In almost exactly one year as head coach of Brisbane Roar, Ange Postecoglou has presided over some turbulent times at the club, but even as his men continue to pile up the wins he promises there will be no complacency.
Since taking over from Frank Farina midway through the 2009/10 A-League season, Postecoglou has made the Roar his own, completely revamping his squad after cutting ties with ingrained senior players such as Craig Moore and Danny Tiatto.
While the Roar were sliding down the ladder last season and former players were coming out of the woodwork to criticise his role in the club’s seemingly inevitable demise, Postecoglou stuck to his guns, adamant that in time he would build a platform for success.
Now leading the league in shots on goal, passing efficiency and with the equal least goals conceded, Brisbane has lost only once in eight games to hold second place on the ladder, but Postecoglou isn’t feeling vindicated just yet and says the club still has plenty of room to grow.
“We made some big decisions last year and my hope was that people would just wait and see as to how we’re tracking,” he said.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction, but we’re still not where I want us to be and there’s still a long way to go in terms of as a club where I want us to be and there won’t be any complacency.”
“It’s not about saying, ‘I told you so’, people had every right to criticise me last year, because the results on the park didn’t reflect the decisions we were making.”
“We had a poor year, it was tough for the supporters, it was tough for everyone associated with the club and I didn’t expect for people to say I was doing a great job when the evidence wasn’t there.”
“We’re slowly turning things around, and hopefully people will see as the year pans out that those decisions were the right ones.”
In a long season, sitting close to the top after eight matches is just a start to a successful campaign, but aside from achieving results on the scoreboard of equal importance at this point is the palpable confidence amongst the playing group.
A day out from Brisbane’s home game against the Jets at Suncorp, attacking drills were being run with precision and composure. Thomas Broich slotted a spectacular goal from the top of the area and received plenty of rousing praise from his teammates.
It may just be that winners are grinners, but by all appearances it’s been more than the personnel and tactics that have changed in Brisbane.
“It’s been a good year – an enjoyable ride,” Postecoglou said.
“We’ve had our ups and downs definitely, but the season’s going well so far and hopefully we can carry on.”
“I think that’s all we’ve done so far, we’ve laid a decent foundation, we’ve still got a lot of improvement, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
“I love being up here and I love coaching these players and being part of the club.”
