Maybe giving Neville and ROD a little bench time for the next game could go some way to fixing things.

Must get DWH in the starting team.  

I'm putting Hassan Ramazani's name out there again.

He is a Brisbane Roar Youth player (18) and all I have seen of him (live) was a couple of appearances in our first two pre-season games. He was fast, had good timing on tackles, a good awareness of the dangers in a game, and appeared to make good decisions and tighten up our second string defence significantly.

He is listed as CB/LB, but seems to also play in the sort of role Connor O'Toole occupies. Looking at some NPL footage on youslesstube, he seems to have much better dribbling and passing ability than Connor through traffic, and genuine speed with the ball. He also seems to provide a spark. Was at a much lower level of opponent in the clips though.

As a replacement for Gillesphey, he may be too inexperienced. Maybe as a replacement for Connor while he establishes himself (or not in the top flight) then move him back to CB if he works out as good as he looked to in pre-season.

A lot of "seems to", "maybes"  and "appears to" in all that.

Reality check - Robbie has obviously looked at him in the early pre-season. If he is not lining up with the squad already maybe his development is not enough yet for the men's team.

He just looked good in all the ways that we need someone on the left side of defence with some good creativity about him.

I’m pretty sure we’ll see Ramazani, maybe even this weekend, but as soon as Courtney-Perkins arrives back (next week?) he’ll go straight in I recon. 

I hope so. Courtney-Perkins looks like a special player 

One thing though - Robbie chose this team based on what he saw over many weeks of pre-season.

We have played one ALeague game, had a week off, then played one more ALeague game.

I have never coached, but surely 2 broken weeks of play is not enough to throw out what he has seen proven throughout pre-season.

If Robbie wants to be seen as a reactive coach, he might feel pressure to change his players. If he wants to be a stable coach (neigh), trusting his players and his own selection criteria, then he might leave the team as is for a couple more weeks and only tinker with his use and timing of subs while the playing style he has developed comes together.

In that case, I would not expect him to change anything other than bench use for the next two games. 4 weeks is enough in my eyes to then judge performance 'in real games'.

I doubt this would be a globally accepted approach in this thread...

That said, I know we have all offered opinions on our strengths and weaknesses throughout pre-season - mostly thinking we would have started with a different team in game 1. Robbie must have shared some of our concerns and must have had some of the thoughts himself that various posters have suggested. In that light - I could understand him having given specific players a couple of games beyond pre-season to make their case in the real world. If so, they have been given enough time and ring the changes Robbie.

Enough of my confused ramblings and contradictory thoughts.

Anyone with coaching experience like to comment on where the balance lies between avoiding the panic merchant label, and yet still being responsive within a newly formed team?

Roars top scorer this season will be Rick O'Shea.

TBH I wouldn't mind - as long as he scores regularly. ;)

Why was the Suncorp pitch in such poor condition last Friday night, particularly considering there had been no RL/RU games played on it for at least 6 weeks as far as I can recall? The grass was patchy and the ball bobbled along when rolling across the surface. And did they use the sprinklers on the surface pre-game, I don't recall seeing them.

Groundstaff are blaming the weather. Crock of shit imo, they’ve just lost the ability to manage the thing. 

It's not like the customer (The Roar) has much choice. Stadiums Qld is a disgraceful rort. The do almost whatecer they like and know there are no negative repercussions.

If that's their response, then I agree it is a crock of shit. Yes there hasn't been much rain, but they have sprinklers which I'm sure they are not prevented from using, and apart from 1 or 2 days there has been little very hot weather.

the ground staff will use their typical excuse that the surface in in transition between the winter grass and the summer grass. in reality they will have put no effort into maintaining the grass as they have U2 playing in 2 weeks and there is no point having it in good condition when it is going to be ruined then.

