Well that was a game worth watching for any jaded Roar supporter I would say.

Wanderers, in their previous Cup game, were so slick, fast, accurate and deadly that I had them pegged as the team to beat to win the Cup this year. And we matched them and took the game.

Our passing play under Ross is positive and focussed and it is so nice to see us passing through pressure time and again with some real drive on the end of it when we win through the press and build for our attack.

Caletti and Zabala both did really well - but they weren't alone in that. They were both utterly stuffed by half time and deserved to be in a side that shouted out quality play, commitment and direction. Mileusnic ran like a greyhound in both directions, covering our left back when Perias flew down the wing against us and then giving it all going forwards. Ross has clearly instilled something in the team already with effort reaping rewards all over the park.

Waddingham is showing an excellent ability to use his body to both win the ball and protect the ball - against some very strong and experienced players. Really quite impressive as a player, let alone a young one.

Aldred and Longbottom are such good defenders and Hingert had another good game. Our defensive group are working so well together. I do not like to see O'Shea playing defensive mid with his creativity stifled when he plays too far back - but tonight he was still able to work into the attack. I would love to see Hore learning to retain the ball like O'Shea does. It is the one facet of Henry's play that limits his effectiveness above any other factor.

To be still short our visa striker and able to mount the pressure we did - and score 4 past a team becoming known for its defensive resilience - screams more than the simple prospect of a promising season ahead. We are a proper team again playing proper football and doing it well.

We are taking on teams through the middle and passing wide when we choose to as well as mixing up long balls with our normal wide attack. Instead of constantly passing round and back ineffectually. When our attacking drive meets opposition now we are passing inside to waiting players and completing triangles to maintain that forward drive. No longer enough to just get ahead of our wingers and have the ball turned back.

Wanderers were no pushover and we had difficult times keeping them at bay. Their fleetness of foot and ability to find a fast player at full tilt are such a dangerous aspect of their play and some brilliantly timed tackles and interceptions broke up really dangerous attacks all game. Desperation was a factor at times in keeping them to only 2 goals, but you can see the team playing much smarter when under pressure. Not smart enough to stop Wanderers finding a loose player in a deadly position regularly, but that is the game - stopping what you can and riding the swings of fortune throughout.

Going forwards, our composure playing through the press was brilliant. Compared to the number of times we used to get boxed in and lose the ball in our own back third we are so much a better side coming into this season.

Roll on the semi finals and come on Season 23/24. I am calling us top 6 material and quality this season and true contenders for the Cup.

I agree with most of this. The main difference from the last couple of seasons to our recent performances has been attacking purpose. Ever since fowler really, we created lots of "chances" but they were mostly aimless balls whipped in from wide areas well before the box and generally with no one actually in the box to compete or long range speculators. I dont think we are actually "creating" a whole bunch more chances but we are being about 10000% better at choosing the chances we take. That and trying to turn the ball over high up the pitch instead of surrendering the ball and field position to set up a low block has us looking better as it suits the players we have. Calleti, golmulka, hingert, zabala melusenic, armiento are not players like Oshea, who can sit deep and slow build play (both defensively and offensively) from deep in our own half, they all thrive on speed, nip in, break up play, move the ball quickly. 

one thing i disagree with you a bit is the defensive "solidness". we have been quite open and have conceded too many goals and chances so far for me to say we are top 6 material. it is definitely not as defensively stifling as we have been (because of the way we have set up offensively) and there are signs that we could head in the right direction if we tighten up a bit but if we continue to allow the same amount of chances against us (particularly on the counter) we will loose a lot of games. Freke is just not quite good enough to withstand the amount of shots he has from good positions and not concede and who knows if acton will actually get fit or not. Further it is just about a certainty that aldred and neville will both spend significant time out injured and apart from trewin there in not much depth at CB. 

I also have doubts about a visa striker coming in. Apparently we have signed NPLVIC golden boot Markovski which would say to me that a visa striker is a no go and we will rely on parsons, melusenic and markovski to fill the striker roll. Markovski could be good but Knowles was NPLVic golden boot and didnt work out and parsons was banging them in in the NPL but hasnt really kicked on. 

I did not mean to suggest that we are rock solid at the back by any means.

I really like what Aldred and Neville bring at the back. When Trewin and Hingert play alongside them they all have a shared understanding of each others' roles, strengths and weaknesses like you should be able to expect from a true team. Zabala is continuing to come through well even when we play him at left back. We are far from flawless and I see several periods of play where I expect us to concede every game (often relating to speedy opposition) - but I see the defensive group as a whole unit supporting each other both defensively and bringing the ball out and that is what I meant about them working well together.

