Asian Cup 2015: Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou says he won’t change his attacking style

HIS team sore but ready for duty, Ange Postecoglou insists his side’s cavalier quest to win the Asian Cup will not be toned down for the semi-final with the UAE.

Coach Ange Postecoglou of Australia celebrates winning the AFC Asian Cup Quarter-Final between the Socceroos and China played at Suncorp Stadium. Pic Darren England.

HIS team sore but ready for duty, Ange Postecoglou insists his side’s cavalier quest to win the Asian Cup will not be toned down for Monday’s semi-final with the UAE.

Reporting a clean bill of health among his 22 players, the Socceroos coach said his selection for the game at Hunter Stadium would be “about having the best team out there” after his careful husbandry of the whole squad.

Reiterating the message from his players that avoiding the eliminated favourites Japan had no bearing on Australia’s approach, Postecoglou said his side would look to dictate the game, no matter who the opposition. The UAE, he suggested, would do the opposite.

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Ange Postecoglou says player rotation has been part of his planning from the start of the Asian Cup.

“They did something similar against Iran as well when they needed a result [in the group stage] and I think the accumulation of games has forced teams to play a sort of game where they sit back a little bit.,” Postecoglou said.

“When you look at the quarter-finals, all of them apart from ours went to extra time or penalties. The tempo of the games looked like all the teams have had a pretty tough schedule so far.

“So yes, I don’t expect the UAE to come out at us but what they do becomes a little bit irrelevant in that we still want to dictate the game. So whether they sit back or come at us, we have to make sure in either scenario we are the ones on the front foot and dominating the game.”

Postecoglou said those in his squad who had featured the most were suffering, but not the extent that they were in danger of missing Monday’s game.

With only a final or a third-place playoff to go after this game, Postecoglou again emphasised why had felt the need to rotate players through the four games so far.

“Everyone is pretty good, others are a bit more sore than others, particularly people like Franjic, Sainsbury and Luongo who have carried the majority of the load,” he said.

“In terms of recovery and where we are at, I’m pretty pleased. It’s nothing untoward and everyone should be available for Tuesday.

Mark Bresciano is among the Socceroos not to see much game-time but still make the first team.

“We have been pretty focused on making sure the team we put out there [for each game] we think is going to give us the best chance for a result. That has meant managing players. People forget, Franjic, Sainsbury, Wilkinson, Davidson, Cahill and two three others had not played for two or three weeks coming into the tournament.

“So we kind of knew that if our planning is to go right to the end of the tournament, there was no way we were going to be able to get a top level performance for six games from every player in the squad.

“It hasn’t just been about rotating, it’s just that we feel the teams we were putting out were giving us the best chance of success.

“If someone is not up to it or we don’t think they can play the game, whether they played the last game or whether they are going to play in the final should we get there, it doesn’t come into calculations. It’s about having the best team out there.”