He the same age as diamante give or take a few months. They are both 37. Look how disorganised WU are without him and how much impact he makes as a sub. 

Although I am in the group that thinks it's more than Scotty being out has been the issue. But we are missing something in our attack, he might be it.

The conditions for tonight game i expect to be not great. Could be very windy at the least with potential rain. We really need to win tonight. WSW have a lot of flaws in their game and don't really play to the level that their position on the table suggest.

SMac is not in the same universe as Diamanti, though. Not now.,nor ever. 

So what's the go at the stadium, wear a mask? Just bought some tickets for mates and it looks almost sold out.

Its good to have a few optimists around,but i am a realist and until something changes,the realty is we are a gritty team which cant win and you need to win to be a serious contender.
We have had some time  off to regroup,so hopefully we can start winning again,if not ,i really struggle to see us making the top six.

We are competitive, we just don't have the final pass or connection happening at the moment. Whether that changes with Smac returning today, or the new German, we shal lfind out soon enough. WSW haven't been setting the world on fire, so I'm hoping for 3 - 1 to the ROARRR!!!

If it were me, I'd start with Smac, and play him for the first half. Time to get on the board early, and we need a spark to light up the pitch.

Have to wear a mask while entering and exiting the stadium, as well as while you're moving around. You don't have to wear it while you are sitting at your seats, but it's still recommended when you can't stay the 1.5m away from other people. 

Cheers mate, much appreciated. 

Last time we won a game was against Melbourne Victory, have a feeling we are due for a win.

But he is our star signing and better than many.

Diego Castro is a year older again and running round like a skilful madman.

Diamanti, Castro, Macdonald - they are not the same, but they each mean the same thing to their teams.

I am not sure how much trust we can out in such things, but I would say we are due for a haul of goals.

Others may well feel we are due for a flogging.

I like my feeling better...

MacDonald isn't in the same class as either. If he means as much to Brisbane as they do to WU and Perth, then the Roar are in deep trouble and destined for the lower half of the table. 

Will you ever fill this little ground ?
Your crowds are getting worse by the game.

Completely dominated so far. Absolute no structure on the field at the moment. No idea of link up play or clear player movement. 

Way too many long balls too, and all that is doing is giving the ball away. 

WSW have played quite a few balls behind, which is showing that positional awareness is not there. 

Also getting caught in possession way too much. Still not seeing what others are when they say we are competitive. 

Aldred and Gillesphey out
Trewin in the center of defence.😱
Not much hope.

Very poor effort from O’Shea to block the shot from Yeboah. Appeared to not put much effort into it at all. 

As seems to have been normal for the past 2 seasons, Brisbane struggle to create much centrally, and most attacks end up in crosses from wide out.

I do not understand Moon's squad this week.

If he was sending a message to the incumbents to get them to lift their game, then I am all for it - he is the coach and that is his call.

Other than that, I cannot understand putting our best second string side out against a very beatable Wanderers. The regulars can't all be injured, and they have come off a long break so should not be weary. If Moon was fielding an experimental side to see who might be ready for a first team start, why would you waste a shot at three points against beatable opponents?

EDIT: I just looked at the team list from home and was surprised to see most of the familiar faces in the starting line-up. At the ground it seemed like our squad was mostly not first team players. I guess having JCP and Brindell-South in the lineup, with Mehbratu and Champness, and Kim on the bench put the wrong idea in my head. I had not realised Aldred was injured either so I was just plain baffled about his exclusion.

The first two thirds of the game was like a bunch of skilled players who meet up once a week on matchday. No structure, totally aimless going forward, players just not performing the way our team can play or even close to how we have been playing.

Zimbos_05 - saying you don't see what others do by judging us on that weaker line-up is not a fair comparison or any reflection on our normal side. I am sure you know that. And yet even then against Wanderers they were 'actually, sort of' competitive. Was not a good enough performance for this level though.

EDIT: As mentioned above, the starting line-up was not as poor as I had thought it to be at the game. I still do not consider Mehbratu and Champness to be our best starters, despite Champness playing well tonight. Without Aldred and Gillesphey at the back we are not as dominant as we normally are either. Still - not the second string line-up I originally posted about.

Lousy weather around, School and Easter holidays - does explain a bit of the low crowd but I expected a better turnout even then. Lucky in a way - if they had come they would probably have been disappointed. Not much for us to encourage, let alone cheer about, for our team in the first 60.

