In my footballing mind Ange Postecoglou had already achieved legend status after I watched him play and then manage South Melbourne Hellas in the NSL. They were crowned champions of Australia four times during the history of the NSL. Ange Postecoglou played a hand in all four titles.
In 1984, as a 19 year old, he won his first championship as he helped repel the formidable attack of Sydney Olympic. In 1991, he captained the team to glory after a nerve shredding penalty shoot-out against Melbourne Croatia. He then won consecutive titles as manager in the late nineties with his teams playing an attractive brand of attacking football.
Postecoglou then spent seven years as manager of Australia’s youth team. During that time football underwent a massive transformation. The game was being restructured and as a result the supply of young talented players dried up.
The youth teams were failing to qualify through Asia. It was not like the easy days of Oceania, but there needed to be a scapegoat for these un-Australian performances. Ange Postecoglou stepped forward to face the Spanish Inquisition where on national television our football cardinal, Craig Foster, declared Postecoglou persona non grata.
This was the cue for the football community to suffer what could only be called a case collective amnesia. The shiny new A-League had replaced the moribund NSL, but no one wanted to have a bar of Postecoglou. He went into exile and quickly discovered the reason why his parent had left the motherland in the first place.
It was on his return the resurrection of Postecoglou started to take shape. Frank Farina and his unruly squad’s love for Bacchanalian nights had driven the Brisbane Roar board to despair. They needed a saviour.
And, on October 16 2009 a large wooden horse was rolled into Suncorp Stadium and out popped Ange Postecoglou, Brisbane Roar manager.
A-League and Brisbane fans were nonplussed, and who could blame them, the new football punditry machine had pronounced his appointment dead on arrival.
“His name is old soccer. I can’t see Postecoglou turning them around any time soon.” One such pundit bellowed confidently from his pulpit.
But, why listen to pundits when you can listen to players who had experience working with Postecoglou. This is what Alex Brosque had to say about his appointment.
“When it comes down to coaching, he’ll mean business. He wants nothing more than to get the best out of his players, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get that. He’s big on discipline and getting the team playing the way he wants it to play.”
“I’m sure there’ll be a few changes as far as the Brisbane boys are concerned, and it might come as a shock to a few of them, but that’s the way it is. He’ll be looking to come into this squad and get them into the finals, and he won’t be mucking around.”
Twelve months later these same critics were publicly groveling on bended knee asking for forgiveness. How wrong they were. Singlehandedly, Postecoglou had turned the stultifying A-League around and they were not going to miss jumping on this bandwagon.
Which brings us to today.
Brisbane Roar, the defending champions, unbeaten for 33 games and insight of an Australian record that everyone had forgotten about.
This record has become a huge distraction. Over the next few weeks, the focus will be on Postecoglou’s team breaking the record and this will affect tactical decisions on match day.
Why chase a win late in the game by risking too much when a draw will suffice. For example, come finals time, and when this record breaking bid becomes history, you will not see a repeat of what happened at Etihad Stadium.
What better way to see what you team is made of then to see if they can break down a massed, deep lying defence. Postecoglou knew the game was safe with Victory down two men, but he did not chase the win. With Brisbane sitting in Victory’s half and playing 3-4-3 against their 4-3-1, the second half effectively became a game of 7 versus 7.
Considering the numerical advantage it was curious to see Partaalu not pushing up to join the attacks or, either, Jurman or Smith not making a foray into the box.
You can safely assume that this would not have been the case if Roar were desperate for 3 points or chasing a finals match. When it comes to overcoming teams parking the bus, the route to goal can come from unlikely sources.
Ange Postecoglou learned a lot about his methods, his team and their capabilities last week. The draw might’ve been a gift to Melbourne Victory, but next time they meet they should remember it was a Greek who delivered it.
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