Graham Arnold calls out Socceroos players after 7-0 thrashing of Bangladesh
The Socceroos coach wasn't that impressed despite the drubbing of Bangladesh in their World Cup qualifier.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has admitted he wasn't satisfied with Australia's 7-0 win over Bangladesh in their first World Cup qualifier, calling for a more brutal approach. Arnold capped off his 59th international as head coach as the Socceroos battered Bangladesh in front of 20,876 fans at AAMI Park.
The Socceroos dominated from start to finish with 29 shots, with 14 on target, compared to Bangladesh's one. However, Arnold was critical of the finishing from his team.
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"Overall, it was a good performance, but I think we still need to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal," Arnold said. "It could have been double figures easily - and it should have been. Those things we've got to learn - to be more ruthless and finish them off."
Arnold's mindset also filtered down to the players, with midfielder Connor Metcalfe admitting: "We're not going to take it easy, no matter what." Jamie Maclaren needed only 36 minutes to net a second-half hat-trick and was ready when thrown on at a familiar ground.
"This place (AAMI Park), it's natural for me to score goals. I don't think anyone's scored more goals here than I have," he said. "So I just knew that I get chances, it'll come. We dominated from start to finish and in the end probably could have been a lot more."
Missed opportunity for Massimo Luongo after penalty
Massimo Luongo had a chance to get on the score sheet, but missed a 90th minute penalty. Arnold was asked about the incident and was surprised Maclaren didn't grab the ball having just scored a hat-trick. "I can't believe he (Maclaren) didn't grab the ball for the fourth," Arnold said.
While Arnold was critical, he was impressed the team were not complacent and defended superbly. "The most important thing for me was the mentality from the boys," Arnold said. "If they had a mindset of complacency, then we wouldn't have had that performance."
The Socceroos would have been given even more incentive to win the qualifier with the game celebrating the 50 years since the 1973 Socceroos who first qualified for a World Cup. The former players welcomed the current Socceroos onto the field with a guard of honour.
"It was great to see them on the field and I think that just gave that boys a little bit more of inspiration," Arnold said. The Socceroos also defeated Uruguay on penalties to reach the 2006 tournament 18 years ago to the day.
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