"I think there were two reasons they beat us and deserved to win.  Firstly our reputation goes ahead of us and every team that plays against us plays out of their skin," said Bleiberg. "They were very good, they closed us down and they were over-motivated.

"For us in the future, we have to learn to cope with it.  Manchester United know how to cope with it because they have existed for a hundred odd years, Gold Coast United have existed for a hundred odd days." 

Stretched resources due to injuries had also significantly affected the team's performance, added Bleiberg.

"We had two 18 year-olds, we missed players like Porter and Tahj, we played a goalkeeper who we rushed to play before he was ready.  We knew he wasn't ready, he hadn't played for three months. It was a choice between him and Robbie Bajic but Robbie was leaving next week for Vietnam and Jess is our future goalkeeper so we took a risk." 

The Gold Coast boss felt the red card given to Shane Smeltz in the second half was "soft" but he still praised his team's performance. 

"I didn't see any player being kicked or any blood so it's what I call probably a soft red card.  I can't judge, I don't even know what the event was. But with ten men I was still proud of the boys.  I think we had more possession and we played relatively good football," said Bleiberg.

"I can't blame the boys and I can't blame the effort.  We're good but we're not that good that we can play undermanned like this." 

Jason Culina agreed that the players missing had made a big difference to Gold Coast's ability to play attacking football. 

"Our strikers were a little isolated upfront. It was difficult to get forward, we hardly got forward at all in the first half.  Our game is based around attacking - getting forward, scoring goals, getting the crosses in.  We just didn't do that today.  But there's no excuses, we've got another big game next week and we've just got to lift our heads up." 

"Everybody wants to beat the team on top", added Culina.  "I've played in clubs in the past where we've been on top and for the teams we're playing against its been the biggest game of the season.  At the moment it's happening to Gold Coast. Our reputation is perhaps working against us but we've got to live with it." 
 

Bleiberg also believed the time his team had spent on the road so far this season had put them at a disadvantage. 

"Out of seven games this is our fifth game on the road. Other clubs, like Melbourne or Adelaide have played many more games at home.  For a new club with a lot of injuries with five games on the road we're still on the top of the ladder and we're happy. "