Can’t wait for this one!

Me too. I think SFC look more “complete” so I’d have them as favourites in both games but at least there are reasons why they would sorry about us. 

COVID permitting: 

SFC (A)

Glory (A)

SFC (H)
Western United (Sunday, 14 March) (A)
Wellington Phoenix (Sunday, 21 March) (A)
Western United (H) 

SFC 2-0 Roar
Roar 0-0 SFC

Based on current form. But who knows.

I want to see what we can do against them.

Nothing about expectation, promise, or results - I want to see us tested against arguably the current best consistent team in our league.

Can Macca, O'Shea, DWH and Danzaki unlock them and put the ball in the net?
Can our defence hold them out?
Will our midfield get back some of its confidence and authority?
Will we see Kudo on the park for a longer period?

I am excited with no concern at all about what might happen.

Carn you Roar!

I agree.  Though some comments, just because i am up early and feel like it.

Most predictions had raw about the 7th or 8th best team on paper.  I think those are a fair call, despite our good spot on the table.

With that being said, there isnt much in the table, and performance on the field is far more important than on paper. I dont think i is out of the question for Roar to win the whole thing, particularly the Grand Final.

I dont get the criticism over depth that many make on here, i think that Roar probably has more depth than any other side.   Players who dont make the starting side include JCP, Parsons, Daley, the New Japanese striker whose name i cant remember, Gol Gol Mebrahtu, Neville (soon), Champness.  Most of these guys could easily slip into the first XI and not much would be lost.  If all are playing well, i actually think that depth is a strong point of the current club.  They do seem to be playing well at the moment. 

DWH i think was always going to be a potential golden boot winner once he started playing games.  In nearly every game he plays he ends up with 3 or 4 clear scoring chances.  It is only a matter of time before he goes through a phase where he knocks in most of these chances.  And the possible emergence of another striker beside him, in Mebrahtu for example, does have the potential to really take the pressure off him (like Taggart did when he was there) and allow him to capitalise on his clear chances.

The side is performing as good as they can  at the moment, but i cant think of a side who has more improvement in them, if players reach there potential.  Kudo is a J League level striker, Mebrahtu is likely to be an A league level striker on his return from a pretty good European venture and Neville was a good A League level defender in very good form when he left for India. These 3 are all very good improvements (potentially) on what is already a very well performing team.  

I dont understand the hate for Hingert and Brown.  They are as good as any other fulbacks in the competition.  On their day they are arguably the best fulback combo in the game (though their day is getting fewer, particualrly with Hingert.  I actually argue that every side needs these type of players.  They arent going overseas, but they are as good or better than several others who did.  These are 2 club stalwarts who have great experience and are 2 of the better A league combos.  Brown should actually be a cult figure.  You know he is good for 1 or 2 clangers a match and they are real heart in the mouth stuff (isnt that what the fans pay to see?) bu once you ride those moments out, he is actually usually pretty good. 

We have to have the best goalkeeper situation in the league dont we.  i know his distribution is dreadful, but Young is as good as any keeper going around.  And Freke in his games actually showed that he looks to be A league quality and with a decent future.

The imports, across the field look as strong as any in the league (with the exception of Kudo who is still an unknown)

I am undecided on Moon.  There is no doubt that he is a decent coach, although i dont think he has proven himself the same as Fowler did, yet.  His substitutions are interesting and are at least based on the game (as opposed to the old Aloisi preplanned method).  He has done a good job with improving players (which is the real test of a coach) and making sure that everyone hits top form.  I know most on here much prefer the style at the moment, but personally i am not as convinced.  i would like to see possession valued that little bit more. i think i  am the only one who liked last years possession based style. Still he has done a great job so far and things are promising.  My indecisiveness is probably due more to things he might do rather than what he has actually has done so far.  REally he couldnt do much more. .

I reckon 2-1 either way, would be happy with a draw.
More interested in seeing how they perform against a top side even if they lose, give it all they got etc

We’ve seen Roar perform against weak and good defences. The difference was poles apart. I’m hoping that Moon has taken stock and seriously worked on that gap. The SFC games will provide better clarity on to where we’re heading this season.

I agree with pretty much everything you have said although I am one who still thinks we are better on paper than we are given credit for. We certainly don't have the pedigree of other teams but make up for that with capability all over.

