feel the bandwagon getting lighter after his side lost their second consecutive game.
The Roar were expected to run through the Melbourne Heart at their Suncorp Stadium fortress after having their 36-game undefeated streak ended by Sydney FC last weekend.
But the defending champions were left for dead and a non-entity for the first hour of the contest, conceding two first-half goals and leaving too much work to do when they finally began to synchronise in the final stages.
Postecoglou admitted the 2-1 loss had been a disappointment but remained adamant that his side could soon be back to their winning ways.
“The first half wasn’t great. We just gave the ball away too much and the way we play our game if we give the ball away it means we don’t create much and it gives the opposition opportunities,” said Postecoglou.
“It just seemed to be a flow on from last week. We weren’t hitting out passes.”
“Little things we’ve been good at we aren’t doing so well at, at the moment.”
“There’s no point making excuses, by the standards we’ve set, we weren’t good enough in the first half… We’ve got some issues that we need to sort out.”
“I can feel the bandwagon getting lighter, that’s for sure. They’ll jump off as quickly as they jump on board again. That’s what we strive for; we want to be the best and if you want to be the best, people will judge you harshly when you fall short of those standards.”
Without German playmaker Thomas Broich and livewire Brazilian attacker Henrique, the Roar seemed to lack some of the attacking flair that has fuelled their unprecedented reign of success.
But Postecoglou insisted that playing personnel was not to blame for the upset defeat.
“I thought in the second half we played like we usually do and regardless of who was out there, when we play like we do it doesn’t matter,” said Postecoglu.
“We dominated the second 45-minutes. The Heart did drop off, but at the same time, we hit our passes a bit better, penetrated when we needed to, so I just think the first half we weren’t as fluent as we usually are.”
However, Heart goalkeeper Clint Bolton claimed the Roar were a lesser side without their star midfielder, Broich.
“He makes a difference. There’s no doubt he makes a difference, he’s a class act on his own and he’d make a difference to any team,” said Bolton.
“But you don’t lose much. They’re a good team, a mobile team, they’ve got smart players out there, so they didn’t lose a lot, but obviously a different team without Thomas.”
