We had structure , we had determination and grit, we did not have any superstars .....but we do appear to have a "team".
Wasn't scintillating football ....but it was oh so satisfying after last seasons debacle.
Early days yet but nice signs.

Great I can breath easy until the season starts,knowing we arent a clueless rabble that cant defend.
Jeez how many seasons did JA have to stamp his signature on the team ?
Fowler one month in.
In Fowler we trust.

I could hardly watch the second half. I was expecting the inevitable implosion, red card, and a last minute 3-2 loss 🤪

I know what you mean. That last 10 minutes really had especially the 5 minutes of injury time as Sydney was finally getting some chances. Only for Jamie to pull up with some excellent saves. We did pretty well most of the game pretty much nullified Sydney, kept possession and actually scored a goals off that pressure.

Admittedly I was sceptical about Roar’s signings, but as a Sydney fan I have to hold my hands up and say I was wrong. Exciting to see a few of your young talents as well; both Akbari and JCP were impressive. 

Can't believe Courtney-Perkins is only 16. Certainly looks to be a talent. 

I was at the game tonight and wanted to come here to share my thoughts. 
Roar were fantastic, you guys completely outplayed us no questions asked. Credit to Fowler for getting the tactics spot on. 
Ahkbari was phenomenal, best on ground. He’s a star. Mauk was really good as well. They were the two standouts. 
If you can replicate what you did tonight for the season they will go a long way. 

my only concern is can they sustain the press for 90 minutes week after week. Other than that, well done. 

Really.He stood out with great technique in trial games.He kept the ball and passed it well under pressure.

I think the side is young enough (only o’donovon and o’shea Are over 30 from memory) that they should be able to sustain for the entire season. Add in that DWH, AAH, o’Niell, Hingert are all missing from that squad and we should have the depth to rotate the squad as required.

Mariners at Home in R .... wait, what comes after R32???

Only been there once before and it was so long ago!

So happy with that. Hard to tell from the away end but we did look good. Very solid, won the ball back quickly often after losing it. Nice passing on a crisp deck, good build up play.

What position was Akbari? Heard he looked the goods. Courtney-Perkins was the winger, yes? He along with some of the other players were noticeably taller than players in previous seasons. We’re no longer a team with a size discrepancy which gives us an extra avenue to goal. 

Nice of the players to come over after the game and say thanks. Fans always appreciate it. And nice to meet Roarbie too.

JCP played wide left in a floating LWB/LM role.  Akbari played a holding mid position and was fantastic, it was so refreshing to see Brisbane players hounding the midfield with purpose and persistence for a change, makes you wonder what the hell JA was trying to implement over the last 3 seasons really.

On the size issue, yes, it's about bloody time that we had some size about us, Aldred is a bloody rhino, watching him at the toss lining up beside Wilko was quite a shock really, as tall but considerably stronger and more athletic looking.  Mells, McGing, JCP, Gillesphey(what a player, hope he's ok) all add considerable height too, especially weighed up against previous players in similar positions like McKay, Lopez, Caletti, Brown, Bautheac etc
I was so pleased to see some composure and vision, it was refreshing seeing players with their heads up looking for forward options and the transition looked superb, not quite scintilating but the interplay in the middle between the likes of Inman, O'Shea, Akbari and Mauk to release players into space in forward areas was just bloody fantastic.
McGing looked a terrific outlet too and it must be said that while it took him a little while to get into the game, Jay O'Shea looks player of the season material.

Not a poor player on the pitch tonight and that's really saying saying for a Roar team up against the talent of a near full strength sydney with Le Fondre, Barbrouses, Wilkinson, Ninkovic, Baumjohann, Zullo, Brattan, O'Neill, Grant etc

It's just one game, but it was a very, very promising start.

It is only one game but Fowler looks like he will make a few people regret their words this season. 

All of his new signings looked very good and the returning Akbari more than just a bolt-on to this squad. 

As a starter we can’t ask for much more - this provides fans with hope that we will be much better than last season. 

Very promising start, it is always tough to judge how well a team is doing in pre-season when they are smashing low level teams but last night was the first real test against quality opposition in previous champs Sydney Fc.

Majority of the game they played the ball on the ground with nice short and crisp passes which is great to continue to see, the odd long ball when something was on happened which is fine. Solid at the back, was a few scares but they still managed to scramble and get it done, Young was solid as a rock as usual in our last line of defence.

Great sign was always getting stuck in and winning the ball back in the midfield, could be in for a decent season.

Sydney looked lethargic.  Not sure if that was the Roar midfield dominating them or Sydney's tiredness from recent travel.  Nevertheless a great start to the season for a change and if they play with the same commitment and structure, there will be more smiles than tears this year. 