We are not good enough at covering players who drift between the lines and take up dangerous positions when the ball is elsewhere; much like we used to be exposed by the ball to the back post over so many seasons. We struggle against players with speed who are fed by quality passes in behind, but our backs used their experience most of the time to mitigate that against Wanderers.

I had not stopped to consider Aldred or Neville getting injured or what we might have to do to fill their places now that you mention it. Aldred particularly has played much more than a simple CB role for us and we have struggled when he is out. If we lose him to injury again it will be a nasty test for us and I can only hope Ross is developing players for depth in the same manner as he has generated drive and focus to our whole team when we get the ball anywhere on the field.

I still hold out great hopes and have faith in the new management team finding that visa striker. Nothing wrong with having more attacking options like Markovski coming through. How many games have looked at our bench in the last 30 minutes of a game and thought 'we have nothing that resembles a threat sitting there'. If we only signed Markovski as our solution (similar to Rowles as you say) then we would have very limited vision and prospects. But in bringing Macnicol, Waddingham and Markovski alongside Hore, Parsons, Mileusnic and Armiento, Ross is putting a lot more potential scoring rods in the fire and improving the chances of one proving to be the goods. If nothing else it seems to reflect the successful Adelaide practice of bringing young players with promise to the big stage as a saleable product.

I am still talking potential for the season ahead, but our starting point this season is producing wins that count, with our failings, rather than the usual 'all we needed was another goal' potential we have been seeing since Fowler.

Absolutely, there is potential for the season (i have thought that previously as well). At least this year the potential is from exciting attacking football instead of rigid doggedly solid defensive football. Even if we loose it should be at least watchable football. I am also all for focusing on youth and developing them or giving them a chance but i dont think we have done that well. Macnicol, Waddingham and now Brownlie im all for, teenagers should be getting game time, Markovski is 24 and playing NPL, like Knowles he may develop to be a serviceable a-league player but will take away playing time from the teenagers and is highly unlikely to develop into a saleable product. I feel the same with Armiento (24) and Milusenic is 30. With Jez, Hore, Parsons, golmulka, majok, melusenic and Armiento, adding markovski feels like we are way too heavy on "projects"  we really need more to be better quality to be an out and out starters to take pressure off the teenagers to come on and get minutes with less pressure on them so they can develop. 

Adding to that apparently we have signed Shae Cahill who appears to be another project player

Tough to find out anything about the Newcastle Jets pre-season game last night.

Newcastle Jets Facebook page says Jets won 4-0 with a mention about us having a player sent off for 'last man tackle' and another injured without a replacement available so we were 2 players down at some point. The Jets' post said something like 'Roar were 2 men down but we were holding our own before that'.

I saw Corey Brown on footage for one of their goals, but no Aldred, Longbottom or Hingert and it looked like Macnicol was one of the defenders.

I can only guess we were sensibly resting our normal squad before the next Cup game - but does anyone have more information - especially who was injured?

it looks like all 4 goals were scored when we had 9 on the park. From what i can see our line up at that time was
blackledge
#14 (cant find who it is) - Geyer - Brown - Hore
Golmulka - #33 (cant find any info on who that is)
Cahill            macnicol 

A lot of positives against quality opposition in that first half of the Cup game. I am looking forward to watching from the 'big event stadium' at Suncorp this season. There is something about walking down Caxton Street and into Suncorp that makes every game there special.

For Sydney's second goal, Zabala was running back to cover when Sydney had us outnumbered in a 3 on 2, but instead of putting pressure on the free player Zabala just stopped running when he got near the penalty spot. Is it normal to just go to 'a dangerous spot' like that in cover or should he have kept on and at least attempted to even up the numbers.

It reminded me of (I think) Wilkshire in a World Cup game when he was marking a player near the penalty spot then inexplicably ran to cover the back post - leaving his opponent free to score - which he did. Same sort of thing with Zabala in that he made an effort to get back then covered a space rather than a player.

