Everton midfielder Leon Osman admits he has so far been impressed by the standard of opposition during the club's pre-season tour of Australia.
The Merseyside club played their second match of a three-game series in Melbourne last night (the first was in Sydney), defeating new A-League club Melbourne Heart 2-0, and afterwards Osman spoke highly of the two teams he had faced.
"It's impressed me. In both games, the way the teams have been able to keep the ball, the possession of the ball has been pretty decent and it's been pretty good to play against it. It's made us raise our game even more which is a major plus at this point," Osman said after the Melbourne match.
When asked if the physicality of Australian players was a deterrent, Osman said it was no different to what happens back home.
"At certain times (it was physical) but us being English, that's the way we play as well so we'd probably be a bit disappointed if the games weren't like that," he added.
Osman also gave his impressions of Australia after teammate Tim Cahill talked it up prior to the trip.
"It's not too bad to be honest. It took us a good few days to acclimatise and get used to it. A few of the lads were waking up at 3 or 4am but we're there now, we've seen little bits of Sydney. (We) haven't had a chance to see much of Melbourne because of the tight schedule but it's been ok," he concluded.
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