Five games in a row is not a healthy losing streak to have but it is the one that Brisbane Roar now faces itself on the end of. For all the attractive football, silverware and unbeaten streaks of the last eighteen months, Roar are now facing a major crisis with form and results not going their way after last night losing 0:1 to Gold Coast United.
It was another ponderous performance from Roar overnight. There was lots of possession but little in the way of attacking spark. Besart Berisha, the most lethal striker in the league, continues to see nothing in the way of chances coming his way. The creativity and attacking penetration of the side that went 36 games unbeaten is now a thing of the past and this side is really starting to look like it has lost its way. It's all well and good to keep saying that we have key players injured and this is true. But the players that are available need to start showing some improvement in their current form and that is not happening. We look flat and are currently not doing the things well that we did during that record run. Ange Postecoglou has built a lot of credit with what he has achieved at the club, but all that will be quickly forgotten if we don't see signs of improvement very quickly.
The worst aspect of this loss is that it should have been a draw. With only minutes to go referee Kris Griffiths-Jones capped yet another shocking performance with a woeful penalty call. Apparently he missed the bit in refereeing 101 where they explained that penalties are given for fouls INSIDE the penalty box.
To make matters worse the club's fans did themselves zero favours with their behaviour at Skilled Park last night. Sadly the sight of flares among the Roar support was an all too frequent one and it's reached it's nadir in the latter stages when some brainless cunt through one onto the pitch. If that's the way these muppets want to behaviour then that's it for me. Yesterday may quite well be my last trip away. I've got zero interest in being associated with mindless cunts who think flares are sick!!!!
Focus now turns to the New Year's Eve clash with Melbourne Victory and there is no way Roar can afford to not take something from that game. Improvement must be found and a result must come as losing six in a row is simply not an option.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Now Its A Slump
Four losses on the trot and I think that it is safe to say that Brisbane Roar are now officially in a slump. What could have been a minor stumble has now extended into record losing run and the big question is now how do the boys get out of this. More of that later, for now lets have a look at last night's game.
Our opponent for the night was Central Coast Mariners in a fixture dubbed a grand final rematch. In the opening minutes Roar looked sharp and had the Mariners on the back foot. But then we gave them an early goal and in mind numbingly stupid fashion. From a free kick on the edge of our box, Michael Theoklitos ignored easy passes both Mohamad Adnan and Matt Jurman and instead attempt to thread a pass to Erik Paartalu. He succeeded in doing nothing more than passing straight Mustafa Amini and the youngster smashed one home of the crossbar. Talk about coach killers. From that point Brisbane were in trouble as the Mariners were able keep their defence organised and Roar were forced to chase the game. Mariners then put the final nail in the coffin when they counter attacked from a Jurman turnover and Pedj Bojic doubled the lead. Ange rang the changes through the second half and Roar put the Mariners under a lot of pressure but couldn't pull off the a result. Kofi Danning saw his maiden goal for the club deflect in, but it was scant consolation after another poor result.
So where do the Roar go from here? Well the first big issue is the injuries. Not only are we missing a number of key players but we're also limited in our options now. I think a few guys may be playing injured as well which can't be helping. But our big issue is that we continue to give up early leads and then can't chase sides down. It has to stop happening. Especially when your keeper passes the straight to one of their players for the opener.
There were some positives in the play last night though. I thought Jack Hingert's performance off the bench was very good and Big Mo was very good at the back. Also I thought Issey had one of his better games for us.
Our next fixture is the boxing day derby against Gold Coast. It now looms as a must win clash.
Our opponent for the night was Central Coast Mariners in a fixture dubbed a grand final rematch. In the opening minutes Roar looked sharp and had the Mariners on the back foot. But then we gave them an early goal and in mind numbingly stupid fashion. From a free kick on the edge of our box, Michael Theoklitos ignored easy passes both Mohamad Adnan and Matt Jurman and instead attempt to thread a pass to Erik Paartalu. He succeeded in doing nothing more than passing straight Mustafa Amini and the youngster smashed one home of the crossbar. Talk about coach killers. From that point Brisbane were in trouble as the Mariners were able keep their defence organised and Roar were forced to chase the game. Mariners then put the final nail in the coffin when they counter attacked from a Jurman turnover and Pedj Bojic doubled the lead. Ange rang the changes through the second half and Roar put the Mariners under a lot of pressure but couldn't pull off the a result. Kofi Danning saw his maiden goal for the club deflect in, but it was scant consolation after another poor result.
So where do the Roar go from here? Well the first big issue is the injuries. Not only are we missing a number of key players but we're also limited in our options now. I think a few guys may be playing injured as well which can't be helping. But our big issue is that we continue to give up early leads and then can't chase sides down. It has to stop happening. Especially when your keeper passes the straight to one of their players for the opener.
There were some positives in the play last night though. I thought Jack Hingert's performance off the bench was very good and Big Mo was very good at the back. Also I thought Issey had one of his better games for us.
Our next fixture is the boxing day derby against Gold Coast. It now looms as a must win clash.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Record Roar Run Ended
Well it had to happen eventually and tonight Brisbane Roar finally lost a game. Sydney FC was just too good for a flat Roar and trounced the reigning champions 0:2. Roar found themselves behind after just 30 seconds when Dimitri Petratos scored following a quick free kick. It was the nature of the second goal fifteen minutes later that perhaps signalled that Roar were not destined to take anything from this match.o In a howling wind a Brett Emerton corner turned at a virtual right angle and slipped in under the crossbar as Michael Theoklitos struggled to re-adjust his positioning. From there Roar struggled to find their normally slick game and Sydney earned a deserved win.
So having established a new record Roar have fallen at the next immediate hurdle. To be honest I couldn't care that much about the run ending. That was always going to happen at some point. What was most disappointing was the way we played today. We were slow flat it was unbelievable. Hopefully it was just a one off poor performance, but we certainly lacked something all over the park today. Anyway it's back to the training paddock now and hopefully the Roar take inspiration from the performance and the loss and start the hard task of creating a new run. Having finally lost a game the last thing we need is to let it derail the current campaign.
So on to next week now and it will be Melbourne Heart visiting Suncorp Stadium. I'm hoping we see a much sharper, higher tempo from the Roar than what we saw today.
So having established a new record Roar have fallen at the next immediate hurdle. To be honest I couldn't care that much about the run ending. That was always going to happen at some point. What was most disappointing was the way we played today. We were slow flat it was unbelievable. Hopefully it was just a one off poor performance, but we certainly lacked something all over the park today. Anyway it's back to the training paddock now and hopefully the Roar take inspiration from the performance and the loss and start the hard task of creating a new run. Having finally lost a game the last thing we need is to let it derail the current campaign.
So on to next week now and it will be Melbourne Heart visiting Suncorp Stadium. I'm hoping we see a much sharper, higher tempo from the Roar than what we saw today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)