Ross substituted him soon after that but whether it was related or not I don't know.

looking at the replay Zabala had no chance to get back and cover he and hingert were caught out by the quick counter and would have had to be super human to get back. The only thing that could have stopped the second goal (once SFC had broken) was aldred, if he had  rushed out to lolly quickly, lolly would have either had to put the pass in early (when mak was still well outside the box) or held onto it and tried to beat aldred (giving hingert and zabala time to recover their positions). doing that would have been against his training and would have left the box man on man at best. 

first half was good but second was poor, we either ran out of legs to continue the high tempo game or were outcoached. Reminds me a bit of early last season where we could only put in a good 30-40 minutes a game. 

moving berenguer up front didnt work, it seemed to kill all our forward play. I think we are really short a quality attacker. We can get away with 2 of waddingham, hore, melusenic and armiento in the front 3 and be competitive but having 3 starting ends up being too wasteful. Maybe Waddingham improves or one of the young blokes really steps up (macnicol, Cahill, markovski) but that front 3 will cost us points during the season. Freke also worries me and I think acton might be worth a shot. If Freke concedes one, he almost certainly concedes a  second. The way we play we will definitely be giving up plenty of chances and conceding. I like Zabala and thought he should have had many more minutes last season but if Brown is at a similar standard to where he left then he will thrive in this formation and we will benefit from having him in the team. 

Overall i think we are definitely in a better spot than last season to be competitive and i like the brand of football ross seems to be playing but there is still gaping holes to fill if we want to win the league. 

Any thoughts on trewin fitting into the team? 

Good hard game to start the season.

Reading that we missed out on Ibini (?) so we are sticking with Waddingham as our striker for the season was hard to take. I would never have considered Ibini to fill our need. Waddingham is turning out to be a great front man for us but today's game shows how light on we are in the dependable goal scoring stakes again. We still need that quality striker either on the bench or on the field. Gomulka does not hit me as a striker from today's performance.

I am bothered by the elbow out from the body that was not given as a penalty today - especially when Western United got a penalty for a handball in their game where the player was struck in a far more natural position. Frustrating because on another day we will concede a penalty in that exact situation with roles reversed.

Great showing by Freke today. I have been concerned about him not being up to those critical moments that can turn a game and today he showed his right to be there.

Brilliant combinations in attack for us in the final third - getting past defenders in tight spaces out wide in the final third without just passing back and round. Loving the way Aloisi has us playing as a team to bring the ball upfield. Our defence, when we press so high, seems too easy to penetrate by quality opposition. Outright pace hurts us. We have played together enough to be more solid at the back so I am not sure what we can do about it.

Still a great start to the season and showing such good form on the ball. The rest will fall into place I am sure as we find our league feet.

Next week will be a huge game for us - first home game of the season, first game back at Suncorp, and playing against the team that beat is in the Cup. Looking forward to that stupid smile I get on my face walking down Caxton Street on matchday every time!

Its the same thing everyone has been saying for the last 3-4 years, we really are short attacking options. Ive said it many times but a front 3 of hore, waddinham, and melusenic are too wasteful to compete at the top of the table (let alone when you dont get all 3 on the park like on the weekend and have to turn elsewhere). You can get away with 2 of the 3 as starters if you have an out and out quality player as the 3rd but all 3 would have to significantly outperform their stature to have any chance at a top 4 finish. (saying that i really like wadders, i think he has the potential to be a great player, just too early to rely on him yet). 

Feke has always had a good reaction save in him and we saw that at his best on the weekend. his let down was always his decision making and distribution which heaped pressure on himself and the defence but he is looking like he is improving there, if he keeps that trajectory he will be a very good a-league keeper in a year or two (reminds me of early redders). 

I like our high press even though it leave us open to pace, its better to be open to pace that to just heap pressure upon pressure with a low block getting deeper and deeper just waiting to concede like we have seen the last couple years. at least the high press means we can get more numbers forward when we attack. 

Im looking forward to being back at suncorp and watching attacking football again, hoping wadders can continue his domestic and international form and bag a few. 

Ross playing Gomulka as a CF from round 1 even, shows how short of being a decent coach he really is. You calling Waddinhgam wasteful is ridiculous.

Ross playing Gomulka as a CF from round 1 even, shows how short of being a decent coach he really is. You calling Waddinhgam wasteful is ridiculous.

This would be... underwhelming

I think it would be an improvement for us, and that is something in itself.

When you look through our forwards he would easily fit in among the best of them. We never did get the 'proven goal scorer at this level' they were looking for at the start of the season - bringing in NPL scorers who had a lot to learn to step up and are still a work in progress.

Anything that improves our depth is a good progression and with O'Shea and Berenguer capable of feeding good players he might be what we need.

I'm going with the hope he is trying out and plays for us.

He's barely kicked a ball in 2 years. Only played 46 minutes total for MV last season and only played 181 minutes for Macarthur the season before that. He did score 1 goal last season, but it was from a complete defensive error and any player would have scored it. He barely even made the bench at MV. Roar could do better. Not a striker, but Marco Rojas is currently without a club. He's always been a proven goal scorer here and usually provides a good number of assists too.

Juric gone to a club called 'North East' a club from ISL perhaps. Why is Ruben Zadkovich the new assistant coach at Roar now though?