On an another note, when will our Adelaide friend pay us a visit to let us know that this is actually a shite squad and that the result was down to luck?

Fowlers had Roar on the 6-week English preseason which would account for much of the difference - Roar are essentially match fit. 

That was also our 4th game in preseason which is pretty impressive in just five weeks. 

Then he set the team team up really narrow yesterday which muted Sydney’s forward momentum. Coming through that middle was like wading through treacle for SFC, Fowler got his tactics spot on. 

Very encouraged all round. 

Some of the comments on twitter from Sydney fans are laughable. Highlights include that we are now bullies and that Fowler's tactics caused injury to two Sydney players. Also that we were very lucky to win, because we were dominated by an "average" Sydney team who created three times as many chances as we had. Our goals were also flukes. 

Yeah I saw a few of those - claiming Sydney were the better side and created more chances lol. 

Its tough to lose I guess when you’ve got in to the habit of winning. But there’s also a counter balance from other fans that don’t share those views - including a couple who posted on this thread - which is good to see. 

Im just optimistic this season wont be a third clusterfuck. Couldn’t stand one more year of dross 

We've still got the likes of Hingert, DWH, Holloway, Pepper and Powell in the wings, with a couple of squad spots to fill.  Very promising.

Any word on Gillesphey?

What happened to Gillesphey?

Inman and Oshea could be my favourites this season. 

Went down after a robust clearance then stayed down for a bit before being subbed off.

Hope all is well because he looks a player that's for sure.  Was a bit concerning that he didn't move until the trainer helped him back to the bench

lots to like from that game but also some things to work on. 

the good first. we were very well set up defensively. very hard to break down, pressed well and won a lot of ball in the midfield which is very encouraging. the players looked like they were gelling very well and always know where the outlets were. the amount of times where the central defenders could release to the wide defenders who were under a little bit of pressure but retain possession is a sign that everyone is on the same wavelength, they didnt panic, they knew the ball was coming to them and they were able to play the ball around. We kept possession in the back and middle 3rd very well and moved through those lines very well. playing a back 3 teams often get caught out in the pockets behind the wide players, this didnt happen to us even though SFC have Kosta and ALF who are very good at exploiting that sort of area. we had some mongrel in us to win ball and not let SFC play. Aldred, JCP, Gillesphie, Akbari and Mauk were fantastic defensively, really outstanding.

the not so good. I thought we were not great in the final 3rd, we seemed to stagnate once the ball moved forward with some sloppy passing and not keeping possession. I think Neville and Mcging were most guilty with some very poor passing over the halfway line (they were solid defensively but i think struggled going forward). we moved the ball well at times but couldnt really break down their defence once it was set. (the goals came from quick counter attack and a lucky deflection from a shot from the edge of the box ) Roy hardly touched the ball really offered little up front, for someone who is meant to be leading our attack we really need more output from him. we may be taking a defence first approach but we will need to be better (maybe more creative) in attack if we are going to contend this season. I know it is still preseason, against the champions, so i can forgive the next two points but;

- we shut down our game with 20 mins to go, we didnt play attacking football for 90 minutes, with 20 to go we defended the lead AND
- there were times of cynical negative football, fouling players when they broke the press or we were out of position (mauk and inman in particular).

neither of those points are really bad in isolation and small doses, sometimes you have to play that way, but i dont want it to be our style. SFC and Perth made it a huge part of their game in the last couple of years and it is Negative, anti-football, it makes games hard to watch which i hope is not how we play. Use it sparingly as a last resort and make dominance and positive football the style we play.

finally and i hope this is just the last couple of seasons clouding my judgement and i am wrong, but it looked like we were just 4 weeks ahead of SFC and that is why we dominated. It looked like we were hitting our peak where SFC were in second gear in preseason. hopefully that is just because i have no idea about all our new players and where their level really is. hopefully we take it to the next level now.

Typical that the roar gets a league opposition again. At least we finally get a home game and against CCM.

That’s a good assessment and illustrates how much there is to pick apart with this team. Thinking back to Aloisi’s teams conversation was always what they’re not doing, not what they are doing so that’s a welcome change. 

Both sides will improve but in my mind mind there’s no doubt Fowler treated last nights game as the first match of the new season while SFC were a fair bit behind - and that’s okay. It’s one game full of hope and that’s as much as we could want 

Yeah, I'm quite disappointed. The point of the FFA Cup is to give the smaller clubs a shot at the big boys, yet we only played the one lower league team in our first game in the inaugural 2014 edition and since then just A-League opponents. We finally end our 5 game losing streak and end up with the only all A-League tie of the round of 16. 

The FFA Cup gods hate us.

Has Akbari ever played in CM?

I had assumed not, that's why it surprised me.

RF must've identified that his skill set suits this possie.