Mikkelsen has generally been playing on the left, but I agree he has not been anywhere near the standard required. It’s early days, but at the moment he is the leader, in my estimation, for the worst import of the season award, with Ken Ilso a close second.

Can’t agree with the Ilso part. Have found him to be quite good and visibly lifts Adelaide when he’s brought on.

Worst is probably Jair so far.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be writing Mikkelsen off yet, he was brilliant vs Mariners but lost it in the next game which was apparently after the baby was born.

Pepper at RB? Pepper stinks. He is clearly not up to it and never has been. If you're binning Jack for a week youve got to start Dane.

A nice change of pace would be something like...

Young
DI-LDV-Papa-Connor
TK-Lopez
Eric-Mauk-Tobi
Tags

White, Caletti, DWH, Leck, Bowles

I just don’t get this “Pepper stinks” line?

It was the same with Jamie Young until very recently and before him Dimi Petratos ... it seems first impressions do count, or at Roar the only impressions that count lol.

I can adid another to that list, James Donachie. When he first started out he was scoring own goals for fun, was regularly criticised for being out of position, and yet was a more than competent defender. Both at RB where he often played initially and then CB and then grew into an excellent CB courted by Victory and nowearning $1m/year in Korea.

Roar fans are often two quick to form an opinion and too slow to change it.

Peppers stats are pretty good this year, comparable to any CB in the Comp which is saying something. stats don’t tell the whole story of course but I don’t think his performances have been at all bad - people throw lines around like “he’s often out of position” as if they’re fact when in reality they’re probably not and for a variety of reasons.

The penalty Pepper gave away on Saturday is a good example; the Wanderers player had two Roar defenders on him, both allowed him through forcing Pepper to make a challenge he should never had to make. Pepper gets the blame and yet Hingert is a passenger and not even goalside.

But park Pepper for now ...

LDV is not even getting close to the squad at the moment. He’s either unfit or on the outer, and I recon he’s gone in January. Probably to Asia. So it’s a shootout between Bowles and Reardon.

At RB, Ingham is too inexperienced to offer surety so it’s either Bowles or Pepper.

Either way there’s a huge question mark over Jack - what the f’ck is going on at RB?

You have the biggest crush on Pepper and have defended him to the hilt for yonks. He sucks. He is backup quality at best. What makes you think he would even be serviceable at RB? His ball control and passing was woeful in midfield, but you think he would be fine going on marauding bombs forward and crossing accurately from RB?

We all knew that if McKay and Pepper were in the starting team, we would struggle to make the 6. At the moment, we are where we deserve to be. We need a new coach, a suitable backup at #10 (or Aloisi to use his brain and play Caletti there) and a new coaching staff.

You say his passing is woeful, the stats say differently.

And that’s what I mean, people see one bad pass and use it to confirm their position. Yet the stats this season say he passes accurately and he passes forward

And don’t get me wrong, I was a huge critic of Youngs in that first season, not so on Petratos although he was overweight in his first season, and Donachie was a disaster and I can see the limitations in Pepper (he’s nowhere near Avraams level for example) but there’s no reason to hang Pepper out to dry for doing a decent job in a defence that’s not functioning.

imo the disfunction is coming from RB with Hingert having a nightmare start, the last 4 goals have all come via Hingert who for some reason has turned in to a turnstile

And then there’s the question of what problem are we trying to fix? Do we have an issue crossing the ball from overlapping wing backs or do we have an issue with a RB who’s as much use defensively as a training cone this season?

Personally I’d take out the training cone and shut the back door, even if that means being less effective going forward.

If I was picking the back 4 I’d have Nigro, Avraam, Pepper and Bowles there (I would pick the RB with the best cross mind you) that’s our best defence imo.

DeVere - he’s lost it or he’s not fit (he was shite last season)

Hingert - not sure what’s going on

And then there’s Reardon who’s good but one for the future.

And just on Caletti at #10 ... Caletti is really a central Midfielder, more a DM in the mould of Luke Brattan, so why would you play him at 10, it’s not remotely his position?

