It looked really good didn’t it. 

Yep, looked good and seemed to play very well also.

Another step forward in the development of our team.

Significant, positive and effective changes from Robbie in our team composition, structure and game plan.

Clean sheet (called that yesterday but lucky to get it).

A win by more than one goal.

We are continuing to make progress and continuing to develop which is great to see. Still some distance to go - that was a much better performance than last week and I think a more complete performance across the 90 minutes than we have seen yet this season. Still some periods where we seemed to lose our drive and pass round the back a bit much before we were ahead - but hard to maintain high intensity football for an entire game and I would say it is not actually necessary if we control a game and end up with the result.

+1 for Robbie's coaching assessment.
+1 for Team progress.

Yup, all good moves in the right direction. 

They need to go follow it up with a 90 minute performance in Sydney though, ideally with a result too. 

While the attack improved I still consider the collective defensive effort to be slipping compared to those first few games though. 

I think it's the balance we come more attacking which means you will be a bit more exposed at the back.

One thing is for certain about yesterday dwh needs to be playing. His positivity and desire is huge for the Roar.

Not going to argue with that, because it is. 

There are moments though when yoh can see why he doesnt get selected though - twice receiving the ball out of defence and stuffed up both the counter attack and worse, turned the ball over leading to chances for Mariners. He’s got to improve those this year 

Good to see the change in formation. As I posted earlier, I feel like we can get more of our better players on the park that way, and playing in preferred positions.
I still would have preferred Amadi-Holloway to start over ROD, but given he didn't, I'm guessing there may be attitude issues or something that Fowler doesn't like. Either that, or Fowler has a bit of sympathetic striker syndrome.
Overall, a better performance. Certainly a better start, although the intensity seemed to drop off during the first half and didn't pick back up until the second. Regardless of the better performance, in context, I'm not sold. Mariners were starting without a few of their better creative/attacking players. We were certainly lucky Simon started. A better attacking team likely would have won that. 

Yes I can't see us being better than a 6th place finish...I can see us being worse though....Victory are below us and I don't see that lasting . They looked a lot better the other night .
We will need a few new players next season ...our spine is ordinary .
Defence is suspect , mid field defence is prone to mistakes ,Mauk is very average and inconsistent, O Shea has moments but can not control a match, our strikers shoot only if they don't have another option .
DWH was a breath of fresh air because he is constantly looking for a way to shoot . Roy only wants to side foot balls into the net from a metre out .I can't remember seeing him just have a shot.....on the odd occasion he does ...he skies it  . His one on one miss yesterday was poor . He should eat those for breakfast .
We need some personnel tweaking .

It was a better performance than last week but still very much unconvincing. We were sloppy in possession and a better team would have made us pay. 

Roy gets a goal but butchers more chances that a striker ever should. Very disappointing that he is on a multi year contract. Though I am glad that AAH didn't play as I think we just pay hoofball when he is on. 

Improved performance but CCM are one of the poorer sides. Brisbane looked better than when I saw them lose to CCM at the FFA Cup. This team is 1-2 decent visa players away from being a good team. Shame all the allocations are taken up. I still feel Brisbane played their best football against MV, WSW. But hey a win is a win. 

Pitch did look great. 

DWH fantastic. Young Fantastic. The youngsters were good. 

Will be a tough battle to try make the six, I do expect Western United to drop off due to the ageing squad. 

A point next week will be a great result. 

Or maybe Fowler is happy with a Striker that has 5 goals in 7 games? 

Hopefully he's also happy with the other players who are winning the pens for him.

Must have missed the Penalty yesterday? 

This is interesting reading and confirms the quality of Roars defence and the quality of chances being created:

https://m.imgur.com/yslYGNM

Unbelievably quiet on this thread. Nerves or everyone melting in the heat?? 

Smoke affected?
Sydney is blanketed in smoke!

It's hard to expect anything but a loss for this game.
It's been a long time since we won away..and SFC is probably the best.
That said we always are in with a chance.

More interested in seeing Anges team play than Roar to be honest.

The last time we won away of course was vs Sydney. 

