The Brisbane Roar have rediscovered their confidence after a brilliant upset win over Sydney FC but will be wary of a ‘dangerous’ Adelaide United when the two sides clash at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday night.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou was understandably satisfied with his team’s turnaround performance against the Sky Blues but knew his side still had its work in front of it.
“Against a good team, looking to finish top and that played well on the night – I was pretty pleased with the performance and the result,” Postecoglou said of last round’s encounter with Sydney FC.
“They put us under pressure as well and it would have been very easy to chuck in the towel but there was a real resilience and self belief.”
“It’s important after a good performance and a good result we back it up. If we get those three points on Saturday it pretty much guarantees we’ll go down to the last game which will be good for us.”
While Postecoglou knew the game against bottom-of-the-table Adelaide was a great opportunity for his men, he wasn’t about to write off a side gearing up for the Asian Champions League.
“They’ve got the Champions League to come, for them I think that guarantees their season keeps going,” Postecoglou said.
“There’ll be a lot of players out to prove a point. I’m sure the coaching staff want to start building the nucleus of the team that’s going to play in that Champions League.”
“It’s still a danger game for us, I think this week has proven that anyone can knock off anyone. You can’t go over there thinking that because their season is written off they’re not a chance.”
“The reality of it is that we’re relying on a couple of other teams, like Central Coast, who are also out of the season, to get a couple of results for us, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be competitive and they’ll be a tough team for us.”
Star Roar import Sergio van Dijk was in the same mind-frame as his coach, the talented striker was taking confidence from the win against Sydney, but was more concerned with the job ahead and the potential of finals football.
“They (Sydney) had their chances, but didn’t finish it off, so that’s a point we have to work on, but winning the game is definitely a confidence boost,” he said.
“The only thing that is good enough for us is winning this game. Hopefully that happens and then the week after we have to win as well, then we’ll see how we end.”
“It’s going to be two tough games, and we’ll have to be fully concentrating and take our chances. We have to be sharp.”
Postecoglou was also able to confirm that plucky midfielder Massimo Murdocca will return to the squad from injury, and Michael Zullo was a certain starter, despite picking up a niggle against Sydney.
“We’ve kind of been protecting him (Zullo) all week. He’ll be right for the game and he’ll start,” Postecoglou said.
“Massimo will come back into the squad, I haven’t made my mind up about the starting 11. He felt good today and trained well. It’ll be great to have him back, he’s a good bubbly personality.”
“He’ll definitely be back in the squad, in terms of the 11, we’ve got a session in Adelaide tomorrow before I make my final decision.”
