Katebian is now on Free Agents list.

Theo is now on 17/18 list.

Avraam Pap is now on the 16/17 list. The Nathan on the list existing was referring to this bloke:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Konstandopoulos

@ pv4

Sorry, misread that. Nathan is correct - still pending.

Been away for a while, is Borello leaving for Germany or just on trials?

I know we ended up 3rd like last season but I get the feel we are getting worse under JA.

Not looking forward to next season.

@ Paulc

Permanent transfer, something like $300k transfer, $150k in further bonuses and a cut of any future transfer fee.

I wouldn't worry about next season - JA has enough money in the cap to sign 4 good players, probably all visa players, and if he bags Avraam as well we'll be in a great position for next year.

Roars player of the year is Corey Brown.

Aloisi extends contract for three more years http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/football/brisbane-roar-coach-john-aloisi-signs-threeyear-contract-extension/news-story/6f29b8d3c740e2e84dcdaccc41f879ea

So why couldnt you hold onto Broich ?

@ lukerobhino

Depends which side of the fence you're on - Broich is 37, slowed down markedly, and has an ankle issue that may yet force him to retire, he needs a major operation on his ankle next month, and he wants several hundred thousand in salary. That's one side. The other side is simple and says he's a club legend and should be re-signed at all costs.

Personally I've no problem with Aloisi's decision on Broich but he has a real challenge filling the void.

Is Brisbane playing in the ACL next season?

Doesn't really paint JA in a good light in my eyes when the player who is replacing Broich in his position in the forward line is being paid marquee wages and most recently gifted a goal for Ulsan.

@ hames_jetfield

Broich has been interviewed on several occasions this past week, and numerous times he's said that (last) Fridays visit to the specialist may force him to retire. So how he and his agent can expect Roar to offer him a contract for next season before the results of that are known is baffling? And he's hardly going to pass a medical at a new club either.

Oar was playing left back so I think you're being a bit harsh there - up until that mistake he's had a fine game (although his head seemed to drop after it) and his versatility at LB is a real asset. Maybe even for the Socceroos if he can get some experience there. As a marquee is he overvalued? Based on current form yes I think he is, but fans clamoured for Roar to "do anything" to sign him when he came on the market last year. Well they did, so careful what we wish for.

Aloisi as a head coach is fine, next season is a big one though as it looms as his first season where he won't have any compromises in the squad through winter crisis, and for the first time he's got big dollars to spend on players so a test of his recruitment as well.

I've said it before though that Aloisi should add a defensive coach to the mix, the first two goals against Ulsan were just individual cock-ups by players but the third defending a simple free kick was just poor organisation. A common defensive trait for two years now.

There's a fan farewell to Thomas Broich this coming Thursday, see:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1483584688373865&substory_index=0&id=1361064053959263

Crestani not being offered a new deal is disappointing, another local player let go but Pepper retained NFI.

Wow.  Thought he was great value.

I thought Crestani is worth another contract however, Roar have another truckload of good kids coming up fast so it was him or someone else being let go.

It's more reason expansion is needed, especially in Brisbane, the surge in participation makes some states look static and we need a second club to convert more youth players through more opportunity

Wonder if they are talking to Kruse as a replacement for Borello, would be a good fit.

Thought he doesn't want to come back as he thinks of himself as a 'Melbourne boy' and he had a falling out with Roar fans.

Our marquee spots are locked up so I doubt it.

I hope we get kruse

Who else has a marquee spot
We might be able to claim him in a twelve month guest contract

People forget how good he is he will tear the league apart
Holman oar and kruse is a formidable attack

We are pretty covered for dms otherwise holland would be tempting

His stats are absolutely dominant for a dm. He would probably be the best dm in the a league but was played out of position. Having said that I'm reluctant to sign anyone that would interfere with calletti. He looks a touch of class and just needs to improve his defence

Not sure we need a striker either as dagostino looks good enough to me

I'd bid all my money on kruse and maybe a top class goal keeper. If there is any money left a decent fullback could be useful too

@ gazorblade

Holland was awful at (an awful) Adelaide but as you say, were set for DMs. Kruse I think will try for one more contract overseas before coming back home unless someone throws a marquee contract at him. Roar could possibly back-end it though for next year as they did Holman/Oar?

Not all fans though to be fair, just like not everyone hated Nichols, believe it or not :D. He was young at the time and has grown as a player and person, I would take him back any day. When a fan leaves on a sour note and goes to another team there will always be some anger towards that player whether justified or not. I would take any ex player back as long as they put in 100% and show they want to be at the club. 

