At a media conference in Sydney, Postecoglou announced an extended 30-man squad for the World Cup Asian Qualifiers against Iraq on Thursday, March 23, in Iran and UAE on Tuesday, March 28, in Sydney.

Following this weekend’s matches, the squad will be trimmed to 23 and Postecoglou said that along with Cahill it was worrying that three other established Socceroos could be cut due to a lack of regular football.

“Yes, it is a concern, you want all your players playing regularly,” he said.

“I thought that Timmy would probably have had more game time, particularly over the last few weeks, but we’ve still got two weekends to go and we will be monitoring it closely.

“Timmy is one that has done well in the past, even though he hasn’t had game time and he’s come in and still had an impact for us, so you factor that into it.”

“Over the weekend there were five who didn’t start for their clubs. Mathew Leckie but he was suspended, then you got Tim Cahill, Nathan Burns, Trent Sainsbury and Brad Smith and we’ll see how they go over the weekend. But it’s unlikely all four will make it if they don’t play significant minutes over the weekend.”

After playing in the previous group game against Thailand, Jamie Maclaren was not chosen this time and Postecoglou felt that the Brisbane Roar striker wasn’t up to the task for the Socceroos next two qualifiers.

“Not for this squad no,” he said.

“But he is going okay. I thought he was better on the weekend and he is one we are constantly monitoring. Again, international football is a different thing and we are looking for different things in the kind of football we play.

“Jamie played in the last game so he is still is very much in calculations but from our perspective, for this squad we are comfortable with the guys we got.”

Brazil 2012 World Cup striker Adam Taggart has scored 11 games in 17 starts for Perth Glory this season and Postecoglou said the 23-year-old needs to play for an extended period to be in contention again.

“With Taggart it’s a bit of everything, it’s a bit of consistency and just playing,” he said.

“He’s missed out on a lot of football but this season it’s been encouraging. I like the way he’s gone about things this year. He’s scored goals from the first game he played and he’s all-around game is improving as well.

“He’s getting into the right areas, we already know he can score goals but he’s continued to evolve his football and it’s good to see.

“With somebody like him we are best off just getting that consistency in his football, he’s been in the squad before and if he continues there is no reason why he couldn’t be in again.”