My Western Sydney Wanderers ambition

It’s coming up for 14 years since I was away and it’s nice to be back in Australia. I’m not used to playing in such nice temperatures, so it’s awesome to be back and waking up to sunshine, rather than training in the snow where you can’t feel your toes. It’s great knowing that you’ve got the best job in the world. I feel very blessed and grateful to be able to play football everyday

Being at the Western Sydney Wanderers first and foremost the goal is to win the league and the Championship. For me personally, I want to play as many games as I can and try and do well enough each game so that I’m picked the next week. That’s my focus at the moment.

Coming to the A-League I don’t think I’ve got anything to prove to anybody. I’m here to do a job for the Wanderers and better myself as a player and improve as a player. That’s my outlook on life to just enjoy playing football. I’m so privileged and lucky, there are millions of kids that would love to be where I am. The fact that I’ve got this chance to play football means I’m waking up every morning and going to training and looking at it like it’s an absolute privilege and I’m honoured to do it.

Tony Popovic is a great manager and a great man and he installed a lot of his coaching knowledge into all of us during the pre-season so we are just carrying on the philosophy of what he passed on to us. He started this club from scratch so it’s only fair he gets a chance to better his career. Everyone is sticking together. Hayden Foxe is a great coach and he’s doing a great job as a manager. Nothing changes with Popa leaving really, it’s just business as usual.

My National Team Aspirations

I’ve got a two-year contract here and like every other player I’ve got hopes of representing my country so I’m no different. I’m going to do my best for the Wanderers so hopefully I can get back in the national team and you never know what can happen.

Being a World Cup year, making the Australian squad would be in the back of everyone’s mind that isn’t in the squad at the moment. But to get there you have to do well with your club first and that is an ambition of mine. You’ve got to do your best and you’ve got to be performing and if I got picked I’d be over the moon. But my main goal is to play well for the Wanderers and anything else is a bonus.

My experience of playing for Australia was great. I made my debut under Ange Postecoglou and played against Belgium and they had world class players on pitch like Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Kevin Mirallas. Any time you put on the national team jersey it’s a great occasion and I always felt very proud to represent my country. By doing that you make your family proud as well. For me there is no better feeling than playing for your country and I’m no different. I still see myself able to do that but my talking has to be done on the pitch and that’s what I intend to do.

I was on the bench for the first game of the Asian Cup in 2015 against Syria and in training the next day I did my Achilles. It was leading up to the second group game against South Korea. So it was definitely disappointing. Ange Postecoglou is a great coach and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with him. He’s the right man for the job. He’s done a great job transforming the team in to the team we have today. We have a great footballing team and great players. I really rate him as a manager and every time I’ve been in camp, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with him

Obviously, we had a great group of players and we went on to win the Asian Cup which was awesome but that injury was part of football and part of life and that’s all behind me now. So this season I’m just looking forward to having a long campaign and staying fit and healthy for the whole season.

After playing a few games in the A-League and the FFA Cup I find that the standard is really high. There are great players in every team and there is not much difference in quality between the teams. If I would compare it to the UK I’d say it’s definitely up to Championship quality and playing in the Championship is really tough as it’s a really good league. That’s credit to Australian football and Australian footballers for growing the game. I believe the A-League is only going to get stronger as time goes on and hopefully we can get to the World Cup in Russia next year and we can build and grow the game even more.

My time with Aston Villa

My debut in the English Premier League was against Manchester United. I came off the bench and it was crazy and a bit surreal playing against Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney and those sorts of players on the pitch.

Gerard Houlier was the manager at the time was and I will be forever grateful to him for handing me my debut in the Premier League. I can’t describe the feeling of it. I had these butterflies running from my feet to my head and then my belly. It’s just nuts. Your adrenaline is just pumping that much and the pace of the game is 100 miles an hour. That was awesome and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

When I was out on the pitch in those games I just tried to be calm. For me I just focused on playing to my attributes and playing to the best of my ability. You’ve got to try and trust your ability on the pitch. You’ve got to be confident, that’s all you can do and hope that’s enough

Obviously, I look back at the period with Aston Villa playing in the English Premier League in high regard. The 2011/12 season where I played against Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who I scored against is something I’ll never forget. That season was a great season for me and I’ll always remember it.

Unfortunately, at the end of that season the manager that showed the faith in me was sacked which was very upsetting but that’s football and you are going to get those disappointments.

Being injured for a long period and not getting consistent game time after I left Villa. Obviously It was disappointing to not be playing at that time but I still worked hard and nothing changes on that front. Some managers will play you and some managers won’t play you so it’s how you react.

But it’s the character you show and how you bounce back that matters. Whatever club you are at you never know what’s going to happen from one day to another so you’ve just got to be as professional as you can and do the best that you can.

As told to Con Stamocostas