@mrb

Not this guy though?

Brisbane Roar legend Thomas Broich reflects on his A-League career

AFTER seven glorious years, Thomas Broich’s status as a Brisbane Roar legend was cemented when he was the first inductee into the club’s Hall of Fame.

He reflects on his A-League career:

What are favourite memories from your Brisbane Roar career?

I loved the 2014 grand final win against the Wanderers.

Why that one over the other two grand final victories?

Because of the atmosphere, and how competitive and how intense it was. We had to work so incredibly hard to get back and then win it.


Thomas Broich celebrates a goal for the Brisbane Roar. Picture: Jono Searle
Anything else stand out?

There was a time under Mike Mulvey around the Christmas/New Year in the 2013-14 season when we beat Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory 5-2 and 3-0 away from home. The football we played those days was unreal.

How can the Roar recapture such past glories? It has now been three years without any silverware.

There’s not much missing. I think we need to be a bit more courageous. Whenever we take a game to the opposition we look good. Our success was built on backing ourselves 100 per cent and we haven’t been able to do that the past couple of years.

Your status at the Roar has been further cemented by being the club’s first Hall of Fame inductee.

It’s a massive honour for me.

Did you expect it?

It took me totally by surprise. The club told me that something was happening at the awards night, but I didn’t expect this.


Are you sad that your last game for the Roar was the 1-0 semi-final loss to Melbourne Victory … a match you weren’t involved in until the final 25 minutes?

Yes, sort of sad because it doesn’t do it justice. Against Victory, realistically we did not create a single goal chance. That’s a semi-final and that’s not reflective of our true potential. We’re good enough to go there and dominate from the opening whistle. That was the mindset behind our success. Yeah we had games where that didn’t work, and we still lost games but we were really unafraid. The moment we get that back, it might be the missing piece.

Ange Postecoglou started the Roar revolution. Tell us about that famous meeting over a coffee in Germany in 2010 when he convinced you to join the club.

He spent a whole day driving in the car to meet me. He was on vacation and he had his wife with him. It obviously meant a lot to him, so it meant a lot to me as well. The way he was talking was really visionary. The thing I didn’t realise to the full extent was that he meant it. I hear all the coaches use all the same phrases, but he was able to pull it off as well. He went beyond those phrases.

Despite the Roar’s on-field success during your time here, off the field it has been a battle for the club in terms of financial problems and finding a true connection with the people of Brisbane. How frustrating has that been?

It gutted me at times. We made three grand finals, three semis and a quarter. In seven years that’s some record, but we haven’t really strengthened the club in that time in terms of crowds, memberships, financial stability, having an academy, reaching out to the community, even political connections. It feels that we missed a big opportunity.


Thomas Broich was the first inductee into the Roar’s Hall of Fame. Picture: Jono Searle.
How can the club rectify this?

It’s never too late. We need to get a lot more business people on board, a lot more politicians on board and reach out to the community a lot more because we can’t just rely on our success on the park. It should be the other way around. You build a club and success is almost the byproduct of that process.

Would a second A-League team in Brisbane help the Roar?

It would be a good thing. There’s rivalry in the city then, there’s a lot more talk about football. It generates a lot of interest. We need a better conversion rate in terms of getting all the juniors that are involved in football to the level where they still follow the sport when they become parents themselves.

Who was the best player you encountered in the A-League?

Players come and go a lot. It was always different players in different seasons. Bes (Besart Berisha) is someone you don’t want to play against. He’s the embodiment of passion. That winning edge that he’s got — it’s incredible. To come up against that is terrifying. Then there’s Corona. The football intelligence and touches he brought to Brisbane was unbelievable. He was a huge loss, but then we brought in TK (Thomas Kristensen). He’s an awesome player too and we looked a better team overall this season.

How do you sum up your time in Brisbane?

It was a hell of a ride. A lot of good times, bad times and I think I learnt a lot. I met a lot of inspirational people. I’m just grateful.

What are your plans?

I really want to travel, enjoy Brisbane, maybe go to New Zealand for two weeks, go to Fiji for a week … that kind of stuff. There’s a lot I still want to do in Brisbane. I feel like going home to Germany. I want to reconnect with friends, family, German football, and then hopefully come back and be a coach one day.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/brisbane/brisbane-roar-legend-thomas-broich-reflects-on-his-aleague-career/news-story/cae7c852e45ddd5b15477be419fc0309

That's for posting that Scott 👍

There’s not much missing. I think we need to be a bit more courageous. Whenever we take a game to the opposition we look good. Our success was built on backing ourselves 100 per cent and we haven’t been able to do that the past couple of years.

