Hoping Gillesphey is okay. Was it a contact injury? If so, shouldn't be too bad hopefully.

If we get Meredith, that'd make us even stronger. Hope the club is looking to make it happen.

I did not get to see any of the game - if wishes were fishes...

Did Aldred's yellow card foul look like a reasonably necessary 'one for the team' tackle to prevent danger or a spontaneous hack since someone got past him? Hopefully the former.

He's Backbari and he has something to prove!

Any chance that Roy was drawing defensive pressure off the other forwards for us? Making useful runs that were covered by SFC and leaving spaces for the others?

Did we use our back 3 and/or Jamie to hold and switch play a lot or did we try to hold and switch through DM instead? Just interested in how far up the field SFC applied pressure and how we handled that.

Thanks Sirhcdobo particularly for the review, and yay Roar. I know it is early days but I am totally satisfied with how we are developing and am willing to say that at least we have a team in this season's competition.

#ArnieOut #GODin :P

Aldred's yellow was necessary, although only because Sydney were hitting on the counter and we wouldn't have the speed to match. If he didn't foul. it would have likely been a 1 v 1 with the keeper. 
Roy didn't seem to get into the game all that much, although got an assist (and drew a defender with him, opening space for O'Shea at the same time) and forced a very good save from Redmayne. Hoping he can provide more as time goes on. 
I'm not very adept with tactical discussion, however it seems as though we got the ball and went forward immediately. We played with a lot of purpose and very attacking. It was certainly us forcing the press, not Sydney. They had no time on the ball whatsoever, with our players quickly chasing them down to win back possession. 

Thanks mate.

Its a nice change to be looking at how to improve on a good performance and leaving other teams to look for excuses,like lack of match fitness.
At this early stage if you looked at an area we could strengthen,you would have to say  our wide players .
Also when Gillesphey went off,SFC made some breaks down the left which lead to serious chances.

In the center there seems to be a lot of depth.But out wide not much.Hence McGing and CP.As good as CP is at his age,we cant expect a 16yr old to play a full season.
I wont be surprised if Bowles moves higher up the pitch.I still remember him scoring a goal playing on the wing and outpacing the defence .Is he still that fast? I dont know.

I have hope that Inman steps this year. He had big wraps and then things went quiet. Glad to see him getting game time and hopeful its a sign of good things to come.

From what I could tell Roy was playing off the shoulder of the last man, and Inman was coming deeper to get the ball with his back to goal. It probably made Roy look like he wasn't in the game but we struggled with our long passes in behind (more getting everyone on the same wavelength and timing) so nothing much to worry about. Will be interesting to see what happens when DWH and AAH are fit as I think they both (DWH at least I haven't seen AAH play) better suited for that type of role.

Aldred's yellow was a good yellow in that it was on halfway and it would have been 1-1 (with a defender not with young) if he let him past. he probably didnt need to foul as there was lots to do and neville probably would have won the ball if he was allowed past. but a totally reasonable foul all in all.

Akbari certainly does have something to prove and on that i am happy with our midfield stocks now. i did think previously that we might need another CDM but think now it will be a waste of a spot as akbari can play there.

possible on Roy, Ill admit that i wasn't really watching him too closely as i was more focused on the players that i have not seen play yet. But my impression was that he was invisible, definitely did not have the movement of Mclaren or Taggs.

the build up was from our back 3 until we got over the halfway line. the back 3 would release wide defenders who would move the ball up the pitch. if the wide defenders got in trouble then they would either play back to the CB or play the CDMs who would play back or bounce back to the wide defenders. very rarely would the CDMs play forward or switch. this changed once over halfway (particularly in the front 3rd) where the central midfield would then look to switch or move the ball forward. 

The CCM FFA Cup game at home will be another good test.  You would think that CCM will set up very defensively and try to hit on the counter.  We'll see how the Roar goes against a congested defense and how/if they can break them down.

That’s pretty much what the two NPL opponents did - set up with 5 at the back, 4 in front, and sit deep. 

Roars response was to keep the ball, switch sides, go to the wings and use their aerial strength. 

