I know this thread hasn't been updated in a while so I thought I bump it. After the firing of Farina, the Roar has been losing several of its high profile players under the new coach, Ange. I'm not all that worried to be honest because a rebuild is necessary and cannot be done in a season. I'm giving Ange the benefit of the doubt fr the remainder of the season and wanting to see some payoff for the 2010/2011 season. By that time the Roar will completely resemble Ange's vision and he will have to produce. I just hope the Roar's sake that it pays off and soccer fans start to show up and support the team.
Yep, he's gone to Kavala from memory. They're in a good league position at least. Newly promoted and sitting mid-table if I recall correctly.
Massive, massive evisceration. That's some epic player drain right there. Still, at least you guys have Mitch Nichols
Ugh . . I hope it's an April Fools joke. But given the financial problems many of the clubs in the HAL are having, I doubt it.
Wow. I seriously thought Pacman was on the wrong side of thirty. We definately felt his loss when he went up to your mob, I wish him all the best.
April 21, 2010 English club Everton set to announce three-match tour of Australia An Everton side potentially including Socceroos star Tim Cahill is set to embark on a three-match tour of Australia in July. The Queensland government and the famous Merseyside club are in the final stages of negotiations and, but barring any late hitches, the Toffees will be Brisbane Roar's opponents in the annual Roar Against Racism charity match. July 10 is the mooted date for the clash, which will open an Everton tour that is also understood to include matches against new A-League club Melbourne Heart and reigning competition champions Sydney FC. Should the tour fall through, it is believed Korean club Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, the team of former Roar defender Sasa Ognenovski, will become Brisbane's opponents in the battle for the Translink Cup. The involvement of Cahill in Everton's mooted tour is likely to depend on how far Australia advance in the upcoming World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 11 in South Africa. The Socceroos' final Group D match is against Serbia in Nelspruit on June 24 (Australian time). Should the Socceroos progress beyond the group stages, they will play their round of 16 match on either June 27 or June 28 (Australian time), with quarter-finals starting in early July. Brisbane lost last year's Roar Against Racism clash 3-0 to Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic in front of more than 30,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27016660-23215,00.html
Well known English side? Check. Big Aussie star? Check. One match in each main city on the Eastern Seaboard? Check. Congratulations... this isn't something that got screwed up *touch wood*.
Should probably give this thread a little bump. This current Brisbane team are playing the best football the A-League has ever seen. That display against Adelaide was a masterclass.
Can you compare them against former (and current) great teams in the A-League and before the A-League era?
There's hardly any comparison. The Sydney FC and Adelaide sides of 05-06 were pretty much the only decent squads in the comp that year, most clubs were still adjusting to the higher levels of professionalism. Sydney played some good stuff but underperformed because Littbarski didn't give a toss about playing people in position. Kossie's Adelaide were a tough defensive unit that bulldozed teams on the counter and lost the plot in the finals (sound familliar?). Tactically they were no rocket scientists. Those two and maybe CCM would still be competitive with the lower half of this years table. In 06-07 Victory revamped their squad (7th in 05-06) hit on a set of tactics that most teams found unplayable - three at the back with a narrow, congested midfield hitting over the top to a playmaker and two pacy forwards who could push wide (soun-). Occasionally coaches got their number and they were shredded but they had momentum, the players and a massive crowd following that made them the first true A-League juggernauts. The Jets under Gary Van Egmond had more tactical nous (they were MV's kryptonite), famously outcoaching Lawrie McKinna's Central Coast on Grand Final day but they and the Mariners both profited from a mutual slump by MV, AU and SFC and the Roar's superhuman inability to finish. 08-09 saw MV and AU revamp their squads to play the same style of game. MV branched out and added an attacking midfield trio for extra posessional play and Vidmar played with more width and a cultured centre midfield but this was about the extent of the innovation and the finals reflected the primacy of MV's psychological dominance over Adelaide rather than any particular tactical setup. The rebirth of Sydney FC under Viteslav Lavicka was again, more about getting the basics right. Sydney defended to a tee and cut teams apart with a counterattacking game built on slick passing and a rapid transition from defence to attack. Conceeding first goal to them was death, but if you drew first blood they were ********ed as they didn't have the width to stretch teams and their forwards were useless in the air. It was sheer belief that pushed them past that barrier in the later stages of the season when teams had them figured out. Roar are as freescoring as Victory in their pomp, their transition play is swifter than Sydney FC 10's, they stretch teams out as well as Adelaide, each player is a defender or an attacker depending which team has the ball and they are simply beautiful to watch.
Great in-depth comments. Didn't Adelaide United go on to the Asian Champions League final in 2008? The level of play probably not that bad then!!?? I read that the standard of this season is generally higher with quite a lot of spectacular games in early season. I do see a noticeable regression in the play of Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets. What do you think contributed to the rise in playing standards, if you think the praise is warranted?
Just my opinion as a Sydney fan here but: - Adelaide's 08 ACL campaign was a classic underdog run. They were largely playing counterattack and soaked up pressure while hitting out through the wings. For mine they got very lucky at times, particularly at home to Bunyodkor where the visiting team had a great first half before falling apart in the 2nd half after Adelaide scored against the run of play. They were damn good but if Brissy keep it up for two years they're playing well enough to win the thing. - Lots of things but some really stand out: -The scouting has gotten a lot better. In the early days there were a lot of hacks and complete fraud imports (Alex Salazar, Brian Deane, Mario Jardel, 2/3rds of New Zealand Knights - take a bow!), now the hit/miss ratio is a lot better and clubs aren't getting suckered like they used to. -Better coaches and technical direction. I'll be surprised if some of the older generation (hi Kossie!) get a gig again because they didn't seem to be able to get their players to do anything but run around and take shots. New breed have a much better sense of tempo, space and favour keeping the ball on the deck. The division in coaches now is much more 'stick with what works' vs 'cool I'm playing football manager in real life' types where before it was panelbeaters vs headless chickens. -Better training regimes/facilities: some A-League clubs really had stone age mentalities when it came to this - lots of really harsh drills and bad training pitches = lotsa knee injuries. -National. Youth. League.
I am watching the game between the Roar and the Heart. It has the making of a great match. It is end-to-end stuff in the first 30 minutes. There are very few fouls. Passes mostly connect. The Heart is leading 1-0 on a Sibon goal.
The Heart definitely played too deep without the ball towards the end of the match and Brisbane deserved the win. Possibly fatigue issue given the recent injuries and reliance on some players to play a lot of minutes (Marrone and Srhoj certainly seemed below-par fitness wise compared with previous games, and both of their styles require a lot of running and movement). Marrone wasn't able to make as many runs forward to support the attack, partly because Heart played a lot on the counter in the 2nd half at a fairly high pace, therefore not giving him enough time to be able to effectively get forward. Srhoj also didn't seem to be able to close down Roar midfielders as quickly as that 2nd line of defence...he's usually a better ball-winner high up the pitch. Overall, good quality on and off the ball from both teams in possession made it very entertaining.
Highlights of the Roar women winning 4-1 against Melbourne in the W-League: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6By-OAx4i8"]YouTube - Video Highlights: W-League 2010/11 - Round 5 - Melbourne Victory v Brisbane Roar[/ame]
I watched the first half. You wouldn't have thought Barbieri was a Matilda, I have to say. But a very strong performance from the Roarettes or whatever they've christened themselves.