Subtle insight into the roar dressing room, the lack of courage is demonstrated in the tactics and behavior of the coaching staff. Roar will never back themselves with this coach. 

@ cluvesundies.

Spot on with that statement - Roars success has been built on self-belief and the courage to back themselves even when the chips were down.

You might be right on the coach, I'm not sure but I've always felt the coaching team are Roars "soft underbelly" and the only thing that will dispel that is if we play with courage, conviction and self-belief.

If there's an * to JAs tenure its that he's never had a winter to build the squad and therefore the team he wants. As a consequence the squad has always had compromises in it like Hervas and Arana and even a not fully fit Holman.

Hopefully at the end of this season those doubts will be dispelled. But there's only one way to do that - the way we play and the results we get

I disagree that here isn't much missing for Roar.
Roar finished well off second and were lucky not to finish lower.
They had terrible away form and compared to SFC ,they had poor defence .
McClaren was the only player that scored goals.The return from other forwards was not good enough.Oar,Borrello,Holman,Broich and Petratos when he was there.
McClaren has gone.Borrello and Broich have gone.
A lot of McClarens goals came from longballs,which was Aloisi's main strategy against the press.
Against the top teams ,when they pressed us we looked second rate and couldn't play out or keep possession.
The midfield looked disjointed.Holman in front of McKay and Kristensen never worked.When Holman was injured and Petratos came in the team looked better.But was still second best against the SFC,MV and MC(in the first half of the season when they were good)
What is Roar going to do to push SFC ?
With the current squad and tactics Roar have a quantum leap to make any impression.If our new striker doesnt bang in 20 goals we will be worse off.
No Broich,so where will the creativity come from?Watch the final against MV.
Roar have serious challenges.
At the moment we have Oar,Agostino and Holman up front.
Aloisi needs to find a good creative midfielder to replace Broich and a good striker.After that I still don't know if Aloisi's tactics will push SFC.

It should be pointed out that our whole strategy was designed to get Maclaren goals, he missed a fucking bucketload and could have honestly pushed 30 goals if he was a clinical striker. If we have a striker next season that is less of a poacher, we'll need to change tactics and have the midfielders pushing into the box instead of sitting outside the area when we attack.

I completely agree about our possession. The only possession we were able to keep consistently was in our own half. I can't tell you how frustrated I've been watching our tactics deteriorate starting when Ange left. When he was here, we had effective possession that drive into the final third. Since then we've literally gone backwards and our CBs see more of the ball than the rest of the team combined.

@ crimson/Maxie

If three good visa signings are made in the front three then our problems go away providing JA signs players that suit the style he wants.

I can't disagree with anything Crimson has said but I don't believe the gap is too hard to close - defence is sorted despite some disorganised defending, but I don't see a better combo of Devere/Avraam in the comp; midfield is just about there but for me there's a question of whether Holman and Mackay fit in the same team at the same time, and the problems for me come on our respective wings and No 9.

Maccers is a great goal poacher but as a team member he's less than effective (apart from the 20 goals) because he doesnt bring others in to play so unless he's scoring 30 we've got a net loss on the goal front - his return against sides in the top 4 was piss poor this season which is where we lost it. Put someone like a Ruud Boymans at 9, two pacy wingers who can score, and Holman behind who's capable of getting 10 and we wont be short in goals.

I just don't think Holman should be playing behind the front three.That's a key creative position amd he just doesnt fit that job.In his whole time there i struggle to recall him setting up goals.Borrello and Broich on the wings were far better.Which exemplifies the problem.
Holman always has been a runner who breaks the line and harasses defence.That's what he built his career around.
Plus he likes to roam around,which is not ideal for a central player in a defensive pattern.
So he should be on the wing or maybe not in a 433 ,but in a 442.
That's why a classy central creative player is key.We have never had one.Broich was always left sided.Aloisi wanted Brattan to fill that role.But he left.
The best in the HAL in that creative role is Ninkovic.So it's no surprise SFC won.

@ crimsoncrusoe

Holman is one of the conundrums for JA to sort out. The reason I don't like Holmsn and Mackay in the same XI is they're both everywhere and nowhere at times.

But sticking with Holman, if we're going with a 4231 (or possibly moving to three at the back next season) then there is a role for him as the second DM alongside Krustensen, his ability to break the lines and shoot from range would suit that role