Angelos Postecoglou seems to have found his personal ‘promised land’ in Japan.

The former Hellas Melbourne coach is leading his team the Yokohama Marinos to one win after another, as they currently sit on the third place of the ladder in the J-League, just three points shy of the leaders, Kashima Antlers and one of second-placed FC Tokyo.

With just five games remaining until the season is over, it could go either way, but at the end of it all at least he and his players will still come out feeling proud for the solid effort they put in and the huge improvement over the previous season.

In a recent interview with Optus, Postecoglou pointed out all of the difficulties his new life in Japan has brought with it and how he was able to overcome these obstacles.

Of course, one of the greatest challenges was the linguistic barrier placed between him and his players, as words can be one of the biggest tools a manager can have yet now Postecoglou needed to find a way to work without it:

READ MORE: First win for Van’t Schip and Valkanis combined with excellent performance

“We’ve had to use different ways – a lot more analysis – to get our ideas across than in the past, so they understand how we want them to play,” Postecoglou admits.

In regards to the differences between football in Japan and the way the sport is played in Australia, the Greek manager points out that it’s a lot slower in the Asian country with teams opting for the build-up rather than full force attacking play.

“For the type of players they produce, it doesn’t really marry up to me – they produce very technically gifted players, who can play in a really fast tempo, which is kind of the way I want to play, but they tend to play very conservatively. They try to play at a slower tempo, methodically work their way through things rather than really take the game to the opposition. That surprised me a bit but we worked through it. They have the technical tools, the physical tools – it was just changing the mindset … you break through those barriers.”

As to whether or not he’s still following everything that’s going on back home, the 54-year-old prefers to keep a neutral stance on the topic.

“I have a lot of friends I keep in contact with who are involved heavily in the game back home. If they reach out I am happy to have a chat but for the most part I kept my focus on here,” he said, adding that the way the sport is being handled in the land of the rising sun could prove to be a shining example for the stakeholders in Australia who seem to have lost their way.

“There’s a lot Australia could learn; the thing about football here and the way they have it structured – they have a plan for how they want their league to look like, how they want their football to look like and they’ve been very disciplined about sticking to it and believing in the growth of the game. They’ve got three professional leagues, they’re constantly looking to improve and expand those leagues. They probably have 10-12 licenses who want to join. They’ve built stadiums – for major events or club sides. They do a lot right.”

With Postecoglou being the first Australian manager to have accomplished such success on foreign soil, it could be said that he is breaking new ground for his fellow countrymen to follow, but he doesn’t appear to consider himself as a representative or ambassador of the sport.

“As much as I wanted it to be I just don’t think that’s going to be my role in Australian football. I just don’t think I’m ever going to be seen in that light back home. I’ve been coaching for 22 years and won my first championship in 1998.”

The main issue for Postecoglou seems to be the here and now, with the next few weeks determining not if his season will be a successful one, but just how great the level of that success will be.