SOCCEROOS boss Ange Postecoglou denied his new system had caused Australia’s lacklustre display in Tehran, saying his players had lost too many physical battles in the 1-1 draw with Iraq.
Adamant that the Socceroos remain in charge of their World Cup destiny, Postecoglou said Iraq’s direct approach — coupled with incessant rain on an uneven, boggy pitch — had left his players with too many questions to answer.
Though Australia held on to earn a point, after Ahmed Yasin’s equaliser cancelled out Mathew Leckie’s first-half header, Postecoglou didn’t sugar the pill in terms of his players’ competitiveness — the one area, he said, he had been confident of matching Iraq.
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A pensive Ange Postecoglou at the end of the match. Picture: Mark EvansSource:News Corp Australia
“It was a tough game, particularly in the second half,” he said. “Iraq played fairly direct and we didn’t cope with it too well. Particularly the physical contest, we seemed to be second-best. We didn’t win any headers, just sort of allowed them to put pressure on us with a lot of scrambling and they got the goal they probably deserved.
“We had a decent patch in the first half where we maybe could have got another one, we had a good chance to go 2-0 up and probably needed that second goal. In the overall context of the game we really struggled to cope with the physicality of it in the second half.
“Particularly in the second half Iraq put a lot of long balls into our back third, they were stronger than us physically and we really struggled to win the ball and get control of the game. I think it was just their ability to win that ball and be more physical than us. We didn’t cope well with it.”
Mark Milligan, Rhys Williams and Aaron Mooy on the bench at the conclusion of the Socceroos v Iraq World Cup Qualifier. Picture: Mark EvansSource:News Corp Australia
Postecoglou had introduced a brand new formation to his players at the start of the week, with a three-man defence that was under pressure for much of the game, but the coach denied confusion over new roles had been an issue.
“It’s got nothing to do with the system,” he said. “When they’re knocking long balls and it’s a contest in the air, it’s irrelevant what system you’re playing. It’s about winning the ball in that area and in the second half, it just seemed every time they’d knock a long ball, they’d win the first header and we’d be scrambling to try and get control of it to get control of the game. In the conditions it was very hard for us to keep scrambling. In the end we just invited pressure on ourselves and paid the price.
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“We’re still in a good position — we’ve played four away games now, we only have one more and the rest are at home. If we win those we’ll qualify so it’s still in our hands. We’ve had four tough away trips and we haven’t lost so we’re still in a good position to qualify.
“Saudi and UAE both have to come to Australia and if Iraq keep performing like this they’ll take points off teams as well. It’s World Cup qualifying and every point is important. No team is guaranteed of going through at the moment.”
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Originally published as Postecoglou shifts blame to players
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