Waz, while I agree with you to an extent, those players you have mentioned had issues and still have issues. Pepper has put in some good performances, but he doesn't have years and years of defensive experience and I don't think he has the same defensive intelligence as a player who has played there for years. People called out Young, pointing to his poor distribution inviting pressure back on the back line. Young's distribution is still an issue, but his shot stopping has mostly made up for it. Dimi was called out for dwelling on the ball, and taking too many touches when he was around the box. Someone has now coached that out of him, but it doesn't mean it wasn't an issue while he was playing with us. 

As for changes, Reardon gets big wraps, so if LDV isn't coming in, i'd love to see him start to get some minutes over Pepper to see how he develops. I'd also take Bowles over Jack at RB for now. This season is looking like a great opportunity to expose some more young guys and see if they have what it takes to be in the starting XI. Chuck Wenzell-Halls in over Ricky at the end of games and see what he can do. Maybe he'll kill it and take Mikkelson's position? No point having these young, up and coming players if we are never going to find out what they can do. 

@ Mello-D

I think BrissyRoo and I are looking at the same situation but coming at it from a from a different perspective that’s all. One is glass half full, the other half empty.

The fix to the debate is a fully functioning CB partner for Avraam which we don’t seem to have.

I guess what I’m trying to argue for is time, the only way players like Pepper (and young, Petratos, Donachie and dare I say, Brown) get better is through more game time - there is no reserve league and no one gets better on the training ground alone)

He is a very good CB imo, but I too can see his occasional half clearances, wrong positioning and occasional ball watching ... but man, welcome to the A League. That can be coached out, in there is a very good CB

Makes you wonder what would happen if we didn't have Ross looking after the defensive coaching....

the way i see it is that defensively we are just completely disorganised generally this problem is because the CB's are not marshalling the players around them well enough or are getting pulled out of position, so this is the first position i would look at changing. Papa's class is evident so for me that leaves Pepper. 

it probably is worth noting that the centre players are Pepper, Papa, TK, and Lopez none of them naturally speak the same language so that could also be a bit of a problem. Papas english is not great, TK gets by but you can definitely tell its not his preferred language, lopez's is rudimentary. so maybe it is taking longer to gel. 

It is a bit harsh to say that Devere was shite last season he was injured for 90% of the season. Simply though our defence is shambolic and something needs to change. i would think that JA will not change Hingert and Papa unless they are injured, Pepper seems to be preferred to Bowles or Devere so that leaves O'toole. I would not be surprised to see Nigro or bowles in for O'toole for the next game (i dont think this is the right call and wont be effective, but looking at it from JA's mind i think this is the easiest choice for him)

The defense has been shambolic since JA arrived at the club.  The names change but the same disorganisation, errors, and frailty have been on display for some time now. It is not entirely JA's fault, I would lay a good chunk of the responsibility with Ross.  I know they have hired a new coach this season, but it's groundhog day watching Brisbane's defense.  

I wonder what the new assistant coaches role is ? ..for that matter what is Ross's ? ..does he coach defence ? is he a tactition ? (JA sure isn't )....be interesting to know how it works ...

“I know they have hired a new coach this season, but it's groundhog day watching Brisbane's defense.” ... it is.

Not sure what the role of the new assistant is but when asked “who coaches defence?” JA has always answered he and Ross do

Waz you seem to attend fairly close the the club.  Who, in your opinion runs the defense?  From an outsider's point of view it would appear to be the Angry Aloisi.

I know his natural position is CM, but his skill set could be useful for a 10. He has good close control, a good first touch and great passing. He seemed pretty zippy with the ball last season before he got injured and I'd like to see him tried at 10 without too much defensive responsibility. Since Mulvey's days we've had trouble playing between the lines because our players don't seem to trust their teammates to control the ball if there is a defender anywhere near them, so they invariably pass backwards and sideways. Caletti is a player who could receive the ball in those areas and create chances for the attackers.

@ maxxie

“Caletti is a player who could receive the ball in those areas and create chances for the attackers” ... I agree with that although I think Caletti would best achieve that from 6 not 10.

Anyone been into a Rebel the last few days and seen what Roar merch is available?

