PART 3. THE ANGE DYNASTY
Postecoglou had succeeded in removing the entrenched disorder and was free to begin rebuilding for the next full season as this current season was written-off. He began experimenting with players in new positions and formations where he would decide which players he would keep for next season.
Reportedly on the advice of then-Socceroos manager Pim Verbeek, Postecoglou began playing Michael Zullo as left back which allowed Tommy Oar to play left wing and have both players (of considerable pace and ball playing ability) on the same side. Verbeek felt Zullo’s long term success hinged on his ability to transition to a more defensive minded player with attacking capabilities.
Postecoglou obviously agreed as he followed through with the experiment and subsequent sides of his have been notable for utilising fullbacks in advanced attacking positions. It is a cornerstone of the 4-3-3 formation that he used to such efficiency at Brisbane.
But with the precarious financial position came the necessary evil: Players would need to be sold overseas. At the end of the season 3 future Socceroos would be sold to FC Utrecht of Netherlands for $1.8M, Tommy Oar, Adam Sarota & Michael Zullo. This sale negated allowed the club to break even after a tumultuous season.
This is the reality of football in Australia. Players of talent will always be targets for foreign leagues. The players benefit from playing at higher levels in well established and more technical league, the clubs benefit financially from the transaction.
But the reciprocal player movements don’t always benefit the local clubs. A long list of ageing players making their way out for one final contribution to the superannuation fund hadn’t helped the development of the league or, in recent seasons, Brisbane Roar.
Postecoglou had to fill his international quota, but with players who didn’t fit that mould. He had a system that he wanted to play and went looking for players who could fulfil his vision of the new Australian version of tika-taka.
There is a key recruitment requirement of Postecoglou’s that is often overlooked when discussing his teams. He has never signed players on the downward slope of their careers, no matter how skilful. His players always have something to prove, either to themselves, their former teams. Anyone. Players who WANT to be rebuilt. Players of notable skill who’ve fallen off the rails for whatever reason to be reborn like a Phoenix from the ashes have been Ange’s speciality.
During the off-season, Ange signed Thomas Broich, Michael Theoklitos, Erik Paartalu, Kosta Barbarouses, Matt Smith, Shane Stefanutto.
Thomas Broich was a wunderkind in his early years, playing alongside Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweisteiger in German youth teams, before the spotlight of professional football became too much. A reset in Australia under the guidance of Postecoglou was ideal.
Michael Theoklitos and Erik Paartalu were Australians whose transfer to Europe hadn’t been met with the success that was expected and they were also keen to return to rebuild reputations.
These were all players than Ange felt had the talent, but for whatever reason, hadn’t yet reached their potential. They were perfect candidates.
The approach of Farina’s was gone. The coach was not there to be a friend to the players. Ange was the school headmaster as opposed to Farina, who was the new High School teacher fresh out of Uni who wanted to be mates with the cool kids. A distinction had to be made between the hierarchy. If the players are hungry enough, they will accept their place in the team.
“It is better to be feared than loved” Niccolo Machiavelli.
Ange had learned from his punditry, during his coaching exile, how to shape his talking points and interview techniques for the media.
Coaching the Young Socceroos gave Ange an insight as to how to manage the fragile temperament of teenagers: How to motivate them, how to punish them, how to boost confidence. When you rely on the talents of youth, you need to know how to extract maximum performance from sometimes emotionally fragile individuals.
He would NEVER criticise individual players in public. It would always be behind closed doors. When he needed to give the team a bollocking, it was to the group in general. If a player needed singling out, his guidance was given one on one.
He was out to build respect between the coaching team and the players. Ange and assistant Rado Vidosic built up the bad-cop-good-cop routine.
This is also a reason why Ange’s assistants have such a hard time succeeding him. After years of being the “good cop” they find it difficult to adjust to the bad cop. Rado’s problems taking over from Ange at the Roar stemmed from this. He couldn’t flick the switch to disciplinarian without losing respect.
Rado’s ability and knowledge in football is first class. He is an excellent technician and tactician, but managing egos is not his expertise. This was where is deficiencies lay. He could drill the team until the cows came home but he didn’t know how to motivate or punish them effectively. Rado was a part of the furniture, he was assistant coach from the inception of the club.
Kevin Muscat is more fortunate in that his management career is shorter than Rado’s and his reputation was of being a hard man. But he still took time to gain control of the Melbourne Victory after Ange’s departure to the Socceroos. Younger players who had signed on to play for Ange in Melbourne had to adjust rather quickly to a new coach after only 3 league matches. Muscat has put his foot down and Victory’s season was much more successful than it could have been if discipline was lost.
This quality is again shining through with Ange’s Socceroos job. Despite some worrying results early in his tenure, the positive nuggets keep getting fed to the media. The players read / hear it and they begin to believe. “If the coach is saying it, he must believe it.” It is a prime reason why he has such success at elite levels, he is a motivator. Players who are given his trust feel they need to repay it.
Brisbane began the 2010/2011 season in good form. A narrow 2-1 loss to EPL side Everton (Brisbane were the only Australian club to score against them on their Antipodean tour). Four clean sheets in the first four league fixtures, they had two wins and two draws. All four games were breathtaking for the new confidence and style of Brisbane Roar. Attacking football with precision passing was remarkable for its lack of resemblance to last season. Despite the close results, Brisbane dominated possession and created a plethora of chances in all four games.
