Got to give Davies time. He has years of practice and behaviour to modify.

He brought Ricky on in the second half - good move.
He put Devere into the game - good move.
He did not bring Mikkelsen into the game - good move.

When we did not directly pass to the opposition, we were second to everything tonight. That's players as much as anything, and probably just tired legs after the busy time we have had. McKay was almost ineffectual tonight and looked totally stuffed - and he is the best engine in the team by far.

City outbodied us all over the park - some of it unfair, some of it just stronger. I expected Jamieson stepping in front of Ingham all first half would be called impeding some times at least but he was praised for doing it. That is a rule I obviously don't understand.

A good week of recovery and we will be better for it.

Davies has to get the team playing the first 85 like the last 10.

Only got 4 days , then we go agin v Victory

Bugger - lost sight of MV game being out of order too. Luckily that one is at our fortress where we are almost impregnable.

I know it has been said before, but to play so many games so close together with our league's small capped squads makes no sense to the product being delivered at all.

@Roar in me blood

That’s a reasons post.

I just feel that going back to a midfield of Mckay, TK and Lopez (who looked as slow as an old Spanish donkey tonight) was a failure to acknowledge what hasn’t worked before.

Why not use Caletti at 6? Or d’aggers at 10? or both??

Midfield is the engine room of the team, we all know that so having 3 older players there is probably not the way to go, mix it up a bit.

Very pleased to see Devere have a full game and do decent, still wondering why it's taken so long for him to play.

If Taggarts goal had been paid things could have been very different.

What happened to attacking player gets benefit of doubt. Dumb linesman.

@Waz

Not meant to relate to this game in particular, and certainly not an excuse for how we played - just an observation on realising how many games teams are playing at the moment (I thought it was just one busy week and a bit).

I agree we have a problem with those three playing - but even more when they get tired. McKay should not have played last game if he did not have the legs for a whole game. His drive will not let him coast so he is going to burn himself out for the team. Following on from that, he should not have started today (and not even been on the bench - we would need him more against Victory with their much more structured attacking combinations than against City with their disjointed one).

TK is frustratingly slow and he has started jumping in when he has no chance of getting there (those magic interceptions he used to do...) and the play just passes him by. Lopez is far too unreliable in his consistency to play in the back half where we get hurt, but there is no room for him in the front half.

I will argue for a fit and rested McKay anytime this season - I accept that Davies using the three of them in this last game showed something of the old boys mentality - and yes to Caletti as a starter for sure. DÁggers I am still not sold on as a solution yet - but why have him if we aren't going to learn him.

This game did seem a good time to have Caletti, DÁggers and DWH all getting a run with their fresh young legs.

@ Roar in me Blood

I agree on the number of games - it’s crazy. And not having Holman, Mauk, in this period and losing Avraam/Bowles for part of it really hasn’t helped.

It’s the worst time to take over a squad - Aloisi really has a lot to answer for, he couldn’t even go at the right time lol.

Calletti comes in - performances improve
TK comes back in - back to square one
Hopefully this game was just Davies proving the point that TK is finished.

I think 4 games in his first 13 days probably tested him and his ability to rotate, but yeah - his selections last night looked all Aloisi-like .... just put in the old fellas and see what happens.

TK is done, he looks like he’s now on holiday and just enjoying the warm weather. Lopez isn’t far behind based on last nights efforts.

Ricky (33) was huge, the bloke clearly gives a damn, and in combination with D’Aggers changed the game - but Ricky is not a starter but can at least do a job off the bench, unlike TK.

They’ve only got one training day before victory and then the following two games are the best chance of winning points this season.

I had a hope, lacking the conviction to even post, that based on the positives we were seeing we might continue to build and pull 3 wins out of last night and the next three games.

Last night's game did not show any of the drive or intensity of the previous games - so 2 from 4 then...?

