Next week 

I think that 7 or 8 is where ROD is heading, optimistically 

Question, waz... 

Is there any way suggestion that these games at Dolphin are the club testing the water for a permanent move? 

Waz did hint at one stage not long ago about some sort of different stadium possibility ..it was one of those cryptic comments of his ... what was that comment Waz ? Vaguely remember something about Roar looking into other venues when people on here were discussing venues other than Suncorp. You hinted that it was a brand new stadium possibility ?

No, the move to Dolphin is absolutely a cost saving move - three games away from Suncorp, all on a Sunday (note we don’t have any Sunday suncorp games) is rumoured to benefit the club by about $750,000.

on the boutique stadium front, and to clarify the “cryptic comment” quip - fairly detailed discussions have been going on for a little over 12 months on this topic with supporters groups (well, the RSF as it’s the only one organised and active at the moment) and club meeting with various levels of government to discuss the possibility. 

Most of the activity towards a stadium comes out of the fan survey stuff done last year (I did post the links before) 

The push is on and it’s no coincidence that since we started lobbying Ipswich and Gold Coast have intensified their efforts for stadia. We’ll get progress within 12 months I recon, hopefully positive as discussions have shifted to location for a stadium which is a great sign

Theres a million questions with stuff like this and I’d say the easy bit is actually building it, the hard part comes in the years before construction starts and crucially - it’s a BRFC and Government decisions, fans sit on the fringe of those discussions 

Thanks mate ,good to know someone is actually looking into it .
Naturally fans get little input on location etc ...we can't even agree on a walkout song !
I still think The RNA showgrounds ,Perry Park and /or a block out somewhere near the Airport...(Pinkenba ? Eagle Farm  ?) are the best northside options .
Not sure there is anywhere possible and reasonably central ,south of the river  .

A location like Brisbane Polo Grounds or Murrarie Recreation Park (at Murrarie) would be fantastic .

Right next to the Murrarie Train Station and the Gateway Motorway.

Fowler has to change the attacking line up. 
Not scoring is killing us and now the table doesn't lie after round 5. Even with our bye

Roy O'Donovan - 4(1)

Where are the next 14 goals going to come from?

First prediction correct, but I can see losses to City and Mariners as well now. 

Slammed 

Changing the line up won’t change anything, the quality of players, especially the visa players is just not good enough. Worst team in the league.

Fowler is well on his way to joining the pantheon of great players who can't coach.

And here's a shout out to Roy Keane while I'm here. Roy discovered that attitude only get you so far. 

Hard to explain why they can’t score. ROD can’t play solo in 4-5–1 (DWH could) but even after RODs gone off how many chances did we waste - if you can’t score from 8 yards out with the goal at your mercy when will you score? 

Keano flunked out at PL/Championship level.

Fowler's flunking out at A-League level. With a salary cap. And foreign player cap.

Unfortunately the truth is this team is not good enough.The doubters about League 1/2 standard players are right .There is a lot of average players in this team.
The reason we cant score is because the players arent high enough quality to score  at this level against good defences.
The first half was tragic.
We started to play more in the second half and created some chances.But straight away we looked vulnerable in defence.Then we conceded.
2 points after four games.MC next.
It looks like Fowler is not going to be the messiah after all.He has over estimated the abilities of his squad.

In most senses the lack of quality argument doesn’t stack up - otherwise they wouldn’t be having long patches of play where they are the better side and they are creating lots of chances. 

You can argue that lack of quality is leading to missed chances but I don’t buy that either, the chances aren’t hard - they just need a bit of composure to finish them off. 

The same problem has been there since the CCM Cup game - slow starts followed by significant periods of dominance, but no goals. 

Fowler has to fix that, or go (it’s too early to call for his head imo but the clock must start running soon) 

At the very least Roy O'Donovan has had enough chances. Time to drop him. Whether it's confidence or because he knows RF simply won't drop him, he's had more than ample chances to show he can be the Roar's leading man. He's failed to take those chances bar one.

I reckon you put Ola Toivonen in this team, during that 10 minute period where they were getting in behind Adelaide's defense and creating chances, he would be putting all of them away.

Agree. I would have swapped DWH and ROD around - start DWH then bring on ROD late in the game. 

I just listened to Fowler’s presso and he sounds totally baffled by it all - “it’s working in training”

Mells , Akbari and Hall should start next game otherwise city will run over us .
midfield are not tracking runners atm , that is biggest problem from rnd1 to now

Yeah but no one is “running over us” .... if the forwards (ROD, DWH, O’Shea, Holloway and Inman) are putting their quality chances away, Roars winning games. 

But change has to come I agree. 

