Socceroos coach Holger Osieck says his side had Malaysia 'running in circles' in a fine display in the 5-0 victory over the South-East Asians in Friday's friendly at Canberra Stadium.
Australia were always in control of the match after Luke Wilkshire put them ahead on three minutes after Rhys Williams' cutback, before racing to a four-goal lead by the break.
Speaking to Fox Sports after the game, Osieck said Australia's bright start had their opponents scared and intimidated.
“When you score an early goal and can move the ball pretty well, with a lot of pace, anybody who knows football, knows what kind of impact that has on the opponent,” Osieck said.
“They get scared, they get intimidated, they couldn't follow their game plan. At times they were running in circles and that was a product of our good play.”
The Socceroos boss said he used the game to experiment with his team but was pleased by the outcome.
“I wanted to try a couple of things within our team and it worked perfectly well. I got the confirmation today,” he said.
“Along with the tactical stuff, I think the boys who got the opportunity, in particular the younger ones in the second-half, they did pretty well.
“They showed they deserve to be part of our group. I'm pretty pleased by their attitude and their performance. They are good footballers, maybe they are not big names, but they can't be because they haven't got too much exposure here.
“I'm following everyone pretty closely and I know what I'm doing. I'm happy about those individual performances as well.”
Osieck continued the Socceroos were playing the brand of football he wants to see.
“We always had lots of passing opportunities and at times we moved the ball really well and that's what I want to see,” he said.
“I want to see a football team, not any robots. It's going in the right direction.”
However, Osieck wasn't getting carried away, adding about Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Oman: “We need [luck] definitely, it's going to be a different game.”
Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill was happy to keep a clean sheet after failing to do so in recent games against Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Wales.
“Back to a clean sheet, so it's good to get into good habits. All in all a very good performance,” Neill said.
On the Oman game, he added: “We're looking forward to that game, because if we do we're one foot into the next round.”
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