Slump Or Stumble?

Brisbane Roar have been turning heads and making tongues wag for some time now.  But the latest topic doing the rounds is whether they have hit a slump.  On the back of having their unbeaten streak broken by Sydney last weekend, the Roar last night were beaten at home by Melbourne Heart.

Brisbane were certainly nowhere near as flat as the week before but it was still a bit of a sub par performance for them. Heart raced to a two goal lead in the first half before Brisbane finally blew the cobwebs out of their system in the final twenty minutes and got a goal back and could have had one or two more.  But alas it was a second successive loss and one that raises the question about whether the team is entering a slump or just having a hiccup.

I think it is probably a bit premature to go charging down the slump path, but it's obvious that Roar need to sharpen their play a little.  The last couple of games we've lacked a bit of cutting edge in attack and we've been caught out at the back.  We've obviously got to work on that, paritcularly the defense so we don't get hit on the break.  When we have the ball we have to move it faster and we need more movement, particularly with the fullbacks getting beyond the defense.  That's something I think has dropped off in recent weeks particularly from Ivan Franjic.

But right now I think our biggest issue is that we have injuries starting to catch up with us.  Thomas Broich missed the game last night, as did Henrique and James Meyer. To make matters worse Matt Smith picked up a groin injury.  On top of that I'm not sure Mitch Nichols has handled the recent travel with national teams all that well.  Despite scoring last night, his last two games have probably been his worst this season.  Unsurprising really when he dragged away with the Socceroos before having to link up with the Olyroos and then get back to A-League duty.  It's pretty poor management from Holger Osieck and I think it's had a detrimental impact on his subsequent performances for both the Roar and Olyroos.

On the plus side last night we saw Rocky Visconte come back from injury and he had a decent hit out off the bench.  Ange also sprung a surprise with youth team player Nick Fitzgerals given a start.  The teen put in a good showing and looks to have plenty of promise.

So I'm not going to start panicking and screaming slump.  But we need to find our mojo pretty quickly or we will be in one.  We've got a tough midweek trip to NZ before coming home for a top of the table clash with the Mariners.  We really need to get a win in NZ to get us on the front foot again for the Mariners game.