Still waiting on my pre-order from the online store.

Calletti is more likely to play a killer pass to Taggart than McKay is.
I think Pepper has been serviceable this season. Seems a little suspect when players are running at him - made no challenge to allow the assist to Keogh, then gave away the pen against WSW.
Given we have two genuine wingers in the side, I don’t see why there is such a priority on our fullbacks being major offensive weapons. Hence I’d be happy to have Bowles replace Hingert.
————————Young
Bowles — Pepper —- Avraam —- OTool
—————————TK
Beautheac —— Lopez ——- Mikkelson
———————-Mauk
——————————Taggart

On paper that front 5 is as good as any - yet in combination they look toothless.

Attacking fullbacks are an important part of the system Aloisi is playing. But agreed it has to be measured goin forward so not to run the risk of being out of position at a crucial time. This of course takes experience in anticipating when to and when not to.
However your DM/s (6/'s) can always drop into that defensive line if necessary as a CB or L/R back so it's just all balance.
I do think also Ross is a hanger on. JA get less flack if he wasn't there.
It's not the boys club, as it looked like a bit when Moore was still there.

I agree with that setup except I like two 6's . I reckon Lopez and Mauk could both play 6 or 10 so hope JA experiments there a bit when they both on the field.

Mauk back was in full training, saw him the other day looking fit and aggressive. No sign of Holman though.

holeman had 10 weeks on the injury report at the start of the season. i would be surprised to see him before the new year. 

The week off and the Socceroos facing a crap Lebanon let me feel confident of a W for a week. That was nice. Now to watch some rubbish Aloisi-ball on Saturday.

Predictions, lads?

I am predicting a home loss and a lot of sadness beers. 1-3 loss.

I’m sticking with my original forecast:

We’re in Aloisi-world result wise making things less predictable so here’s my range of possible results:

Roar 0, City 0 (JA has had the team drilling on defence so much over the last two weeks they can’t conceded OR score)

Roar 5, City 0 ( that magnificent front line clicks and even Taggarts arse manages to bag a brace)

Roar 1, City 2 (Aloisi’s long hoped for“fast start” fails to materialise - again - and Roar are 0-2 down at half time. The second half is much better - as usual - but we can’t get the equaliser and go down fighting 1-2. The good news is there’s no need for a post match press conference as journos can just refer to previous weeks “we were unlucky”, “we deserved more” and “when we got going we showed we can play football” press conferences. )

I dont know why but i just get the feeling that we will finally play to our potential this game. I think JA will have absolutely belted the lads last week and tapered off this week to get them ready. I think we will see one change at the back and mauk to come in at the front. I think we will win it but wont keep a clean sheet.

it is always a big ask to keep Fornaroli quiet, JA tends to tell his CBs to tag him the whole game and give him no space to control the ball, in the last couple of games i can remember against them we have been able to keep him very quite only giving him one or two chances all game but it does leave us open at times for others to sneak in and we will have to be very aware to close that space otherwise Mcgree will have a field day. 

Taggs to get a double and Mauk to score against his old club for a 3-1 win

If we are to win we will need to score a single goal and concede zero.
MC are a strong team and there is no way they will concede 3 goals and we will need something spectacular to score two.
So logically it will be either a 1-1 draw or a loss.

If Pepper starts, I don't think he will handle Fornaroli's tricks, so may give away a penalty. 

Although i have been reasonably critical of Pepper and dont think he should be starting this week, he has done a pretty good job against Fornaroli. In the 2 games they have faced eachother pepper has kept him very quiet. In last seasons elimination final he was goalless and not really in the game, and in the FFA cup it took him 120 minutes to get free to score. Pepper did pretty well to give him very little room in the FFA cup

In fact we have done a reasonable job at frustrating fornaroli. he has only scored 2 goals against us in 7 games (His worst return against any club), one in the FFA cup this season and one in 2015-16 season (granted he did miss all the regular season games against us last season and a 1 in the 2016-17 season). He has also had a quiet start to the season (only 1 goal so far) so hopefully this continues and we can keep him out.