No two coaches are ever the same and Mark Milligan is seeing first hand the exact differences between former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou and his replacement Bert van Marwijk.
Named in a preliminary 26-man Socceroos squad which will be trimmed to 23 for the World Cup, Milligan is in the midst of an intense training camp in Turkey.
Having got his first impressions of van Marwijk during March friendlies against Norway and Colombia, the former Melbourne Victory player has noticed just how the Dutchman differs from Postecoglou.
"We’ve still got quite a young squad; it’s obviously a little bit different to Ange," Milligan told The National.
“We were very structured and, while we will be structured under Bert, he gives us a little bit more freedom to make our decisions within his structure.
"For such a big character, a big coach, he makes you feel very comfortable and that’s very important."
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First ushered into the Socceroos squad leading up to the 2006 World Cup as a 20-year-old, Milligan is seeing some distinct similarities between van Marwijk's approach and Guss Hiddink's.
"We saw how much success we had with Guus and that was the sort of approach we took then: we had a good couple of weeks together in Holland and we didn’t have to do a great deal of travel," he said.
"He really was able to focus on what he wanted the team to do.
"And this is a similar situation. While it is always nice to play in front of your own fans before the World Cup and be able to say goodbye, now with the change, giving Bert that time to implement what he wants is very important."
The Socceroos and van Marwijk's first test will see them play Czech Republic in a friendly on June 1 in Austria before a clash against Hungary on June 10.
During the World Cup, Australia will open their campaign against France on June 16 before facing Denmark on June 21 and Peru on June 27.
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