Three days after playing out a physical 1-1 draw with the Newcastle Jets outfit, Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou is ‘super confident’ his men have bounced back and are fit to take on the Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday night.
Whereas the Mariners are heading into the game fresh from an 18-day lay-off, the Roar are in the middle of a frantic stretch of 11 matches in two months, which includes three games at home this week.
But true to the confidence and positivity that the Roar seem to have in abundance this season, Postecoglou says his team are up for the challenge and itching to get back out onto Suncorp Stadium for an opportunity to put Saturday’s frustrating draw behind them.
“We’re not going as hard as we usually do midweek, we’ve been working pretty hard midweek, so it was just another topping up session today looking forward to tomorrow night,” Postecoglou said.
“If I said to them do you want a hard session tomorrow morning or do you want to play a game, I’m sure they’d much rather play a game.”
“I’m sure they’re looking forward to it. We’re still going well and we’re playing good football.”
“They’re enjoying playing the game at the moment so the more time we’re out there the more enthusiastic they get about the whole thing.”
Adding to the motivation for Brisbane is the parity between the sides on A-League ladder. The Roar have won four, drawn four, and lost once, to sit in second place with 16 points, while the Mariners are third with 15 points from four wins, three draws and a loss.
With their incredible turn-around from last season and their full-throttle attacking play, the Roar have earned plenty of attention as a stand-out side so far this season, but according to Postecoglou, the Mariners have been just as impressive.
“They’ll be a tough team, they’re a good side. They’ve had a great start to the year, Graham Arnold has done a fantastic job with them,” he said.
“If you look at them they’re well organised, well coached and they’ve got that x-factor in (Patricio) Perez who looks quite lively in the games they’ve played.”
“We’re going to have to be disciplined and we’re going to have to be patient, breaking them down.”
Brisbane will welcome Costa Rican Jean Carlos Solorzano back into their squad after finally seeing off a niggling quad strain and Mitch Nichols has been cleared to play despite fracturing his game against Newcastle on Saturday.
