Brisbane coach Mike Mulvey has praised his side’s composure and lauded the development of goal scorer Kwame Yeboah after the Roar’s 1-0 victory over the Mariners.
Brisbane coach Mike Mulvey has praised his side’s composure and lauded the development of goal scorer Kwame Yeboah after the Roar’s 1-0 victory over reigning champions Central Coast on Sunday evening at Bluetongue Stadium.
The Roar now lead the A-League after five rounds by one point from last year’s premiers Western Sydney with the win coming courtesy of Gold Coast native Yeboah’s 89th-minute goal.
Mulvey praised the 19-year-old’s development but also noted the influence of his side’s more experienced players.
The Queensland Academy of Sport graduate is all ‘athleticism, power and brute strength at the moment’, according to Mulvey.
“We are trying to bring some more finesse to his game,” Mulvey said of Yeboah.
“We are actually trying to teach him to pass the ball into the net rather than blast it.”
Outlining the slow burn on Yeboah’s development, which included benching him after starting the last two matches, Mulvey said: “The key thing with young players is when to put them in and when to pull them out.
“Last week we changed our shape a little bit and our personnel and he went out to the right and within a minute and a half he actually had a chance and the keeper made a good save.
“(However) when Dimitri (Petratos) came on last week we kept possession a little bit better and we kept our shape a little bit better and it was time to just keep him (Yeboah) in reserve.”
Aside from his physical attributes Mulvey noted Yeboah ‘is a listener and he has got some very intelligent players around him who are helping him’.
Whilst he will be able to enjoy the win, and goal, Mulvey was quick to point out Yeboah and his team-mates will be focusing on their next game against the Jets in Newcastle.
“He will be a bit full of himself tonight because he scored tonight but we will soon pull him back down to earth and back to work on Tuesday,” Mulvey quipped.
Mulvey also praised his side’s persistence.
“I think that the mark of respect that they showed us was that in the second half they just completely withdrew and allowed us to have the ball in our own half,” he said.
“When you get that you don’t want to get caught on the sucker counter attack, so I was really thrilled with the goal because it proved that patience and composure and a clinical strike at the right time can pay off.”
At the other end of the spectrum Mariners boss Graham Arnold noted the return of veteran marksman Daniel McBreen, the 2012/13 A-League Golden Boot, was mixed.
“Not bad,” said Arnold when asked to assess the 36 year-old’s performance.
“But he is lacking power … He has gone away and played in China, a league where the tempo is much slower.
“You could see by how Macca played that the tempo was high today … he has got a bit of work to do.”
Meanwhile, Arnold outlined his reason for dropping Justin Pasfield after his howler against the Newcastle Jets which saw former Sydney FC player Liam Reddy debut strongly for the Gosford side.
“I made the judgment because of how much it seemed to rattle Justin during the week, even at training on Thursday and Friday he was a shell of himself.
“I couldn’t take a risk, if he was so down on confidence, of putting him out there again.”
