Brisbane Roar Head Coach Ange Postecoglou will not field the same starting eleven against Adelaide United tomorrow as he did against Perth Glory mid-week.
Brisbane Roar Head Coach Ange Postecoglou will not field the same starting eleven against Adelaide United tomorrow as he did against Perth Glory mid-week.
However, the former South Melbourne man is adamant his decisions stem from their current hectic schedule, not from the disappointment he felt following the performance of his players in Wednesday-s 3-3 draw with Ian Ferguson-s side.
The Brisbane team were in action on New Year-s Eve against Melbourne Victory, picking up three points with a 3-1 win and commanding performance over the two-time Hyundai A-League champions, before trekking across the country to play in Western Australia two days ago.
With a revived Adelaide United next on the agenda, Postecoglou will make minor changes to his starting eleven in a bid to freshen up his team and produce a more refined and characteristic performance at Hindmarsh Stadium.
“It is three games in a week and it-s important that we get some fresh legs,” he said.
“We-ve got some guys who have played every game so far and others who haven-t so we-ll probably make two or three changes.
“Again, that-s not reflective of individuals because the whole message about the Perth game is not about individuals, it-s about the collective.
“I was disappointed with the whole group, not just one or two players so we-ll make changes but only because we-ll need fresh legs ahead of a tough game.”
The last time these two sides met it drew one of the biggest score lines in the competition-s short history, Brisbane bouncing back from a 5th minute Dario Vidosic strike to score seven times with striker Besart Berisha netting the Hyundai A-League-s quickest hat-trick in six minutes in the 7-1 win.
But times have changed since the reverse fixture in October, the Roar recording just three victories in the eleven matches since then.
Performances by the men in orange have not been up to scratch according to Postecoglou, whose half-time tirade during the Perth game has been one of the major talking points within the Hyundai A-League community post-Big Wednesday-s football marathon.
“I know it-s pretty hard for people to understand and I guess people will be questioning what I-m doing and that-s fair enough,” he said.
“But I don-t think the players were surprised which is the important thing.
“They know – we-ve got some things we look at as a team in our structures and the way we play the game and the way we approach it, we take a lot of pride in that.
”If we move away from that, regardless of the result, it-s not going to be successful for us.
“The kind of result was irrelevant and I thought we were even lucky to be 2-2 at half-time.”
Brisbane Roar play seventh-placed Adelaide United in round 14 of the Hyundai A-League 2011/12 season on Saturday, 7 January at Hindmarsh Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30pm AEST.