The fifth game of the season was against Melbourne Victory. The first half was a similar story to the first four matches. On field domination of possession, but no goals to show for it.
But in the second half the wheels fell off in a similar fashion to the boxing day massacre. Structures broke down, possession was lost too easily. Brisbane lost 3-0.
The result disappointed, but the style impressed Postecoglou. Goals were given up while maintaining the ideology of playing out from the back, not kicking the ball away in a moment of panic. The new way could have been a short lived experiment if it wasn’t handled right.
What happened after the game wasn’t the same bollocking that happened after the Gold Coast debacle. Brisbane were playing the new style and this was the first road block. It was important for Ange to identify, rectify and reassure.
The way Ange was able to nurse the team after a bitter disappointment and install the faith the team needed to continue with the new style enabled Brisbane to go on a record run of 36 unbeaten matches. The Australian football record.
In fact, one can see how it was such a mental factor, as after bettering the Australian record. Brisbane lost their very next match to Sydney 2-0. They then went on to record Brisbane’s worst ever losing streak with 5 in a row.
The current Socceroos have no expectations for the World Cup. That was settled when the draw was completed and Australia were given the daunting task of facing both finalists from 2010. That suits Ange perfectly. He doesn’t have to worry about players feeling the pressure before the tournament because there won’t be. He can talk the talk about rebuilding and staying loyal to the new structure and he’ll be right. The goal is to play right, not to get the results.
Just like when he took over from Farina, Ange’s mission is to deconstruct, then rebuild from the ground up. It’s no coincidence that veterans like Schwarzer and Kewell announced their retirement from international football coinciding with Ange’s promotion. Hiring Ange was the signal to all players that it was time to rebuild for the future of the Socceroos.
Ange’s Roar rebuild was successful because he could hand pick players to fit his vision for Australian tika-taka. There’s no guarantee that it will work for the Socceroos. National teams are notoriously different beasts than club sides for the simple fact that you have a finite pool of players to choose from. Look no further than the search for a Socceroos left back.
Whilst he has a strong desire to transfer a form of his Roar-style football philosophy, Ange has had to compromise his Socceroos desire with reality: He has to fit his assets to his formation.
A prime example is Tim Cahill. Cahill is not the sort of player that Ange would have used at Brisbane Roar. He has been positioned at the top of the tree where players like Jean Carlos Solorzano, Kosta Barbarouses and Besart Berisha have played. Out and out strikers who can play behind the last line, not midfielders with an eye for goal.
But Cahill has been placed in a spot where one would expect Adam Taggart or Matthew Leckie would occupy. Playing two DM’s means only one spot remains for an attacking midfielder and Cahill doesn’t fit that standard position of a number 10. But you can’t leave out Australia’s most potent goal scoring weapon and most marketable Socceroo.
This is the paradox of Ange’s position. Cahill is 34. He is playing in his last World Cup and the Asian Cup in January will be his final tournament. The Ange of the Brisbane Roar days would probably have said “thanks for your service” and gone looking for a younger, more suitable player.
Players like Jade North and Sasa Ognenovski have performed more than competently in previous Socceroos appearances, and have done so in the most recent A-League season, yet they have been overlooked entirely because of their advancing age despite their suitability to perform their primary task: defend. In truth, Ognenovski was probably omitted because of his character: combative and domineering, he is not the personality that Postecoglu would entertain in one of his squads. During his time alongside Craig Moore in Farina’s Roar days , he certainly was one of Moore’s pals.
Ange would rather select players who have the potential to succeed rather than the track record. There is no expectation so they can be thrown in at the deep end and nursed into the role in time for the Asian Cup.
So what of Mark Bresciano? This is an even bigger mystery. Not only is he playing in the Qatar league that is considered well below Australian standards, not only is he 34 years old like Cahill, but he has been suspended from competitive football matches for 4 months earlier this year. That is three strikes that would usually be fatal for any other footballer aspiring to play in a Postecoglou squad.
But Bresciano’s traditional position within Socceroos playing squad is one that has no readily noticeable replacements. Is this Ange’s way of being pragmatic? Playing a waiting game until someone can fill else can fill the void?
The selection of Bresciano and Cahill don’t fit with Ange’s precedent for rejuvenating playing squads. Does he really think Australia has a chance at forcing results in Brazil? Are they the vital experienced hands who are needed to lend some steadiness to a youthful squad in transition?
The word that keeps being uttered in media appearances is belief: “We have a belief in ourselves” and “we have a belief that we can spring a surprise”.
It will be a massive surprise to the entire world if Australia can secure even one point in what is surely the toughest assignment yet for the Socceroos. Ange has had numerous opportunities over the years to walk away from coaching football with his many successes and settle into a comfortably paying pundit’s job, pouring a critical eye over footballing matters week in, week out (as he did prior to taking over Brisbane Roar). But that isn’t in his nature. Postecoglou isn’t the sort of person to walk away from a fight, no matter who it is with or how fearsome the opposition is. Ange is the provoker, the one who doesn’t sit still, the one who isn’t satisfied with “average”.
There are no shortage of pundits ready to scour over the entrails of this tournament.
The outcome will be well worth the wait.
goodluckpunters 
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