The Brisbane Roar’s Saturday night match with Sydney FC may look like a mismatch on paper, but Ange Postecoglou says he’s viewing the clash with last year’s champions as a genuine danger game.
So far this season the Roar have been one of the stand-out performers in the Hyundai A-League, losing just once in their opening 11 games to hold second place on the ladder. Comparatively, Sydney have just one win to their credit and anchor the league with a mere seven competition points from their 11 matches.
But Postecoglou refuses to be lulled into a false sense of security and says that Sydney pose a sincere threat to Brisbane’s momentum, especially after breaking the shackles with their thumping 3-0 win over Perth last weekend.
“From our point of view the most important game is Sydney on Saturday,” he said.
“We don’t have a good record at their ground (Sydney Football Stadium), I don’t think we’ve won in Sydney before, so it’s a challenge for us to overcome that.”
“They won last week and they’re a good side. The one thing that they were probably missing was a little bit of confidence that wins bring you, and I’m assuming that after last week’s win that confidence is back, so it’s a danger game for us.”
Heading into their second burst of three games in eight days this month, Postecoglou insisted that his players were physically and psychologically primed for the week ahead, but refused to look past Sydney, a game which he says has added importance for the club.
“I think looking at our supporters, they certainly like beating Sydney for sure. Obviously the other codes in this state relish the Queensland against New South Wales rivalry, and I assume that feeling is there for our supporters as well,” Postecoglou said.
“It’s definitely a big game. You look at Sydney’s success last year, they were the benchmark, so every time you come up against a team like that you want to measure yourself and see where you’re at, regardless of the recent form.”
“I think it does have a bit of an extra edge. We beat them up here earlier in the year and I’m sure their supporters and their team are looking forward to knocking us off.”
Brisbane’s in-form goal keeper Michael Theoklitos could only agree with his coach’s assessment and wasn’t counting on anything less than a champion performance from the Sky Blues.
They’re going to have their confident up after their first win,” he said.
“It’s always been a tough place to go and get the three points, that’s what you play for, playing in front of big crowds at great stadiums.”
“Sydney are the champions at the end of the day, let’s make no mistakes they’re a good team.”