For Victory, Caletti will replace TK as a starter, D'Aggers will replace Matty up front and Matty will drop back for half a game replacing Lopez - who will come on at half time and play like his contract depends on it. O'Toole will start and have a blinder. Ricky will come off the bench with DWH for Ingham and D'Aggers. Devere and Pepper will tighten up as our CBs and Pepper will not make a mistake the whole game. Mate we've got this. What's that annoying noise - oh, my alarm clock, time to wake up.

It could be worse...we could all support Newcastle Utd in the EPL instead and be in "should be a big club" purgatory  ....they have been there forever ...we have only been there for 5 years ( pretty much since the Bakries took over )

Karl Dodd’s not in the running apparently, doesn’t have the necessary licences. (Not sure why there’s a difference between Guam and the A League but presumably it’s the pro-licence element?)

Hmmmmmm.......I do support Newcastle Utd. 😥😥😥...........I feel double the pain most weekends......

One piece of good news ...not sure what he is like as a coach ...but can't imagine his name attracting too many players to our club .
Whoever we get will be cut price .The Bakries will not spend a decent amount on anybody . They don't seem to understand that building a decent team is the corner stone for a successful (and therefore highly valued ) club. They want to sell us for $20 million but won't spend to make the club successful so that it is worth $20 million !!! No wonder they are in so much financial trouble.
Have heard rumours that the club is not in a good state off the park. Rumoured staff leavings etc..... heard anything WAZ ? 

@ miron

As far as I know rumours are untrue, but expected given the history and frustrated nature of fans.

I go to Logan once a month and all the same staff are still there - the only one that’s left has been the kit man but even then they had two youths on trial

There’s no legal action and debts are below $100k.

They playing budget is $4m so they’re not underspending, and Aloisi had two assistants, a physio (from the EPL) a fitness coach (from WSW) and a full time Manager (Pedj) plus Tiatto. So they’re not cutting back on coaching budget either.

It’s an inconvenient truth but this is not an Indonesian problem, this is Australian coaches not being good enough.

Thanks Waz... interesting .

@miron

And to your excellent comment:

“They want to sell us for $20 million but won't spend to make the club successful so that it is worth $20 million !”

That’s been a fundamental problem all along. I don’t care if they want to sell the club, the more they sell it for the better imo, but I do care how they run it until they sell it ... if they have the vision to sell fine, just run the thing well.

Thank god Pourre is still there.

(I will say this though, the team is where it is because of coaching not lack of investment - only 4 teams spend more on players so ...)

That game was a waste of time.It may as well have been JA in charge.We progressed zero,except for Devere and his experience and Young again helping us concede lower than 2 goals for a change.
We need someone to decide what we are going to do for the rest of the season.Existing CCM style is pointless.There is time to have a new coach and start a plan.

I would say bad coaches, who are also bad at player recruitment. You're right the the problem isn't the amount we're spending, it's where it's being spent. Too many underwhelming visa players.

@ maxxie

The recruitment question is probably the most relevant question for a new coach.

Say we took Moon or another coach from the NPL, would we be better off recruitment wise? Highly unlikely given a lack of network.

Maybe go to the other end of the scale and say hire Fowler, he would have the network of contacts and reputation but can he recruit and operate within a cap system?

Aloisi for some reason messed things up. He kept TK when he shouldn’t have, he kept Hingert instead of Franjic but somehow allowed Hingert to turn in to a training cone, and the lack of youth players coming through under Aloisi was virtually nil.

Very good point re Fowler.

"It’s an inconvenient truth but this is not an Indonesian problem, this is Australian coaches not being good enough. "

That's a broad statement Waz, considering 4 Aussie coaches in the top 6.
More a case of JA not being up to the task

Re: Fowler, he may have contacts but his limited coaching/management credentials are yet to be proven, in my opinion.
Another Mark Rudan will do me, find an NPL coach with some street-smarts and back him!

Honestly, would our results have been any worse with a Moon or Cahn running the show?

@ Proud Dad.

It’s not a broad statement, it’s a very specific statement - the reason this Roar side are languishing in 9th place is because of the decisions on an Australian coach not the decisions of its Indonesian owners.