I also rate valuing possession and liked that aspect of last season. The less tight defence this season has had me wonder about our ability to be rock solid against all comers and that will cost us games - just need our front end to score more than our opponents if we are going to let in the odd goal or two.

I have wondered if the changed schedule had an impact on Moon's planning. Macarthur was thrown up quickly and he might not have had the time he needs to analyse and plan something specific to them. Could be irrelevant but if he does more analysis and sets plans specific to each team we face the fast turnarounds and sudden changes of opponent might reduce the impact of his coaching to game day stuff (which I think he has shown himself capable of).

I would like to see DWH or Scotty rested until the second half; put the fast rapper on and let him run hard at the Sydney defence for an hour - then put fresh legs on 

Brisbane need to beat SFC,MC and PG if they are to be serious contenders.
It’s been over a year since thats happened.
🤞

If you’re going to win a league you have to take points off the top teams and regularly beat the rest. No doubt about that

(City and Glory won’t be contenders this year though, they’re both pretty poor) 

It would be a very difficult game for us . Hingert as a winger is getting better and better. Unfortunately, he plays very slowly not like he played 2-3 years ago.  Corry Brown, he is good as a winger too but as a defender, he is absolutely weak as a defender. Our defenders are sitting very deep defensively and they are moving up very slowly ( we are not contracting very fast). Our midfielders still do not understand how they have to play J. Daily, R. Akbari) only O'Shea is playing well but he holds the ball too long, he is shooting to the goal not very often. In our team (I have not missed any of our home game from 2005) we are still very weak tactically + our finishing is still very poor  

Watch Gillesphey’s position today (harder to do on tv) but it’s astonishing how high he gets regularly in open play. 

And there you go ... played the two Grand Finalists from last year and we are within touching distance. 

It's good to have these problems now than at the end of the season. But at least we stopping teams scoring against us.

I just hope the two injuries are not to much of a problem. But I do see a need for a change of formation to get more players into midfield as I feel we crowded out to much.

Mariners will be. Looking forward to it.

Well done team.

Could have scored about the same number of 'could have been' goals.

Battled hard and cohesively all game in defence and as we won our way into the game we were at least equal favourites to get a goal. I thought it interesting that early on Brown ignored a Sydney player with the ball just on Sydney's side of halfway when he could easily have put some pressure on - so that he could get back and defend with the team. Has to have been an instruction to let them bring the ball out by foot so we would have a set and structured defence ready when they got into the final third.

Hingert seemed to pass backwards almost every time he ran forward in the first half. Maybe Sydney's defence was too tight on our forward options at that point but he normally has several runs right up the line that it was odd to see him so defensive.

Akbari does many good things in defence and some good things in attack, but I find there are moments in every game when I really question his judgement. Jesse-Daley though also does silly things consistently and I would suggest it is about experience at this level except they both make the same mistakes in every game (like Jesse-Daley giving getting a yellow card for something he did not need to do, or Akbari giving the ball to the opposition or getting turned inside out too easily).

We tried the high ball to DWH again tonight until well into the game. Once we put it on the ground for him he came into the attack better. Danzaki seemed a little less effective/involved than he has been. Still think he is a good find for us though and will do better next game.

Commitment luck and concentration kept Sydney goalless. Defence did really well even against Barbarouses' speed on excellent through balls. Some hairy moments but overall strong when and where we needed to be. Gillesphey strong yet again - almost don't need to mention it given that is what he does week in week out - but with the extra pressure on him to get forward as he is doing more often and still get back. Fantastic shot by him - it was dipping wickedly and bang on target.

Jamie Young! Who needs to be able to pass to someone in the same coloured shirt anyway. What he does between the sticks makes up for it and he kept us in the game with Young brilliance.

Trewin again showed some inexperience under pressure with the ball. Again I think he is good for the team - I just want him to learn quicker and without making mistakes - which I recognise is neither fair nor reasonable of me.

Golgol did not look out of place in the team. Added a dangerous edge and won a lot of balls that others would not have. I am happy to see him in the line-up. It may bother some people but I see a bit of the good side of Amadi-Holloway in his play pinching balls he shouldn't be able to, holding the ball under pressure and able to offload. His speed, height and hopefully full game fitness will help him be fully effective up front - once we see if he can bury a ball.

Bloody idiot commentators saying 'why would you leave Macca on and take DWH off?' - when DWH was stuffed from running, and the two players coming on in Champness and Mehbratu needed someone who could distribute the ball to them.

