Midfield engine Keanu Baccus reflected on the Subway Socceroos’ narrow defeat to England post-match, praising the overall performance but lamenting a lack of clinical ability in front of goal in what ultimately cost Australia the game.
Baccus was as lively as ever in a battle against a high-quality midfield featuring the likes of James Maddison and Conor Gallagher, making six recoveries, attempting three tackles and touching the ball 38 times throughout the 90 minutes.
The midfielder, who plies his trade for St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership, was disappointed with the overall result considering the Socceroos’ authoritative performance.
“A little bit disappointed - I think we did really well as a team, everyone should hold their heads up high and I think we went toe to toe with a great footballing nation and ultimately should have come out with more,” he said.
Baccus lamented Australia’s inability to finish the opportunities they created - the Socceroos had 14 shots to England’s nine, 12 of which came inside the box - stating they’d look to improve the issue against New Zealand next week.
“There wasn’t much in it,” he said.
“They’ve got quality players, as do we.
“I think in the end, we probably had the more clear cut or better chances.
“They were just more clinical with theirs.
“But we’re going to learn from it, we’ll take the positives and move to Tuesday to get that win (Wednesday morning for Australian viewers).”
Nonetheless, the significant number of chances created spelled a major positive for the Socceroos, with Baccus playing an important role in helping create a bright opportunity for Ryan Strain, through turning with purpose and feeding a well-weighted pass in behind to Martin Boyle.
Tweet: https://twitter.com/Socceroos/status/1712917669807268248
Baccus, who has featured in every one of St Mirren’s matches this campaign, is looking increasingly more comfortable in the Green and Gold, with this passage of play against England signifying his growing influence on the Socceroos on the pitch.
“Every since my chance at the World Cup I’m getting more minutes for the national team, and it feels a bit more comfortable with the backing from the staff and all the players out there”, he said.
“I think you can really go out there and showcase your ability, and that’s what I’ve been doing each match and taking it game by game.”
But Baccus was humble when asked about his performance, saying he had to reflect on the game to learn from both the positives and negatives; a true, mature professional.
“I think I’m going to watch the game back and see hopefully a lot of moments that were good and a few moments that I can also work on and clean up and do better for the team,” said the midfielder, who made his fourth start for Australia this year.
“The yellow card wasn’t great, you know, trying to stick up for a teammate, but that’s me, that’s my game and I won’t need to change that for anyone but I’ve just got to be a bit smarter.
“Maybe I can get involved a bit more with tackles after that yellow but it’s all learning curves and happy with it overall.”
The in-form midfielder will next look towards the clash with territorial rivals New Zealand, with the match kicking off at 5:45am AEDT on Wednesday morning.
Upcoming match
Australia v New Zealand - International Friendly
Tuesday, 17 October
Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford, London UK
Kick-off: 7.45pm local / 5.45am AEDT (Wednesday, 18 October)
Tickets: Purchase Here
