The emotion of a dramatic week for Besart Berisha played a major role in the Brisbane striker’s penalty miss in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart according to his coach Ange Postecoglou.
The emotion of a dramatic week for Besart Berisha played a major role in the Brisbane striker’s penalty miss in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart according to his coach Ange Postecoglou.
Berisha’s post-match antics after last week’s 2-1 win over Sydney, where he took of his shirt and offered to fight FC defender Pascal Boschaart in the tunnel, saw the Albanian suspended for one week by the FFA Match Review Panel.
He only played on Saturday because Brisbane were given time to consider an appeal and Postecoglou said that the distractions of the week clearly caught up with him when he blasted the ball well over the bar from the penalty spot in the 39th minute.
“As I keep telling people, these guys are human beings. We just love hanging people. You can’t make a mistake in today’s society, people want their flesh and he’s had a tough week,” he said.
“He was pretty desperate to score and I think the way he took the penalty, he was taking out his frustrations but that’s the kind of guy he is and that’s we love him at our club, that’s why the fans love him and he’ll get through this period.”
Berisha made amends for his miss by scoring the equaliser midway through the second half and Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip said the club had no problems with him playing despite the fact he was suspended during the week.
The positive for Roar, who have now gone five matches unbeaten, was the fact Thomas Broich was able to play 80 minutes from the start of the game.
The midfielder was influential and had several chances to score himself, while playing a role in the build up to the goal.
Team-mate Erik Paartalu said it was a huge filip for the team to have Broich back in the starting line-up.
“It’s a big boost having one of the best players the A-League has ever seen in your team. There’s no doubt, he’s one of the architects of our team,” he said.
“We are pretty structured in our movements but he can paint a picture and slid a through pass, and that’s the player he is and we are very lucky to have him.”
Postecoglou said that he is mindful of how much work Broich has done on the park during his comeback and wouldn’t rush him into the full 90 minutes.
“There’s still 15 or 16 games for us to come and the worse thing we can do is push him too hard now and we lose them for significant periods again,” he said.
“We’ll just be careful, but over the next two or three weeks, he will get some good match fitness into him, like the other guys coming back from injuries.”