Thought O'Shea had a very good game against tight and skilled opposition. He made time and space and delivered good passes much more often than not.

Injuries to Aldred and Macdonald would be bad for us. The effort from Aldred (hamstring, groin and face) was heroic. What a great mental performance from our captain. I suspect we may have lost him for a few games at least. Macca unlikely to play in the next couple of games I'd guess and maybe only off the bench a few games after that. Seemed an injury rather than just a strain. Aldred also went to ground after the final whistle in what looked like a several game injury after playing on with it. Says a lot about the importance of this game to us mentally that we did not sub him off when I think we should have.

We held the midfield when we were on top and we mostly held the box tight when they were. Loved that we rarely let them sit back and setup their play like we have done in some previous games with them. Once we started taking the defence to them we made the game a lot more even.

A really enjoyable game to watch and great that we had confirmation of the quality that we bring to a game.

No small thing that Sydney had to resort to diving trying to beat the deadlock.

Bloody well done team!

I’m not sure of we will miss Macca.He seems to be having little impact on the game.Apart from his leadership,he isnt doing much defensively or in attack.
I wonder how long he can keep going?
What we need is a newer version of him.Any  good Spaniards out there?

Honestly think they should have got a draw against MacArthur and should have beaten Jets last week - it’s not getting those results Thats of concern. 

Stealing points from top sides is what we want to see and this was a good result against SFC.  I’m not sure it is clear that we should’ve won against Newcastle last week though. I’m really concerned with Aldred’s injury. Looks like the hamstring which means many weeks on the sidelines. Aldred has been a rock in defence and one of our best players.

I recon Aldred’s injury will be either nothing or 6 weeks out - he’s either played through a minor strain or done more damage by playing on through a genuine tear. 

Luckily Roars Medico’s seem top notch lately so fingers crossed they got this one right. 

Yeah he was bang average this week and last week and the week before he had one good moment and was average the rest of the night. 

Also because of his speed it forces dwh and danzaki to go a while heap more defending tiring them out and making them less effective in attack.

I am sure it will take a little while to adjust how we play without Mac but I think on the whole what he brings to the table is becoming less and less effective for the team.

Hopefully kudo/ mebrathu can step up and we don't notice the loss. Unfortunately I think champness showed last night that he is no where near a league quality anymore. There was one moment where he just passed the ball straight out with no pressure on him at all. 

Aldred will be a big loss he has been great and organises the defence really well and I don't think we really have a replacement for him. We could go back to a back 4 (which will probably be a good match for Perth's set up) or bring in JCP. Will be interesting to see which way moon takes

Some speculative thoughts on Scotty Mac.

When Macca came into our team we were a bit clueless in the final third. His ability to control the ball under pressure and pick a good pass out of the mess was exactly what we needed at the time.

We may not need that centre of calm so much now that we are developing more into our roles and maybe his contribution is that much less because the players around him are now doing more of it themselves. Not like we are starved for chances even with him having off games.

We still need a quality distributor regardless of how well every one else is working though - so plenty of opportunity for Macca to contribute yet. He is now doing more defensive work later in games than he had done when he was sharper going forward. Could have been told we need his distribution and control more at the end of the game than in the first half hour or so and Moon has him being more restrained so he lasts the game (without injury). Marshalling what we have when we would obviously prefer him to do it all game.

He might also have been feeling the strain of multiple games without enough rest time between - which would also explain his injury last night. One game a week might be the best use of his physical condition these days and when he plays more frequently it is possible we get less out of him each time.

Can’t argue with that. 

Brisbane have recently come up against teams in the top 6 who actually know how to defend and have now gone scoreless in 3 games. Are Brisbane in trouble? 

No. We still had our chances - may not be hitting the post when we miss, but our shots certainly aren't so far off that on another day they might go in.

See Gillesphey's shot for example against Sydney. Keeper not right there and that was a bloody good effort.

Are Roar in trouble? He he heee. You japester you.

No, because in all three games Roar have matched their opponents suggesting their quality is high. 

I'll bite :laugh:

It goes both ways, in two of those 3 games the other team never scored as well, so are we one of those teams that knows how to defend?

Lets look at the stats.

2nd - On the ladder
Equal 2nd - Least goals conceded
Equal 3rd - Goals scored
If thats trouble, then I'm happy I guess.