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Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg says rough tactics from several teams are affecting the standard of the A-League.
Bleiberg caused controversy last week when he criticised Melbourne Victory for being too aggressive in his side’s 2-0 loss last week, but said it was a league-wide problem after United beat Perth Glory 2-1 at nib Stadium on Sunday.
“The A-League can be a better league because the skill is there,” he said.
“We have a good league, but we have to clean our act if we want to approach European football with a lot of aspects of the game.
“Some people say it’s my personal crusade, but I’m not getting anything out of it, it’s just for the sake of football in Australia, which I care about.
“You ask every foreign player that steps into our shores, they’ll tell you the league is too rough.
“I’m not criticising the referees, I’m criticising the players and maybe the coaches with their instructions. We’re all to blame.
Gold Coast need just one point from their final two games to guarantee a top four spot and a home semi-final after Shane Smeltz’s two goals from the penalty spot led them past the Glory.
Bleiberg said he maintained some hope of sneaking into the top two, even though his side trails Central Coast Mariners by five points.
“Up until a week ago our fate was in our hands, unfortunately now it is not,” he said.
“But even from fifth or sixth position, we could still make the grand final,” he said.
Gold Coast meet Central Coast on Wednesday before they finish the regular season with a trip to Brisbane on Saturday.
Perth assistant coach Stuart Munro said the performance of his youngsters, including 17-year-old goalscorer Adam Taggart, was one of few bright spots.
“It’s been a difficult season for producing young players, but that’s all that’s left for us,” he said.
“And they’ve all shown very well that they could be the future of Perth Glory.
“We need to bring these guys into a better environment because trying to bring in young players when the team isn’t doing well is not ideal.
“Taggart was terrific, his movement was very good, and he’ll get better. Tommy Amphlett came off the bench and sparked things up for us too.”
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