Really? 

I think Hiariej and Karacan could be one of the best DM pairings in the league.

Probably not.

If I were Roar, I’d keep him around for another year.

I would keep Pepper around. The guy deserves another year after pretty much bring the only defender to get through the season, and he's not really a CB to be sure. 
If we get 2 new CB I'd be giving Pepper games at a 6. To his natural position to see how he has evolved. 
Im prettyhappy with Fowler signing. The guy was a top shelf striker in the EPL and surely that experience carries a lot of weight. As well as the guy has apparently managed his wealth since football pretty well. That tells me he can manage finances and people. 
Thats quslities you need to successfully manage a pro football team
spart from football knowledge
He's ticking boxes for me. 

And I think that’s one of the key words - “pairing” 

thete was an article out saying Pepper had had ten different partners at CB this season, it’s been crazy 

Both of those players are far better players than Pepper.

Genuinely cant believe some of you guys are talking about keeping Pepper. Hes been awful his entire career - not just in Brisbane. He is in no way up to A League standard and is in his late-20s so he isnt suddenly going to develop into a good player. Bad touch, bad decision making, terrible reading of play.... c'mon guys, dont talk yourselves into rating Pepper because our entire roster is a dumpster fire and he just managed to stay healthy.

Wouldnt you rather have Powell and Barnett on contracts as the 14-23 players instead of Pepper? They could actually turn into good players one day and can be signed to team friendly long, cheap contracts. Pepper wont and will want 150k+.

The choice is not between Powell and Barnett or Pepper though, you can have all three. 

The choice is:

7 high paid players. 
7 Mid paid players. 
7 Low paid players. 

Pepper is is in the low paid bracket and will be lucky to be earning $100k

and as far as his performances go this season he’s done bloody well, he looks like one of the few that gives a shit. 

So so if you look at the options available to Roar in signing a reserve/squadie CB:

Option 1: Stick with Pepper, settled in Brisbane and you know his strengths and weaknesses.

Option 2: Promote one of the young kids as a replacement. Reardon is already in the squad so it would mean adding a second rookie to your defensive stocks . 

Option 3: let Pepper go and sign someone else of similar ability on a similar wage. The HAL merry go-round 

Option 4: Let Pepper go and replace him with Tongyik. Pepper looks way better than Tongyik to me? 

Did I miss any options? 

So I’m assuming Roar will sign 2 new starting CB’s this winter. That puts Pepper in the reserves alongside Bowles and Reardon. In a salary capped squad I don’t see it getting much better than that. 

@Waz

The thing with Pepper is that his commitment and work rate cannot be questioned. That is the real limit of him though. As a CB he has done a great fill in job in a team with no structured defence. Don't forget his brainsnaps and stupid chasing of the ball through midfield, and his tendency to run away from the danger leaving others behind to take up his role when he should have been directing traffic and staying put.

I rate Pepper for his effort and genuine drive, but I do not want him as my CB. I would include him as a squaddie to play him further up the field in some role where he can win balls and harass opposition players - but equally I would thank him sincerely for his efforts this season, acknowledge the many woeful goals we conceded that just should not have been allowed, and find another squad player with sound decision making in defence.

Losing our first choice CBs, as well as our left and right backs, makes for a ridiculous situation - but while it showed Pepper's strengths it also highlighted his weaknesses, and we can't afford to have a backup who regularly makes poor decisions in our last line of defence.

"He was better than Bowles" is not the same as "He was a rock in our defence".

Change Option 3 or add Option 5 to:
let Pepper go and sign someone else of proven defensive ability from the NPL on a similar wage (not using the HAL merry go-round).

I'd have Tongyik over Pepper and Bowles as a backup CB. Given a full pre-season, I think he could do well. He has certainly shown some signs that he can be a commanding presence in the backline. Give him a solid defensive partner and he could do well. 

To me Tongyik looks like an accident waiting to happen. Needs 3-4 touches to bring the ball under control and can’t get his physical presence in the right place to use it. As an attacking threat at corners he basically gets in the way. 

IMO Pepper has played better than Tongyik in every game, yet Pepper is the one people pick on?? 

Issue for me is with Bowles and Reardon already locked in, do we need another backup like Pepper. I would take Pepper over Tongyik. 

All just opinions Waz. 

To me, Pepper is as good as he is ever going to get, and isn't up to starting level. Tongyik has come in mid-season, not having played football for a while, and needing to adapt to a system (or lack of system) that even players who had the full pre-season with Aloisi couldn't get. He is young and can be moulded, and he provides a big physical presence that we are sorely lacking in the backline. If we are talking about a bench spot, I'd much rather gamble on the potential of a younger player in his natural position, than an older player, playing out of position, who has reached his peak and isn't at the required level.

Agree on the opinions, and no problem with yours. 

I just see Tongyik taking 3-4 touches to bring the hall under control and think that shouldn’t be the case. Not at his age. 

