Socceroos coach Graham Arnold delivers his team a sobering message after Asian Cup win over India

Graham Arnold will demand improvement from his Socceroos after a winning, but too often sluggish, start to their Asian Cup campaign.

Jordan Bos’ elation at scoring his first goal for the Socceroos has been tempered by national coach Graham Arnold admitting Australia has a “lot” to improve on to have any chance of winning the Asian Cup.

The Socceroos’ opened their Cup campaign in Qatar with a 2-0 win over India, and while securing three points was the ultimate objective, the Australians struggled for large periods of the game to break down their dogged and resolute rivals.

It took 50 minutes for the Socceroos to take the lead, through Jackson Irvine, before former Melbourne City prodigy Bos scored with his first touch of the game 23 minutes later after coming on as a substitute.

“It was amazing,” 21-year-old Bos told beIN Sports.

“It was my first Socceroos goal. I was hoping for the opportunity to get on and it just fell to me first touch so I couldn’t have asked for a better start.

“Second half we got the goals we deserved.”

Jordan Bos scores for Australia against India. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

However, Arnold expected more from his side, particularly in the first half when the Socceroos were sluggish in attack despite dominating possession.

“I can honestly say that we’ve got to improve a lot more than that,” Arnold said.

“One disappointment was our set pieces because we work quite a lot on them, and we’re very strong with set pieces but you’ve got to give credit to India for the way they set up themselves for those set pieces.

“That’s something we need to improve on and we will.”

Arnold preached patience at half-time and admitted his team was perhaps too “excited” before the match in anticipation of the start of the tournament.

“There was a little bit of excitement and impatience. We’d been waiting for the last 10 days to get preparations right,” he said.

“The messaging at half-time from me was just be patient and it will come.

“That’s one game down, (and) another six to go.

“We’re here to win the Asian Cup and you have to reach for the stars, you have to have high expectations and put those expectations on the boys and get them to believe in what we can do.”

Bos was confident that the Socceroos – who return to Group B action on Thursday night (AEDT) against Syria at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium – could go “all the way”.

“We’ve got the quality and the boys to do it,” said Bos, who is now based in Belgium where he plays his club football for Westerlo.

“We just have to score more goals – get it in the back of the net.”

Originally published as Socceroos coach Graham Arnold delivers his team a sobering message after Asian Cup win over India