What time is kick off in that one? 

3pm Qld time, will be watching both of course, hope Brissy pull a win but i cant see it. 

Probably more that I’m still not sure if we are a good team or not, so there isn’t really much to talk about. Once we know where we stand there will be plenty to talk about until then it is really up to Robbie and Tony.

i can see us winning today but we need a bit of luck to go our way.

I can as well. I agree on the “luck” thing but it’s more than luck needing to go their way it’s actually making luck go their way which has been missing for years - at least since Broich left we haven’t had players who could make things happen. 

Agsinst Nix we had one player make two simple mistakes and we conceded twice, the week before it was Bowles not jumping to clear the ball and letting Maccers have a feee header for a goal. The players can fix that, they are better than basic errors. 

Today though is a real test and i must admit I’m looking forward to it. 

Who was the player that made mistakes v Nix?

Gillesphey for both goals. Stood like a stunned mullet for both which after Bowles did it the previous week you have to wonder whether it’s s coaching thing or maybe zonal marking taken too far? 

DANGER     ROAR         CLOSED..........
DETOUR    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nothing to see here .Lol

I did not get to see a lot of the first half, then made the mistake of doing a Windows update at half time which took most of the second half.

Did anyone from our side show any form or promise? The little I saw looked like Gillesphey was left for dead by speed and gifting opportunities and time to good Sydney attackers, and Bowles was hanging a few metres deeper than our backline keeping opposition players onside - although I doubt those two can be to blame for everything.

Did Mauk contribute well? I am undecided about his merits but have seen some good things from time to time including his enthusiasm and work rate.

From what I did see, Sydney's attack was really good - no doubt about that - and our defence just could not handle accurate crossing to skilful players. No-one seemed to cover the inside pass when it was a pretty sure bet that one was coming in. Do players just not know who to mark? Are we panicking and all running to the ball or our 'defensive positions' and forgetting to actually track opposition players?

There seemed to be a lot of Roar players getting knocked over - was 'robust defence' a theme for Sydney throughout the game? Are we showing ourselves vulnerable to a physical game?

I don't mind that we lost to Sydney - their quality and cohesion is clear to see - and if they continue through the season basically beating everyone it levels out the ladder for everyone else. As JiMMM said above, I am watching and waiting to see whether this team comes together or not, and whether they are a good team or not. A loss to a rampant and in-form SFC is not the end of the world for me - just means we have to go another few weeks to see if we get better or go backwards.

Anyone who reads this particular game as the death knell of the Roar or Robbie may not be giving SFC the credit they deserve. There are 6 other teams on the wrong end of SFC games - none conceding 5 goals of course, but only one team taking points off them in seven games.

I do not like Bowles as a component of our 3 man central defence. I do not see the resilience and mental strength in him to hold the line.
I cannot get past Gillesphey's lack of speed (while other teams easily get past Gillesphey's lack of speed) - we must either take up a more defensive stance or bring someone else into that position because as it is we have an open door for anyone fast off the mark. If the rest of the team cannot rely on the back to hold, they cannot focus on the front half of the field.

Western United will be another tough game for our defenders - hope we can get some stability in positions and prove a tougher nut to crack than tonight.

Yes I don't mind losing to Sydney as I said a day ago, they look the most likely, but 3-0 down at half time is very disappointing. 

At least RF will change the system and players if it's not working, tho we seem to be always reacting to what teams are doing to us rather than teams having to react against what we are doing to them. 

more completed passes and more shots  and more possession, yet we lose 5-1. 

Doesnt add up, what's going on. 

Ive had the faith but it's draining. 

Meanwhile Hengiert, Mells , Akbari and otoole in Perth playing for Roar youth 

It does add up though, the league one and two recruits are not up to standard as most expected. Then you add the Aussie contingent which is the worse of any team in the league and you have a recipe for disaster. Sure Sydney have been beating everyone, but the first half was literally a training run for Sydney, and the final score line could have been much more. I feel sorry for RF and want  him to succeed, but WTF was he thinking with his recruiting. Aldred and Gillephsy would struggle in the NPL ffs.