back to the footballing side i am really wondering what has happened to our game plan. in our good performances early in preseason and the FFA cup one of the most positive things i remember was how we moved the ball out of the backline. when our 3 CB got the ball they were hitting the LB/RB quickly even when they were under a little pressure. the LB/RB would have 3 options bounce the ball centrally to the CM move the ball forward (either by carrying the ball past a player or by passing forward) or last option to bounce back to the CBs. this has seemingly disappeared the ball movement out to the LB/RB was almost non-existent on the weekend (i could count the times Gilessphie passed to o'toole on one hand) and when it did happen it was so slow that the LB/RB only had the option of bouncing it back to the CBs. Most of the time the CBs were looking to hit long balls or central areas with the CMs or strikers facing away from goal slowing everything down. 

we looked so much better when we were hitting the LB/RB quickly. we were moving the ball forward much quicker and it allowed mauk/oshae to play the ball facing forward and we were beating the midfield lines in transition. 

Im hoping for some changes this week. DWH to start and Holloway to come on for more than 15 minutes. WSW will be similar to Vic with real pace out wide and a quality striker. i would like to see mcging dropped as i have seen nothing to suggest he is up to standard. inman to drop into the RWB role and DWH to start. 

A friend of mine who hasnt been following any preseason games,was at the game against MV and commented that it looked like Roar players hadn't played together much.
Despite all the preseason games ,I guess it takes time to build a completely new team and get those combinations working.Especially if the players arent experienced and high quality.

I just watched the first 2 games against Perth and Victory and I've gotta say that I agree with the general consensus on the Roar's style of play this season.

I feel as though they're playing too many long balls into the box, while their build up play can be too slow at times. The majority of their attacks all seem to come from long balls or little looped balls into the penalty area. I'd like to see them play a little more through the middle and become more direct. At this stage I don't feel as though there has been much variation in their attack.

Brisbane is really missing a creative type player. People say that O'Shea is that person, perhaps he needs time to find his feet in the league, but at the moment I'm not quite seeing it. 

From what I've seen so far, I'd say they'll finish around 5th or 6th. I hope I'm wrong and they finish higher. 

A positive is that they seem to be more fit then Perth and Victory in the second half as the Roar had a lot more space and were able to control the game a lot more. Unfortunately the first half in both games was pretty average.

I’ll disagree on O’Shea - if you’re not seeing it I don’t know where you’re looking. 

Two games in he looks more than capable of being that play maker to me - so far though he’s done plenty of good work but ROD, Neville, and Mauk aren’t quite on the same wavelength. I doubt that’s O’Shays fault (although it could be) 

His not a bad player, he does have little moments. Currently I haven't seen enough to suggest that his in the same bracket as Castro or Broich. Someone to really carry the team and be that spark. 

If he had someone of a similar level to him like Broich playing beside him, I think O'Shea would be outstanding. 

I agree that the front third seems a little off at the moment. I didn't watch any pre-season games so I can't say if what we're seeing is different from the pre-season, but it does look as though they are having a little bit of trouble gelling. From what I read here on the forum, it seems as though the team wasn't too bad during pre-season except for ROD, he seemed to spilt people's opinions.  

I don’t think he’s the Castro or the Broich either. But if he can create 6-7 clear cut scoring chances in two games he should okay in the rest of this season. We just need someone to finish his work - had Mauk, Inman, O’Donovan not butchered his creative work we’d be having a different discussion about not just him, but the whole team. And that last point is relevant - until they start winning these things are going to constantly dog them. 

Tbf , you are a wannabe coach that got nfi

Last yr , you hammered DWH and Taggert , season prior you bagged JMac 
this Yr ?? 

awwwww, I’m sorry you’re offended by other people’s opinions, free speech can be a real bitch sometimes. 

I presume you’ve used the majority of your 84 posts to date telling people how wrong they are ... and maybe agreeing with your main account lol? 

So last yr you were a fan of DWH ? 
Oh and you were also Jmacs biggest fan when he was at roar? 
Poor old Taggs diddnt stand a chance with the RSF 

Hey Beach,

you can’t have a problem with people’s opinions surely? 