Id go back to 3-5-2 with Courtney-Perkins on the left. I’m not sure what to do about ROD but it’s him or DWH up front. 

Our periods of dominance were better than the last few games, and I think our defence stepped up a notch tonight as well..

We did not lack for creative options - just lacked for finish.

It is another game of 'could have' without getting over the line - but continuing improvement in how the team worked together both attacking and defence.

Every game we have faced the prospect of our hack donkeys getting run over by opposition of such hugely greater skill and quality that Robbie may as well just sit everyone on the bench and play with training cones - except that isn't happening. We are competitive in every game with our new, developing team (not just hanging in there) and the only thing that is not working for us is our pointy end - ironically the greatest playing strength of our coach.

As we continue to improve, we will score and will continue to score. The chances are there already - we will get better at doing something with them.

I have not seen a game where I thought we have gone backwards from the previous week or weeks.

On the attacking side, you could see Holloway had been coached in chesting the ball down to our players in the box - but the players were on their heels rather than anticipating that even though it must be something that 'works in training'. I can see Robbie is building the attack just as he has built the defence. It just takes time to gel and we are getting stronger each game.

Holloway on at 60 minutes and DWH on at 75 was fine by me.

It may work in  training because you arent actually playing an A-League team.
As to controlling the game.Clearly in the first half we never control the game.We sit deep and struggle to have a shot on goal.We have to wait until teams tire.Then we can pass side to side and look good against a team behind  the ball.
When we get chances,its under pressure and we dont have the composure.That's the lack of quality...Remember Aloisi at Heart.He couldnt understand why players like Mifsud couldnt score.
Realistically we only have one striker who consistently has scored.ROD.And he is clearly struggling.We then have a novice,DWH and AAH who was never prolific in League2.
O Shay was scoring in League 2 .But this is a step up and he is a midfielder.
Maybe the pressure of defending for a half sucks the sharpness out of players.
How about this.Attack in the first half score a goal,then defend.Surely you at least have an even chance of scoring first,when you go on the attack early.

There is much less side to side in this team than any team since Broich left in my eyes.

We are playing with a midfield that for more parts every game can bring the ball through and make the defenders doubt what to do.

We are generating genuine goal threats and creating more continuous play with our attacks as we play more.

Our defence was pretty solid but just a bit shaky in game 1 and is getting more and more effective.

If you accept that we are not an instant pudding team, and look at the positives that are coming with every game, your collective dinners will sit better and your beer will be so much nicer.

This is a team on the up and I have seen nothing to suggest it will stop improving.

Good of you to drop in, Robbie 

Fowler and Co have sailed in to dangerous terrain with this defeat. Every man and his dog knows where they are and has an opinion. 

The problem is easy to diagnose, they are creating plenty of quality chances but they are not converting them. DWH can normally be relied upon to finish but even he blazed over the bar today when it seemed easier to score. 

I don’t disagree with your assessment here, alas we are now in to the psychology of sport - an experienced coach would have been here before and know what to do ... 

The correct answer might be extra training with lots of shooting practice or it might be to give them a few days off because they’ve been over trained 

Will Fowler know what to do? 

Be nice of you to drop out from time to time ;)

That's the thing that none of us know - and Robbie has to either show he knows or that he is capable of learning within the context of this season. It may not be such a surprise that a star forward can study up on the parts of the field that he is not so experienced in, but is surprised when those who occupy his specialty area don't think like he does, see the opportunities emerging in play as he would, and simply put bang them in when you get half a chance. I think that aspect of any coach is the biggest challenge they face - recognising what they know 'instinctively' or from experience and work out how to pass that on. How much of a strikers ability is reflexive muscle memory (I don't know; not being a striker)?

I am not saying that Robbie has proven himself as a coach, and I don't think he knows the answers yet himself. 
I do consider he is a successful coach for what he has faced so far at the Roar and I really hope he continues to learn his craft as much as the team is learning theirs.

I am happy to see what he tries with our forwards and how successful or not his efforts will be. I expect him to try and try again until he finds what works for both him and the individuals he has custody of. As long as I see improvement in the team play, play that creates opportunities through skill, and I get the impression that Robbie is continuing to try things then I will be happy with how we are travelling.

If they had a subject at coaching school titled "how to score when you are not scoring" then all teams would be scoring in most games. Just isn't as simple as that as you know.

if we had of scored one more goal in each of the 4 games we'd be sitting on two wins two draws. 8 points. 

Now you couldn't say that about last year!

And those opportunities were definitely there to be taken. 

So time for a change up front, because the chances are there but not being converted. 

fml today's game was painful to watch. If only we still had Taggart, Maclaren or Berisha up front..