If Arnie, Merrick or Muscat started this season at Roar, with exactly the same conditions and squad as JA had (which were near perfect) do you believe they would have been in 9th spot?

I don’t.

There will be an attempt by the media to rehabilitate Aloisi in to the Australian coaching scene, and most likely they will point to “problems behind the scenes” without evidence or facts. You can see it starting now - Slater says something like “and the problems they’ve had with their training pitch” live in commentary last week .... what problems Robbie?

Roar have been training in a purpose built $10m training center all season, they have access to swimming pools and gymnasiums as part of a deal with the adjacent Sports Center ... so what problems? There are none, but it suits a narrative.

JA is a fine man, but time to accept he got this wrong and come back stronger next time. Not come back next time believing it was someone elses fault.

We know that a good manager needs to have the tactical awareness and understanding of a game - and I lean heavily towards that being more the domain of defensive players who develop their knowledge watching the game in front of them their whole playing careers. A supporter at live games has a similar view of games which helps makes us the great strategists, tacticians and commentators we are. I think the same understanding of games is held by fewer attacking players - and in that sense a Fowler, Kewell or Aloisi is more likely to have a team mindset of getting the ball and players into scoring positions (while you lot back there just do your jobs and stop goals against us) than a Popovic or Scumrat basing their game on good attacking play - but with a core of solid defence above all.

I am sure there are countless threads addressing a defensive player as manager compared to an attacking player.

My point is that I would rather a good defensive minded manager who employs an attacking coach to worry about the pointy end, over a manager with a great network who is less likely to produce the 'you shall not pass' mentality that our team is so sorely lacking and which cripples teams from the backline all the way up the pitch.

Agree with everything you said there Wazz, I interpreted your earlier post as a slight against Aussie coaches in general, apologies. That's my patriotic rose-coloured glasses.

No dramas. I do think some of our coaches (like our young players) need to find an “edge” that seems to be missing but I’m gutted for Australian football that Aloisi fell .... we need more good Aussie coaches, not one more failure.

There has been one notable difference between Aloisi and Davies, and it’s been evident in at least three of the four games under Davies. It’s the novel concept of a Plan B.
At some point in the game Davies has made a decision and a substitution to change the game ... and on each occasion it led to Roar dominating for a period and creating chances. He doesn’t just swap like for like in the hope that striker 2 has more luck than striker 1. He changes player and structure/approach.
This situation almost never happened under Aloisi. It was always just persist persist persist till the 70th minute and then swap like for like. I got the impression that Aloisi was unable to think on the run or understand how to counteract anything the opposition was doing.

What odds us finishing last?
CCM look like they can compete again with their DM and CB back.
It's going to be a battle between is CCM and WSW.

I’d say 3-1 odds crimson.

I wouldn’t like to bet money on that one either, it’s hard to pick.

Roar had their best chance for a win 2-0 v Glory and playing well and blew it through incompetent and lazy defending and a Bowles brain-fart.

On Friday they looked defeated and demoralised all game (bar the last 10 inspired by Ricky/D’Aggers) so it’s hard to see how they’re going to get themselves out of this.

After victory they have three games that are winable vs CCM then WSW then Adelaide.

Re the game against Perth: had Otoole fouled and taken a yellow OR had Bowles just stayed goal side and pressured the strike, maybe Jamie saves it or it goes wide, then Bowles stays on and Roar get 3 points or a draw, how different would the mindset have been, matching it with the No 1 team.

I agree totally with the defensive comments.

I have always structured my teams from the back, 2 competent centre backs and 2 younger fast willing outside backs and a smart 6. That's your Foundation and then build from there whether you go 2x6's or 2 strikers or whatever but that's your foundation.

It does seem that Aloisi has not really done that with just one good centre back in Papa (ignoring Devere??) and persisting with 2 others who are not really specialists or of a good enough level for ALeague.

Now had some of the money spent on Mikks, Holman, Mauk or Lopez been directed towards a Marquee CB good quality who knows.

Id bet my coaching career we wouldn't have conceded so many goals and would still be in a shot if the 6 and I aint no pro.