There's so much hate and beef about Fowler's style of play this year but I can definitely say that I'm enjoying this season overall. The progression we've made excited me for what the future will hold. I can say at the moment that I believe in the team and go into games thinking we will win. Something that I haven't been able to do for the last few seasons under JA. I'm predicting a huge season next year. Would love to see 15k-20k crowds at Suncorp and more packed out games at dolphin. I also reckon roar should play a game up at the new Townsville stadium some time during the season. If there's going to be expansion again in Queensland, it has to come from up north. Then we can talk about a 2nd Brisbane side. 

Agree with this totally. 

The current playing style whilst gritty and gutsy, in the main is boring and ugly to watch. So I doubt very much Roar will achieve 15,000 - 20,000 crowds next season unless players with more skill and improvisation and quicker thinking are brought into the side. If we can do that and retain the best to balance the side I think we will go well.

At the moment, I'm embarrassed to have invited people to the game to dish them up what we have. Die hards might think it's satisfactory but I can assure you it will keep crowd numbers down, not up. 

If the strategy was parking the bus for the first half then why don't we have the capability to counter attack with speed or any resemblance of effectiveness? Shouldn't that be the complete strategy rather than remaining sterile for half a game? So where has it gone wrong?

Brah :laugh::laugh:

The strategy is pretty much telling the fans not to watch the first half.

Funny thing is I had the complete opposite experience.  I had a BBQ on Saturday and a group of us were watching the game (a couple of them are died in the wool eurosnobs).  Everyone seemed to enjoy it, so much so that three of my friends are going to the next home game.  

Maybe good company makes the game more enjoyable :P

Where has it all gone wrong? At what point did one defeat in 9 games and matching it with SFC, Glory, City and Nix become “all wrong”? 

Maybe they're used it from watching the lower leagues of England and might change their minds when they sobered up? lol

I'll find it very hard to get excited about attending the matches and won't be inviting anyone at the games for the rest of this season.

They are actually Serie A fans and where able to enjoy the game for what it was, a fixture between 2 local Aussie teams.  Unfortunately not enough alcohol consumed to be the primary reason :)

I knew the answer to what has gone wrong but wanted to see others admit it as well, as you just did - poor player recruitment.

RF has improved the side to reach mediocrity, at least credit for that.

Italian guests are very polite and respectful, I know ;)

I get why some people would say that. But this is where you and I differ - I’ve sat through the last two years of sh*t knowing we were more likely to concede 5 than win but still rock up and still invite/take mates. 

Yet crowds are going down, not up. I realize its a league wide thing but Roar should be doing much, much better commensurate with the climb up the table.

If the Den is your and your mate's gig, nice. There seemed to be only about a dozen making noise from the Den last Saturday, so is it really as good as you say it is? If it works for you, great but what about other 99% of attendees?

Last 2 seasons weren't great but no matter what happened there were excellent skills exhibited from a number of players to watch, despite the scorelines.

Yes, football is indeed more than just about winning. That's why mediocrity and low quality skills combined is difficult to swallow.

It’s not a criticism of you, most people don’t go and certainly don’t bring mates when results aren’t right. But with only one winner each season and 2-3 sides able to compete, more than half the supporters are following clubs that are “also rans” - clubs need to work on that to grow crowds not wait until they’re winning and try it then. 

I reckon if Newcastle was my team, I'd be more inclined to watch them with more friends than I would as is the case now with Roar. Yet they're below us.

As you said, winning isn't everything and I certainly agree with that.

It is as Waz said to some extent.

Robbie was counting on ROD and our other forwards to be able to score goals on their own - basically expecting 3 players to create and score at least one every game while the other 7 stopped the opposition scoring any.

The history of our club conceding goals somewhat forced Robbie to start with maybe 7 playing defensive and 3 in attack for the first half of every game, then switching another two forward from halftime.

His recruitment was not shit. Robbie determined that we needed a capable striker and he thought ROD would be that. ROD did not come through for us. It means something about ROD or our setup just did not work. The recruitment was still OK - just some of the players did not work out. You can say "if we had signed someone like Berisha he would have been scoring" but we actually don't know that - just we assume it along the same lines that Robbie assumed ROD would be able to score for us.