Against City they had a fast winger (#10 on the night I think) who several times surged down the wing on the counter and caused trouble so it will be interesting to see if they’ve addressed that. 

Are English players and coaching staff capable of such a game plan?;)

No. Clearly they’re cheating ... they must have a spare Aloisi locked in a cupboard who they consult on such things. 

3 games against SFC, WSW, AU, CCM, WP and MC.

I guess that this is pretty good, CCM and WP would be expected to be down the bottom end of the ladder. MV, WU and PG are expected to be at the top end and we only play them twice.

This is the sort of thing I was asking about with that question.

Instead of our historic use of Theo/Jamie or our CBs in every switch I am hoping to see more of the CDMs playing that link role. A much more positive method as it keeps pressure on the opposition. If it forces the opposition to stay higher in an attempt to take the CDM out it opens up the field somewhere else. If they ignore it and hang back it keeps the ball closer to avenues of attack and more likely to put doubt and choice in the opposition mind.

Got the Roar official email with the draw for the year. ROD on the background. Does this indicate that he's got the captaincy? Interested as the relatively negative comments on his play in the FFA Cup.

Aldred’s in the box seat for the captaincy but it won’t be decided for a while yet apparently 

ROD in all his preseason games has been a bit quiet. I think that’s more to do with the style of play plus, 3-5-2 is designed to create scoring chances for multiple players and not specifically the front two primarily 

the central midfielders, mauk and Akbari, (i am hesitant to call them CDMs as in this formation they are more central mids that screen whereas the wide midfielders are really defensive wing backs) are definitely playing in a different role to TK and Mckay I definitely think they were higher up the pitch but i am not sure they were more involved with the switch of play. Previously I believe that TK and Mckay (and before that Corona and Mckay) were more involved in playing out from the back in our own half. The ball would go through them within their own half particularly in switching play deep in our own half then they would pass and move forward from a deeper position. last night the balls were going directly out to the wide defenders. very rarely did it go from the CB's to the CM's. whenever we were in trouble it would go back to the CB's or sometimes even Jamie. that was mostly from the wide defenders either directly or bounced through the CMs. however when that happened it was going straight back out to the wide defenders who were high not through to CM's (in previous years it would have gone through the CDMs who would drop deep in to the back line).

I feel the midfield line were higher than in previous seasons. it will be interesting to see how our formation goes against a 4-2-3-1 or perths 3-5-2 where our central 2 wont be able to sit flat like last night, one will have to move forward and the other sit deeper. 

Hoping a decent performance and win, as well as a half respectable draw for Brisbane results in memberships being sold. Even if you can only make a few games or none, there are options for supporter memberships. 

Sounds good to me.

Isn’t it nice to have some optimism for once?

The lack of consistent mid field scoring options really killed the game under Aloisi. Whether that was be design or default, it didn't work. Glad to have midfielders who can score.

I think it was by design. 4-2-3-1 with a point striker (Maccers or Taggart) as the main converter 

Ro16 FFA Cup game v CCM on Wednesday 28th August, 7:30pm KO @ Dolphin Stadium, Redcliffe

There is a Courier Mail paywalled story on Jamie Young and is well worth a read in an insightful Q&A with Marco. The last question sums up a great man:

Q: If you were down to your last $10, how would you spend it?

A: I’d find someone who needs it more and have a chat with them.

Am I the only one checking emails and Football Aus websites every half hour to see if tickets are on sale yet for the FFA game at Dolphin Stadium?

I am more than half expecting people to miss out on reserved seating.

If anyone has an idea about when tickets are likely to go on sale please post what you know.

Thanks

2nd this. super keen for this game. even my old man with renal and cardiac failure wants to drive 2hr to get to redcliff. 

From the account @RichardHSport on Twitter:

James Meredith has been offered a multi year deal by Brisbane Roar, as Robbie Fowler looks to add 1 more body to his squad ahead of the new season. #aleague

That’s a fake Richard Hayes account.

Vince Rugari exposed him a few weeks ago.

I saw that ..... did you read the replies lol 


(just in case anyone wondered about his sudden departure from Millwall) 

Haha I did 😆 

Ive heard the Meredith rumour, would be very good for us I reckon