Unbelievable we’ve got to wait 4 months before we get knocked out in the first round of the cup 😔

Been watching Roar since day one and that’s easily the most disappointing season of all. Just not up to the standard required. 

Let’s hope it turns around next season.

I don't rate either of them . Pepper is a trier but sub standard . Tongyik ...? mehh I would rather we get someone else .

Just watching the game. Apparently 71 goals is the most scored against in the A League history in the regular season. The commentators seemed to suggest this. A RECORD SEASON after all!!!!

Does Aloisi take credit for this record as well? Might as well since he has all the other bad records with Roar. :laugh:

All the best for the off-season guys. In four months time we’ll have forgotten the last 8 months and having been reinvigorated by the new signings and the possibilities for next season under Fowler, will be waiting excitedly on the arrival of our 2019-20 memberships.

Pretty much, time heals wounds, lets see how we go next season.

I'm not a Roar fan but I love building squads so I came up with this for next season. What do you guys think? 


http://lineupbuilder.com/?sk=hx62c

(S) denotes players I would sign on scholarship contracts. All other players would be on senior contracts.

The RSF decorated Wally’s statue pre-game in a Roar shirt only to be given short shrift by stadium security who took it down. 

We tweeted the incudent and have nearly 17,000 impressions on twitter and have been asked to interview on ABC Radio tomorrow lol. 

Talk about an own goal. 

:laugh::laugh:

So whats the word on Eric? Is he leaving.

Yep.

Was there any word if it was overseas or is he staying local with another a-league club.
Cheers in advance, need some sleep, too many beers.

No destination for him yet, but was linked with Victory (half of the visa players in the league have been tbf) and the MLS a while back.

Hi all, been a long time since I posted here, due to no computer, and holy shit what a clusterf#ck the last few seasons has been.
I think we have to look at things realistically.  Its not 2012 and Ange is gone, his 'legacy' can be found buried somewhere deep in the tip at Chandler.
Brisbane Roar has just finished a 27 game season shipping 71 goals, the head coach left halfway through the season and 13 players are off contract.  There's no relegation and the only thing to strive for besides A League glory are ACL spots which we are not ion contention for.
The league is young and still maturing and doesn;t attract huge sponsorship dollars.  
It's the perfect league for coaches to cut their teeth and yes, we could have given Warren Moon a go, we could have gone after Kurz or Rudan, but we've gone with Robbie Fowler and that's just about where our place in the football world is, Mourinho/Wegner/Pep/Klopp and the like are not coming to coach here in the forseeable future.
The news of Grant as his assistant is promising and a huge step in the right direction as he seems to have a fantastic pedigree from an academy/scouting/education perspective.

I agree with those who don't want to see Pepper in the CB role next season, it's not his position, he gets found out time and time again and isn't young enough to improve as a starting CB any more than he has.
The other off-contract players are:

Eric Bauthéac Left Winger	Aug 24, 1987 (31)		30.06.2019	-	£900k
Álex López Central Midfield	Jan 11, 1988 (31)		30.06.2019	-	£450k
Brett Holman Attacking Midfield	Mar 27, 1984 (35)		30.06.2019	-	£360k
Daniel Bowles Centre-Back	Oct 19, 1991 (27)		30.06.2019	-	£315k
Henrique Left Winger	May 9, 1985 (33)		30.06.2019	-	£270k
Jacob Pepper Centre-Back	May 8, 1992 (26)		30.06.2019	-	£270k
Ruon Tongyik Centre-Back	Dec 28, 1996 (22)		30.06.2019	-	£270k
Nick D'Agostino Centre-Forward	Feb 25, 1998 (21)		30.06.2019	-	£225k
Connor O'Toole Left-Back	Jul 4, 1997 (21)		30.06.2019	both parties 1 year	£180k
Brendan White Goalkeeper	Apr 16, 1992 (27)		30.06.2019	-	£90k
Charles Lokolingoy Centre-Forward

O'Toole is the only one we should keep.

Surely keep D’Agostino. Yes he’s seemed disinterested at times but he gets goals and assists. Working under Fowler he should improve out of sight and should develop into the player we know he can be. 

The squad overhaul has to be a big one, probably bigger than what Ange achieved. Most of the discussion is around fringe players which reflects a sad reality - most of the senior/starting players are on their way. That’s a damning statement on John Aloisi who literally built Roars worst side ever. 

Eric is the only “starter” up for debate. I think he’s loved by fans but his discipline is a problem. As a marquee he’s probably blown it - with Fowler watching on yesterday has he done enough to get a new contract? Personally I doubt it. 

If there were 3 other players “on trial for a contract” yesterday it would be Pepper, Togynik and Charlie. All three showed reasons not to keep them tbh. 

Charlie has looked the better player but man, he just can’t finish and should have made it 4-4 yesterday. Similar story to recent weeks.