Australia coach Van Marwijk sees the scale of his task

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Australia coach Bert van Marwijk had the full scale of his task exposed when his World Cup-bound Socceroos put in a wretched defensive display in a 4-1 thumping at the hands of Norway in a friendly on Friday.

The Dutchman's predecessor Ange Postecoglou had set great stock on his move to a three-man defence and some have suggested the criticism he received over the matter was one of the reasons behind his decision to step down late last year.

Van Marwijk reverted to four at the back for his first match in charge, only for the Norwegians, who will not be in Russia, to open up the Australian defence almost at will.

Ola Kamara was only a metre out of the goal but still had time to control the ball with his left foot before lashing it home with his right and Tore Reginiussen had a free header from a free kick to score the second.

Fullback Bailey Wright's loose pass gifted Kamara his second and only in the curling right-foot shot with which the striker completed his hat-trick were the Australians not at fault.

"I learned a lot from this game," Van Marwijk told reporters in Oslo.

"(I learned) we are not ready yet but I already knew that before.

"We made too many mistakes, especially defending. When you lead 1-0 ... you must have the control, especially in the midfield. We couldn't do that, we lost the ball too easy and too much in that area.

"And the goals we got against us, that can't happen..."

The 65-year-old, who led the Dutch to the final of the 2010 World Cup, felt the return of regular centre backs Matthew Jurman and Trent Sainsbury from injury would also help.

"Yeah, you can see that we have problems in the defence," he added.

"I hope that Sainsbury and Jurman get fit and are playing in one or two weeks and we will work and search to nominate players who will make our defence better."

GOALSCORING PROBLEMS

The other area where Postecoglou struggled to find the right formula was in goalscoring and Van Marwijk's first attempt to solve that problem saw him hand debuts to forwards Andrew Nabbout and Dimitri Petratos.

"I felt a little bit sorry for Nabbout and Petratos because in this game, under these circumstances, it was very difficult for them," he said.

"Some things you can see, that they can play football. Maybe I must blame myself that I let them make their debuts in this match."

Midfielder Jackson Irvine had given the visitors the lead with a thumping header in the first half.

Van Marwijk's focus will now switch to Tuesday's clash in London against Colombia, who on Friday pulled off a friendly win over France, one of Australia's Group C opponents in Russia.

The Dutchman has less than three months until Australia open their fourth straight World Cup finals campaign against the French in Kazan before also taking on Denmark and Peru.

"I will not complain about time because I knew the situation when I started," he added.

"You never have enough time but we have to do it with this, and with this I am satisfied."

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)