Socceroos get raw deal from media, claims Sainsbury
SOCCEROOS defender Trent Sainsbury has taken a bitter swipe at Australian media for “hammering” the national team over “nit-picky stuff”.
Three days after Ange Postecoglou’s men scraped a vital 3-2 World Cup qualifying win over Saudi Arabia, Sainsbury echoed his coach’s sentiment that the Socceroos had received unfair criticism over recent scrappy performances. It comes after the Socceroos were again unconvincing as they failed to assert themselves in the first half and were exposed defensively in Postecoglou’s new attack-focused 3-4-3 system.
“We made it difficult for ourselves, but our objective was to win and that’s what we did,” Sainsbury said.
“It just seems like everything we do these days is getting hammered, especially in the media.
“It was nice for us to stay together as a group and get the three points, and we won’t worry about what other people say on the outside.
“It would just be nice for the Australian public to be on our side for once. “We’re working hard and trying to achieve the goals we’ve set out for each other, which is win and qualify for the World Cup our way and in our style.
“Because at the end of the day we’re never going to progress as a footballing country if we keep going as a group that’s ‘let’s just make it through’. “We’ve got to change that mentality, and that starts with our generation.”
While Postecoglou says he welcomes tactical debate, he’s been exasperated when questioned about the revamped formation he rolled out in March.
After last week’s narrow victory boosted the Socceroos’ automatic World Cup qualification hopes, the coach lamented “it feels almost like we have been under siege all week but we’re yet to lose (in this qualifying phase)”.
Sainsbury admitted it was difficult to brush off external criticism, also claiming it galvanised the squad.
“We don’t talk about the criticism — we just focus on ourselves — but it’s hard to ignore when it comes up every single day,” the 25year-old said.
“It’s the same nit-picky stuff that makes the headlines instead of the three points.
“We’ve got the support of the fans and it would be nice to have the support of the media at the same time.” Sainsbury’s club future is in limbo after receiving word he’s been recalled from Internazionale to help parent club Jiangsu Suning in its battle to avoid Chinese Super League relegation. For now he’s hoping he and the Socceroos can measure up against world No. 1 Brazil at the MCG before facing fellow powerhouses in Germany, Chile and Cameroon at the Confederations Cup.