I have no problem at all with Robbie's recruitment strategy and I think he did a bloody good job with most players in most positions. He chose the right combinations of players for positions and for the effective style he has in place. No-one can guarantee a player will work out - does not make the recruitment suspect - just sometimes things don't work out.

I have not seen a lot saying that the owners got it right appointing Robbie by the way - certainly a lot saying Robbie is proving himself, but where are the people saying those who appointed Robbie were idiots and mindless? To say "I was wrong about Robbie as a coach" is not going as far as saying "I was wrong when I bagged the Roar owners and management for being unable to see what a loser Robbie is".

Like Brisbanegossip, I have been enjoying this season and our progress. You all know I have lived this team from pre-season and seen the improvements and potential as much greater than the results on each game day. I too am now going into games expecting wins, and I line up with those funny people who felt disappointed only taking 1 point out of the Glory game.

@paulc
To answer your question on where it has gone wrong from my perspective - it hasn't. We are getting better at our transitional play. We were always dangerous without punishing in the first half of the season's games. We are combining much better now, and were we to start the season now playing like we are (acknowledging that other teams have improved too) we would have won some of the close ones and be better placed on the table now. Even excluding the impact that Scotty Mac has had and adding ROD back in we would have done better back then playing like we are now. Time is the factor that you are not allowing the team when you label recruitment poor and they have needed that.

Looking forward within this season, to stem the bleeding from your eyes I can only hope that the transitional play and combinations continue to improve (they will) to the extent that the first half becomes as strong on the counter as they are at holding (maybe they will) - and I think that is Robbie's goal too. He was as disappointed at our first half lack of scoring as the rest of us if you remember.

The recruitment has not worked because he has contracted players lacking - considerable ball control, skill, imagination, improvisation, quick thinking, game reading, flair, etc. Their game and game execution has been mostly hampered by the lack of some or all of these essential qualities a good football team must have to entertain and / or succeed. Instead he bought in players that contribute to sterile and unadventurous games that can in no way be deemed a success, but is clearly ugly and mediocre a best.

RF has done well with what he has, but it feels like congratulating a firebug for putting out his own fire.

Thanks new FFA ;)

Pretty much agree with all this. The other way I look at it is - how many of the Roar players would fans from other teams be interested in seeing as a first choice player at their own club? Not many, I suspect (apart from maybe CCM fans).

lol How many fans of other clubs would take players capable of one defeat in nine games? 

Young most likely one of the only few, lost count of how many goals he has saved us over the years, including this season.

1 defeat in 9 games can be narrowed down to Fowler. Players a small part. 6th position as a result is still mediocre though. So we can use maths instead of fans if you like.

Yep, Young is my favorite for the season.

I'm slowly starting to appreciate O'Neil but he needs to be consistent. 

For me one of the most frustrating things about how Roar play is the inability for fast counterattacks.
Surely every team knows that a turnover with the defence out of position is one of the best opportunities to score?
Is this because of a defensive mindset by the coach?
How hard is it for two or three players to be set for a fast break?
Opportunities are there all the time and time and again noone is in position or its a long ball with low odds or a player stops and passes backwards.
Can anyone explain whats going on?

There you go, I see the problem - noone is a City player. If only some else could step up. On a serious note, when Ange was our coach, I remember he said that a high percentage of goals are scored in the 10 to 15 secs when there's been a change over in possession. And it is frustrating that even in the second half, we often are not in a position to transition to a fast paced play.

This is only my guess but it goes along these lines:

1/ The coach has them set up to not counter attack quickly. While it’s an attractive proposition it’s also risky if the Ball is turned over in transition and you find players have left gaps your opponents exploit. So I’m guessing a “safety first” play by Fowler has them cagey going forward. 

That's fine, your opinion is a lot, my opinion is not many, despite Brisbane being on a good run of results.
I can't see the link in the reasoning that because some fans may not have picked how some individual teams would fare this season, this means that fans can't assess the ability of individual players. I think a lot of fans are quite capable of doing that. Most will not be highly qualified coaches, but that doesn't mean they are incapable of rating the ability of professional players in comparison to other professional players.

Sure it does.