DeVere hasn't trained properly since May 2014, he missed all of last year and desperately needed a full preseason. This is a disaster for the bloke. Can't understand why the need for knee surgery wasn't diagnosed months ago and sorted out then?

My only thinking it is done in stages to let things recover or something is out of place and have to go back in. I'm really annoyed we let Donahue slip through. Bowles is just not good enough. We would have been better off with Jackson.

It is frustrating that the focus is on the defence. We had the second least goals scored against last year. We had the second best strike rate with our striker for goals. The problem has been the conversion rate of our midfielders scoring goals. Had we someone like Nichols with 8 goals or so, we would have won the Premiership.

And, to top it off, we've let Lustica go, whom you could count on for some goals, though he didn't play many minutes. For all the good things that Broich, Mckay, Corona and Hervas (not many), we needed goals from them for the amount of time they had on the pitch.

What you say about defence was true when averaged over the whole season ,but the truth that in last third of the season our defence was pathetic.Remember PG,MV,MC and that final.Conceding more than 3 goals on a regular basis is not good defence.

This so much. The final showed it up at the worse possible time. How can you lose when you are 3 goals up. Absolute schoolyard defending for a team that has the experience to know better.

SBS reporting Roar are unveiling our new DM tomorrow (Wednesday). A Dane with international experience apparently

Likely: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kristensen

And confirmed in the Mail this morning:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/brisbane/brisbane-roar-strengthen-squad-with-signing-of-danish-international-thomas-kristensen/news-story/c3bb488f40eef6790be09b04463423bd

It is good that he is a bit more defensive. Corona was good for intercepts but not for tackling. This might help us win some more balls higher up, rather than the 18 yard box.

I wonder if Roar will play a 4123 this year .Ideally we need another midfielder with good defensive abilities in midfield to allow for a 4213.A lot may depend on whether Pepper can step up.He is more mobile and energetic than Petrat.
Petrat and McKay are not good defenders.Maybe Petrat and Borello can go back to battling for the right forward position.
McKay,Oar and Broich somehow will need to fit into two spots on the left.
We still need back up for McClaren and the backs.
Looking at the squad so far,Aloisi is going to have to try some different formations like 442.

Aloisi expressed a strong desire to play different formations and even said Roar would change formations during games including 4-3-3 as standard and 4-2-3-1 with Maclaren playing lone striker. A formation with two holding midfielders would suit Roar with the ney guy plus either McKay or Pepper in the second position

Who we sign will probably answer this question right? But if you look at how Roar actually played - the winger and full back were expected to defend/attack as a team eg Borrello/Hingert which worked on the right but not the left where age tested Broich/Steff. Petratos was basically a "first receiver" in transition from defence to attack (with some spectacular goals resulting), McKay roamed box to box and Corona anchored the midfield. Change from a 4-3-3 and that dynamic changes so I'm not convinced we will see much change providing Aloisi gets the left wing functioning.

I think 4-2-3-1 would allow us to get more out of an ageing Broich by moving him into a number 10 position. He usually drifts into that area anyway, and if we play Oar on the left and Borrello on the right, it will stretch the opposition and leave Broich with the space to operate in the middle. We can play the new guy next to Mckay with Mckay acting as the link to move the ball quickly between defence and attack like what he did for the national team.

Have we signed a new LB?

No new LB. Aloisi says he's going with Brown backed by O'Toole.

Brown is very good, just inconsistent and when he's put under pressure his brain "ejects" lol

Hard to do when the instructions from JA are to hoof the ball over the mid to Jamie.

Didn't realize Devere was in such a bad state. New CB surely must now be a priority?

I mentioned in another thread that a LB and supporting striker is also necessary but might add we also need a work horse (younger quality) midfielder. This new Dane is 33 and we will soon have Mackay and Broich leave or retire.

Joey Katebian given chance to impress against Wanderers tomorrow:

Melbourne Victory's loss could be Brisbane Roar's gain, with John Aloisi poised to steal one of the country's most prolific young strikers from under Kevin Muscat's nose.

Former Victory youth captain Joey Katebian is on trial with the Roar and will get the chance to prove he deserves an A-League contract in Friday's pre-season clash with Western Sydney on the Gold Coast.

Katebian, 20, was cut by Victory in May to pursue other opportunities despite a stunning goal-per-game scoring record at state-league level.

In 41 games for Victory's youth team in NPL Victoria over the last two years, Katebian scored 40 times - but his only taste of A-League action for the club was a few minutes off the bench against the Central Coast Mariners late last year.

Aloisi, who worked closely with Katebian during his time as a youth mentor at Victory prior to joining Brisbane, reckons he's got his hands on a potential gem.

"I know Joey well from my time at Victory," Aloisi said.

"Having played as a striker before, I can see when someone is a goalscorer. He's a natural goalscorer.

"We've got him up here for a week to see how he fits in, not so much as a player but within the squad, to see if he will suit us.

"The opportunity's there for him and it's a good opportunity."

The Roar needs a reliable back-up option to striker Jamie Maclaren, having released import frontman Jean Carlos Solorzano and the versatile Henrique during the off-season.

But Aloisi stopped short of claiming Victory had made a mistake by letting Katebian go.

"Everyone has different opinions on football, players, what they need, what they don't," he said.

"I'm sure that people will say that when we lose players it's a big mistake.

"Kevin Muscat knows what he's doing."

Anyone know what rime the game is tomorrow?

Edited by BRFC_92: 28/7/2016 10:42:10 AM

Good. At least the young boy is a local Aussie.

Can anyone get access to watch the game tomorrow or is really behind closed doors?

Club will be providing live updates on Twitter. That'll be the best we're gonna get.

Petratos scored 7 and had 7 assists. That's as good as any midfielder last year bar Mooy.

We need to sign players for this season though not to replace Broich or others next season. I think Roar are holding off waiting on Holmans decision, if we get him I don't think we'll have many more senior signings tbh

Gut feeling is we won't sign him, but we'll see.

I'd be happy with Holman if he's still got that energy about him. Still think we need a CB though given Devere's situation.

I've seen Rowles play and he's quite good but I would be nervous if he were the only back up. Polenz can play CB as well but I've never seen him play there so BR will be light at the back without DeVere

Brown has the look of a winger who was converted to LB late in his development. He really isn't a good defender, but looks quite good when given the opportunity to go forward. The problem is Broich is ageing and can't track back, so Brown won't be able to make as many runs forward without leaving us exposed at the back. I honestly think Brown should be a back up LW and we should sign another LB.

Agree. I've always thought Brown would be a much better LW than LB.

Yes, I don't understand the hate for Petrat. He does go missing at times, but he is good going forward. I didn't include him in my need more goals group. I'd rather he be played as a striker than a midfielder, though.

thats a common thought of many. I watched a compilation of Maclarens 20 goals last season and Pet-rat was involved in many of them with either an assist or set up pass. He is underrated by many.

Petrat has improved a lot.He actually sprints now which is a bonus.
His big problem is workrate and defence,which has been problematic for a midfield not strong on defence.
Who knows,this year he may improve further.But the latter half of last year exposed our defensive weaknesses and as sides continue to work them over ,players that don't step up will be on the bench.
It can't be a surprise that the two senior players Aloisi has brought in so far are defensive midfielders.