Mulvey embracing packed Roar schedule

8 February 2013 03:51

Brisbane Roar coach Mike Mulvey said he is looking forward to the challenge of managing their squad over a busy seven-day period.

The Roar take on Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, then travel to Thailand to play Buriram United on Wednesday before backing up against Wellington Phoenix at home Sunday week.

Each game would be treated with equal importance, according to the Brisbane gaffer.

"It is a big challenge and one that we've put a lot of thought into," Mulvey said.

"We're thinking ahead, we don't know whether we've got the legs in everybody to play 90 minutes for the three games.

"It's a big ask, particularly for Australian players because we're used to playing weekend to weekend, but all three games are very important to us."

Mulvey said the focus before the weekend would be entirely on the Sydney match.

"The next game's the most important one. It's really important that we play well against Sydney.

"We're not in a position where we can rest players and say let's bounce back on Wednesday and take that more seriously than this game.

"That's not in my DNA and it's certainly not in the players DNA.

"Every player here wants to play in all three games. That won't be possible.

"But it's a great challenge for us and it's one I'm looking forward to.

"It's all eyes on Sydney to start with."

Though Sydney and Brisbane are level on points in the chase for a finals spot, Sunday's match would not be approached differently to any other, according to Mulvey.

"There's still 24 points to play for so it's not do or die," he said.

"Your season's not going to be determined by whether you win, lose or draw this weekend.

"What we want to do is follow up the second half performance which I thought was excellent last week against Mariners apart from conceding the goal.

"We need to do that for the full 90 minutes and if we do that we're a good chance of coming away with the points."