It was one of those nights when the usual plan of attack simply did not work.
The 2-1 scoreline was an accurate reflection of the state of play as visiting Greece took the game right up to the below-par Socceroos, atoning for Saturday night’s 1-0 defeat in Sydney. The Ethniki assumed control of game two of the Dodoni Series early, taking the lead through Petros Mantalos before Ioannis Maniatis stunned everyone with a piledriver from the defensive half.
For the entirety of the 90 minutes, defensively astute Greece never allowed the hosts to break stride and play their usual passing game with crispness, hounding their opponents and breaking up the play wherever and whenever possible.
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Despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession, Australia struggled to threaten the 2004 Euro champions in the final third and appeared devoid of ideas across the pitch. Quiet on the night, forward Mathew Leckie says the Socceroos failed to show instinct and creativity and believes a plan B is needed.
“Tonight was obviously not the best performance from us. We just could not get any rhythm, there was a lot of stop and start. Greece did well to do that,” Leckie said.
“In situations like that where it’s not really working out, we need to have a bit of a plan B.
“Tonight it was frustrating because the game was played in our own half and we couldn’t get into the final third. Especially for us guys in the final third, we didn’t see to much of the ball.
“It’s a friendly, but we want to win every game and it would have taken us another step forward. It’s also a lesson learned, and maybe we can learn a bit from it.
“We’ve got our initial game plan, but when things aren’t working out, maybe we have to change a few things. We have to do that as a team on the pitch, not just worry about Ange (Postecoglou) telling us what to do. Sometimes we have to have instinct on the pitch as individuals and as a team.
“We didn’t have ideas.”
Postecoglou and his team will have until the next phase of World Cup qualifying begins in September to mull over the result.
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