Two losses in four days looks bad. Eight losses, two draws and one win looks worse.
Those results are hanging over Socceroos’ Ange Postecoglou’s head as he struggles to instil consistency in his team.
The coach admitted responsibility for the national team’s poor performances in the Middle East.
Taking on the UAE and Qatar early this week, both matches failed to meet fans’ expectations. The Socceroos first couldn’t get enough chances to break the 0-0 stalemate with the UAE, and then fell at the hands of 96th placed Qatar, 1-0.
Postecoglou chose to shoulder on the blame but did highlight that the campaign for the Asian Cup isn’t done yet. “I’m making these decisions and I’ll take responsibility for the consequences,” he said last week.
“We’re still achieving our outcomes, we’re still exposing players that would have learned a hell of a lot. The pieces of the puzzle are being put together but I also understand that results need to improve. That’s my responsibility, I’m making these decisions and to a large extent these results are my doing.”
The Qatar game did show some great signs of unity, with half-Greek, half-Italian James Troisi coming close to giving the Socceroos a goal thanks to a Tim Cahill set up, but Qatar’s goalie was too good.
Just as it looked the Socceroos were getting on top with another chance by Robbie Kruse, Qatar went in front in the 61st minute after the ball moved in front of the goal and the Socceroos failed to clear the space.
The scorelines of late has Mark Breciano worried.
“There’s something not right. We have to fix it because it’s (Asian Cup) getting close,” he admitted this week.
“If we’re going to have any chance of winning it, games like tonight we shouldn’t be losing.”
The Socceroos now have just one more friendly, against Japan in November, to iron out their kinks before starting their Asian Cup campaign against Kuwait on January 9.