Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou has launched both barrels at his side after their 3-3 draw with Glory, the brutally honest coach describing the performance as everything from “unacceptable” to “cowardly”.
What a difference four days makes.
On New Year’s Eve Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou did a jig on the touchline as his side broke a five-match losing run with convincing 3-1 result over Melbourne Victory.
Fast forward four days and the jig looks like it’s been put away for good.
To most Hyundai A-League coaches, coming from two goals down to secure a 3-3 draw with Perth at nib Stadium – one of the world’s longest road trips – would be cause for celebration.
But for Postecoglou, it wasn’t the result that mattered, it was the performance, and that was poor enough for him to label it everything from “unacceptable” to “cowardly” in a remarkable, no-holds barred press conference that was brutally honest.
But if his words weren’t enough, his body language five minutes later was telling. As some of his players sat pensively on the team bus, Postecoglou was there sitting right by the entrance.
The coach almost appeared in pain as he curled in on himself, busily writing notes, but close enough at hand to still eyeball his players and possibly ask the hard questions as they entered the vehicle.
“Perth Glory got robbed,” declared Postecoglou at the start of his conference, although this was just an appetiser for what was to come.
“They deserved to win the game. We were very, very ordinary and it would have been an injustice if we got anything more than a point out of it.”
“Today, that was about 20 steps back from where we’ve been.”
“It’s unacceptable, it’s not good enough. I’m not interested in getting cheap points or cheap victories playing like that.”
“That’s not what we’re about and for a good 18 months we’ve been about something different.”
“Even when we were losing games, we were still playing our football … but [here] there was just nothing.”
Postecoglou said he didn’t understand why the players didn’t play to their systems and went as far as to question whether they had the courage to play that way anymore.
“We failed on every sort of measure we have as a football club,” declared Postecoglou.
“It’s the most disappointing (performance), I think for 18 months. We haven’t played that way for a very long time.”
“We just didn’t stick to any of our principles or beliefs,” he added.
“The human qualities of competitive sport were missing. The desperation, the desire to win, a bit of bravery, a bit of courage.”
“Courage comes in many forms but in our game, and particularly in the way we play, courage means wanting the ball in tricky situations and we were extremely cowardly in the way we approached the game.”
“It’s a funny league the A-League; we’re sitting in second spot (but) it just doesn’t feel right to me, playing like that.”
“I’m not interested in that sort of performance along the way. I want us to be better than that.”
“I’d rather finish seventh and understanding we’re developing a certain style of game than sit where we are.”
“I don’t want the players to get away with that, I don’t want us to get away with that, I don’t want myself to get away with it.”
“I don’t want to say, ‘oh yeah, we got a point away from home, we’re sitting in second spot, things are travelling well’, when I know deep inside me I can’t live with that sort of performance from our football club.”