Opinions don’t have to be right or wrong, they just have to be opinions. Everyone has got one. 

This page has done REALLY well over the years allowing people to share opinions and discuss them. Typically without the need to be offensive towards someone else or be personally insulting. It’s a good page for that. 

Lol , you change to suit yourself , classic ,you push your opinions down people’s throats yet if questioned I’m offensive ? 
True supporters back their team , their manager and their players .
maybe you missed somit at capo school

Multiple identities, persistent insults. 

Who made you internet sheriff? 

Sometimes it’s correct to call people out and show the hidden agendas , 
i have never insulted any one on this forum.

”Sometimes it’s correct to call people out and show the hidden agendas” ... err, okay, so what gives you the right to “call people out”? 

And “hidden agenda”? What agenda?? 

And if you don’t think calling people a “wannabe coach” isn’t an insult or offensive you need to reconsider maybe ... 

and try posting under your main account, not some sub-account you keep for occasions like this. 

Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel reckons former Liverpool teammate Robbie Fowler's "difficult" Brisbane Roar are playing a similar style to his Wanderers.

Former England striker Fowler's team face a big test on Saturday when they are away to the league-leading Wanderers at their new Bankwest Stadium home ground.

"He (Fowler) is a top lad a top person and I really enjoyed playing together with him because he's a funny guy as well," said Babbel on Thursday.

The last time they spoke was before Brisbane played Central Coast in an FFA Cup tie, with Wanderers having already faced the Mariners in a friendly.

."He was asking me how they play... and I gave him some tips, but I think it wasn't the best tips because he lost this game," Babbel said with a chuckle.

Babbel said Brisbane were pressing high and aggressively this season under Fowler.

"You see they are different now, they are a bit similar to us, they've changed a lot like us.

"They play a really good style of football like us. I hope they can improve, (but) not on Saturday."

He wants Wanderers to play with more freedom after praising their fighting spirit in the gritty derby win over Sydney FC last weekend.

“If we can bring the skills in, then it's for the opposite side very difficult to beat us," Babbel said.

"To believe that we are good, not every player is still believing

“The good thing is, every win helps and I hope we can show a bit more confidence on Saturday to do what we want to do on the pitch.

"Not to think 'if I do a mistake now it isn't good then for our team,' so just play with freedom, play with enjoyment and show what you can do."

German international Nicolai Muller will be on the Wanderers bench for Saturday's game after arriving last Friday.

Babbel said the revised handball rule made things difficult for match officials and admitted his side had benefited from two VAR calls in that area.

They were awarded a penalty in the opening round and a similar-looking incident involving Wanderers' midfielder Keanu Baccus in last weekend's derby wasn't given..

"I'm happy that I don't have to make the decisions, it's very hard," he said.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/au.sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/babbel-says-fowlers-roar-similar-wsw-020700171--spt.html

Who’s coming down to Sydney tomorrow?

Having watched all of the Roar's games so far [as a neutral], I actually don't think that they're far off. My opinion is that the need to be playing Amadi-Holloway with Wenzell-Halls though, with O'Donovan being the impact sub in the way that Santalab used to be. I personally think that O'Donovan was a poor signing, considering the money they'd be spending on him, with the only saving grace being that he might be able to get an Aussie passport soon and no longer take up a visa spot. Amadi-Holloway offers something different, an outlet where they can just go 'BANG' instead of dilly-dallying for 15 minutes doing sweet FA. Inman clearly isn't a striker, and I think it's a bit of a blunder having him up top at the moment.

I also haven't been too impressed with Gillesphey, but I have a feeling that it could possibly have been him coming in thinking "it's Australia, I'm pretty good, I'll piss it there no worries" and then getting a rude shock when the league isn't [completely] full of spuds. It's probably a bit too early to be making a comprehensive judgement, but for me: it's been interesting. There are things that I think Fowler is doing well, and there are things that I think he's not doing too well at. We'll have a better idea come mid-season where he's at, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him make changes in the next transfer window if he isn't happy with areas of the team.