Arnold lauds Socceroos, but wants more improvement
DUBAI: Australia head coach Graham Arnold gave his charges a resounding tick of approval, but insists there is still plenty of room for improvement after they revived their AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 knockout stage hopes with a consummate 3-0 win over Palestine.
Early goals from Jamie Maclaren and Awer Mabil got the ball rolling for the defending champions, before Apostolos Giannou came off the bench to add a layer of gloss to the scoreline in the final moments.
Australia’s showing was a vast improvement from their 1-0 Matchday One defeat to Jordan, with the the inclusion of Chris Ikonomidis and Jackson Irvine paying instant dividends for Arnold’s men.
Speaking after the match, Arnold paid tribute to his side, but warned that he expects their performances to become even stronger as the tournament goes on.
“(Selecting) Jackson Irvine was a tactical decision, because Massimo Luongo was playing fantastic,” he revealed.
“It was more about; we knew how Palestine were going to play those long balls and Jackson is great in the air, but also on setpieces.
“Chris Ikonomidis had a fantastic game. He was excellent today. It was a very young front line with a lot of energy from Mabil and Jamie (Maclaren), and Tommy Rogic was outstanding with what he’s been going through (with injury) in the last few days.
“At the end of the day it was a pleasing performance, but I expect that we will get better and better as we go.
“I said after the Jordan game; ‘When you lose, you learn’ and we learned a lot from that game. We went on the training pitch, we worked hard to fix the issue of if teams play with a packed defence and now its all about the Syria game.
“We expect to come out with all guns blazing.”
The effectivenesss of Australia’s attacking trio of Mabil, Ikonomidis and Maclaren was a welcome sign for Arnold, who singled out Maclaren for special praise after the pacey striker’s first senior international goal.
“I love Jamie as a player,” said the A-league Championship-winning coach.
“The way he moves in the box is always very, very good and he’s just needed a bit of belief and a bit of confidence and we, the coaching staff, give him that because he does a great job for the team up front defensively with pressing and working hard for the team first and foremost.
“Also for Apo (Giannou) to come on and score the way he did, it’s very promising.”
Rogic, too, turned in a terrific performance for Australia, providing the assist for Maclaren’s opener and creating a number of openings in the Palestinian defensive half.