Graham Arnold and Jackson Irvine shared their thoughts in the post-match press conference following the Subway Socceroos entertaining and equally impressive 3-1 friendly victory over Ecuador at CommBank Stadium in Sydney on Friday night.
Irvine, Awer Mabil and Garang Kuol were all on target for the Green and Gold in what was a successful homecoming in front of 20,668 fans.
Watch below or read on for a summary of the key pre-match talking points!
Arnie on the team's performance...
I think let's give credit Ecuador, they're a very good team and, you know, they only missed out on going to the last 16 through goal different at the World Cup. Obviously, they've got some quality, but the boys did fantastic in terms of sticking to the game plan, and obviously, some new players in, extremely happy obviously with Aiden O'Neill's debut and the young boys, when they come on. But again as I said it's these senior boys, that are crucial to all that. They've got to lead the way and they did that very well tonight.
Arnie on the youngster's impressing...
Let's not get carried away because these kids need a heap of experience and plenty of game time at their clubs. The senior boys are doing it every week and you can see the example that they're setting to the young ones. But, you know, as I've said many, many times I believe in Australian talent and the Australian mentality with those kids, but it's just about them getting the opportunity and the chance. I think it's about the fourth friendly I've had since I've been in charge and the opportunity to put some young kids in, in and around the older players and let them lead the way.
Irvine on showing positive intent at home...
It's got to be the mentality when you play at home and obviously, coming off the back of what we did a few months ago, every body wanted to come out and and show that aggressiveness as well from beginning (and there's) nothing more satisfying sometimes in scoring a goal from a high press in that kind of moment. And yeah, that was a perfect example of what we tried to do in those moments and led to a great finish from Awer.
Arnold on the debutants, O'Neill and Robertson...
I thought the kid (Aiden O'Neill) did well. I think, again, it's learning experience with these young kids. You know you're playing against quality players from South America. And probably those kids haven't played against South American teams before. So you know, I was very, very happy with young Alex (Robertson) and Aiden O'Neill I thought was very, very good. These young boys are tapping the old boys the older boys on the shoulder, which is great.
Irvine on O'Neill's composure and quality...
I thought Aiden was exceptional. You can see the kid has got class, composure (and) wasn't fazed. Can't speak highly enough of his performance in that last kind of half hour when I slotted in beside him, kind of when I played a little bit deeper after Alex came on. You just have that feeling when you play beside another midfielder when you know they've got a good understanding of the game and he has that already at a very young age, which is very impressive.
Irvine on operating in a more advanced role and his best position...
I've played a variety of different roles throughout the national team, at my club but it's all kind of ties into the way I like to play which is obviously high energy and win the ball back, get in the box and you know try and be effective at both ends of the field. And you know when you play with someone like Dukey, he's just so honest wants to go every single time - wants to press, wants to win his headers, his tackles, his challenges and then he's got instinct in the box as well. We work well off each other in that way and as you say, with experience of Goodie (Craig Goodwin) knowing when to step on that side as well, it worked really well, especially in that first half.
Arnie on Irvine's best suited position...
I see him more as a bit more of a utility, but he can play at six, and he's got the energy to go box-to-box. So if I restrict him to stay at six, then I don't think we're getting the best out of him. I think that he can play as 10 and play up beside Dukey (Micth Dukey), but he also against other teams that sit back further we can play with one six and Jacko go box to box, when we lose it, he gets back into the block and into the defensive unit. And, you know, he's great at making late runs into the box. And he's playing as a double six in St. Pauli, but you know he's in the box 20 times a game. So he can do both roles.
Arnie on his plans for Tuesday night's clash against Ecuador...
We will make changes. I didn't bring everyone here to not play, of course winning is important. There's one thing that I think everyone needs to understand about the rankings of friendly games, you get points. It's important that we keep winning to get higher up the rankings, and that will make our World Cup campaign made potentially a little bit easier with the draw. So we're going out to win the game. It's not just a matter of just, it's a friendly game. It's about, getting the kids to learn what we want from them, but also the senior players with that leadership. But again, you know, tonight Ecuador's a good team and you look at the way that the boys played, I was very happy.