Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou is determined not to get caught short again by defensive injury woes heading into the Asian Cup, after his sobering experience in the lead-up to the World Cup.
While committed to continuing the regeneration of the Socceroos’ squad he started before the World Cup, Postecoglou is seeking to increase his player pool and especially his defensive options.
Injuries to Curtis Good before the tournament and Ivan Franjic during the competition in Brazil meant Postecoglou had few alternative back-four options.
Australia conceded three goals in each of their three group games and have leaked 20 in their past 10 internationals, keeping just one clean sheet over that period.
Chris Herd, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Trent Sainsbury, who have won just 10 caps between them, have all been picked in his squad for Australia’s final pre-Asian Cup friendly against Japan in Osaka on November 18.
Marginally more-experienced World Cup squad defenders, Jason Davidson (13 caps), Franjic (11) and Alex Wilkinson (10) are also in the 23-man party.
Central defensive linchpin Matthew Spiranovic will remain at home to get more match fitness with Western Sydney, after recently returning from injury.
“I don’t want to get caught short by injuries on the eve of the Asian Cup as we did in the World Cup,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t want to get to the Asian Cup and have two central defenders to choose from.
“At the moment, ‘Wilko’ has been part of the whole time, Trent Sainsbury has been in everything since the World Cup, Nikolai gets his second chance.
“We’re persevering with Chris Herd, regardless of his injuries; Matty Spiranovic comes back into it; I’ve got four or five options.
“For me, that’s the key and that was the biggest lesson learnt out of the World Cup. I felt we went to the World Cup really light in certain areas and pushing guys to try and make it, because we just didn’t have options, and I think we’ll have more options.”
Postecoglou named six A-League players in his latest squad.
He was impressed with the opening rounds of the competition, declaring it had “gone up another level” and it indicated players wouldn’t look out of place at international level.
He said he would treat the seven-day camp leading into the Japan game like a pre-season, continuing to work on the change of style and formation he introduced in Australia’s two most-recent matches.
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