An early article on his Australian 'revolution' from the Guardian:
Ange Postecoglou's revolution got under way against Costa Rica but it was a familiar source that gave Australia the winner – corner, Cahill, goal. It was a match which showed clear signs of improvement and a move towards a "Postecoglou" way of playing, but there is still much improvement required and many questions to be answered
Penetration
The early stages resulted in a few half-chances, and one glorious chance for Mathew Leckie, as Australia played very vertically in attack. In midfield, Mark Bresciano, Mark Milligan and Mile Jedinak looked to play passes through or over the top of the Costa Rican defence and attack the spaces in behind.
The second-half introductions of Tim Cahill and Josh Kennedy made it more difficult for Australia to play penetrating passes, as both players rarely moved in behind the defence. Kennedy looked to receive passes to feet, whilst Cahill, as he so often does, received with his back to goal and moved into deeper areas with the ball before returning to the shoulder of the last defender but rarely running in behind.
Neither were terrifically successful but showed glimpses of promise, and Australia were much less reliant on long balls and crosses from deeper areas. The direction Postecoglou wants to go will ultimately determine which style Australia plays – will there be a focus on controlled build up play, with perhaps a Cahill or a Kennedy playing in front of the opposition defence as a focal point of the attack, or will Australia look to draw opponents forward and exploit the spaces in behind with players such as Leckie, Robbie Kruse and James Troisi? This is of course a question that will be answered when Postecoglou has more opportunities to work with the squad.
Playing out
Australia were unsurprisingly much more willing to play out from the back, something which was never high on Holger Osieck's list of priorities.
Postecoglou preferred Mat Ryan at goalkeeper and one of his key attributes is his distribution. Seeing him warm up prior to the match, practising his long passing with both his left and right foot, was a joy to watch (and on four consecutive occasions Ryan, with his weaker left foot, played a 50 metre lofted pass to within a metre of Oli Bozanic, his target). Ryan was solid with the ball at his feet and constantly played out. Even when under pressure, Ryan was calm and would look for a short option to feet or would chip a lofted pass past the pressure and almost always find a team-mate. This is an element that Australia would have lacked had Mark Schwarzer, who was less confident with the ball, continued (don't forget Schwarzer played his entire junior career, and two years of his professional career at a time when goalkeepers could pick up back passes).
Even when Costa Rica tried to prevent Australia from playing out from goal kicks, there was a willingness to play short that was almost non-existent under Osieck. Neill and Williams on a few occasions pushed up the field, faking to go long from the goal kick, only for Ivan Franjic to dart back and receive a short pass – a ploy he would be familiar with, having played at right-back under Postecoglou for Brisbane Roar. Even on the occasions where Franjic was forced straight back to his goalkeeper, the intent to play out from the back never wavered.
Pressing
Postecoglou commended his side's defensive performance, and there was a clear intent to press whenever possible.
"Throughout the whole game, I thought our defensive pressure was brilliant. Even when we were making mistakes with our football, [the errors] weren't causing us any problems because we just worked really hard to get it back and then we could start again" said Postecoglou post game to Fox Sports.
Especially in the early parts of the match, Australia pressed with a 4-2-1-3, with both wingers – Kruse and Dario Vidosic – remaining high up the park, positioned between Costa Rica's outside centre-backs and the wing-backs.
One of the difficulties with pressing in a new system is fully understanding the cues of when to press and doing so as a cohesive unit. For much of the match this was the case, however there were some occasions where there was room for improvement needed in that regard.
This example was one such occasion. In the 38th minute, Australia had a good structure from which to press and Costa Rica were forced backwards. Leckie, however, was drawn to the first pass (black line) and did not pressure Giancarlo Gonzalez (red line). By the time Gonzalez received the ball, Kruse had already anticipated a cue to press and moved in field to pick up the central player, leaving Bryan Oviedo free. Gonzalez under no pressure was able to pick out Oviedo with a switch and Costa Rica attacked.
As the game wore on, and Costa Rica's wing-backs became more influential, Australia's wingers dropped slightly deeper to protect their full-backs and prevent potential 2 v 1 scenarios. But both worked extremely hard, but intelligently to nullify Costa Rica's wide play as much as possible.
Patience
There were plenty of errors in the first half in possession and Postecoglou even admitted as much, but the pressing as a whole prevented Australia from getting punished. Whether those errors were due to an unfamiliarity with the system and the team-mates around them, or they were due to players trying to force passes is unclear, but better patience in possession in required. Better teams will punish such cheap turnovers in dangerous areas, as Australia found out against Brazil with the second goal.
After Cahill's goal, Australia looked to take the sting out of the match (although there was relatively little to begin with). There were a few spells of long possession at the back, even under pressure, where Ryan, the back four and the two holding midfielders patiently kept the ball until there was an opportunity to find substitute Tom Rogic – who looked wonderful in the attacking midfield role. If ever Australia finds themselves ahead at the World Cup, this kind of "death by football" patience with the ball, maintaining possession and moving their opponents around, will be key.
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