I do not understand the lack of intensity in our play, either attacking or defending throughout that game. We were sitting back waiting to be hurt and just showed no desperation or urgency.

Mehbratu's touch was hideous - although what we expect him to do with a high ball against close defenders other than head it further forward I don't know. A symptom of our aimless attack.
O'Shea seemed relatively invisible from my end of the field. Did I miss what he did or was he particularly ineffective going forward tonight?

Brindell-South was not convincing for me. Happy if anyone watched more of him and tells me different.

Positives...

Danzaki, Hingert, Brown all had good games even though surrounded by less experienced players. Champness showed us again some of the reasons why he can be a really good player for us. Scott Macdonald and Scott Neville back was a big lift to the side. I am happy with the contribution 'old legs SMac' gave and the effect on us going forward was much as I expected. From the moment he came on he took back a level of control in the game and his composure on the ball was a relief in the headless chook arena leading up to that.

JCP and Trewin did some good things - but I only saw them up close in the second half.

We drew in a game that with our (Edit) normal players I think we would have won - and yet we got a point with a weaker side.

Wish we had played with our best team - but I expect us to win the next time we face them.

I agree he is not in their class - but like Bozanic for Mariners he is our talisman, and he does plenty to improve the team just by playing in it.

He means as much to us as Castro and Diamanti do to their teams - but the difference may be that without all our respective talismans Roar are still competitive. Can we say the same of the others?

And we have leapt to 7th :)

3-2 win over City without Bozanic says yes for CCM

I was thinking more of Castro and Diamanti but I did include all the talismans in my statement.

I agree with you on Mariners being competitive - proven by the simple fact that they are where they have been all season (with or without Bozanic).

Can anyone tell me more about Aldred's injury please?

Moon said after the game he picked up a hamstring tweak right at the end of training yesterday, and decided it was better not to play today.

Love watching Diamanti but Castro over the last couple of weeks is looking all of his 38 years. Garcia will need to manage him well to get the best out of him on the run home.

Sorry - last one for the night...

Can Neville play DM? If so, how does this look:

                 Young
Hingert Aldred Gillesphey Brown
                 Neville
         O'Shea  Danzaki
              McDonald
    DWH   Champness/Kudo

We have three decent, experienced CBs and it seems a waste to have one of them on the bench. But we have a disconnect coming out of defence unless we waste O'Shea in a deeper position like we have been. If Neville can play DM, O'Shea can move further forward into the role we want him playing.

If Neville slots in as our third CB, we then have to rely on Brown and Hingert to bring the ball forward (as someone on here has pointed out before) or force O'Shea back where he is mostly lost to us if we want to bring the ball centrally.

                          Young
              Neville Aldred Gillesphey
Hingert                                             Brown
           O'Shea  McDonald  Danzaki
              DWH   Champness/Kudo

Having McDonald and Neville both back in the side fits better in a 4 4 2 diamond with Neville at its base to me - if he can play there.

Whatever we do, I think it is time we have more stability in the starting side so they can learn how to play together instead of the disjointed play we showed tonight.

Thanks for that (so this is my last post tonight instead).

Hope it is a single match out.

Many options.  Any other confirmation of steinmann?
Neville could play rcb in back 3 or rwb. If hingert is out with knee then jbs or neville. 
Hard to fit McDonald, a striker and Champness in the side assuming that danazaki is not heading home. Had more attacking options with mcdonald on. Champness also offered a direct threat.  I felt more positive overall but expectations have lowered. 

I understand your point, but the thing is I am not just judging us on the weaker line-up. I'm judging us based on a few performances with different line ups, including when we have our stronger players on the field. 

Being able to judge a weaker side is a good bar for where a squad sits. It gives an indication of the philosophy and ideology that is implemented by a coach, as well as the depth in the squad. If the squad depth can't perform when given the chance, I would be slightly worried. It means that you only have a select few players that doing well is reliant on. 

The philosophy should be something that is through the whole 23/25 man squad and they should all be able to play the strategy and do the role required of them. If we turn around and say that the second stringers are not expected to do that, then it's basically a dysfunctional set up without any clear philosophy. 

Your last sentence sums up my perspective too. I'm thinking finals will be a good result this season and anything past the first finals game will be a nice surprise.

Moon is limited by a fairly ordinary squad. He will need to recruit well for next season to be more competitive.

Good points.

I do think our squad depth is fine for 'normal' fill ins, but we do not have replacements on the bench who are all that close to the capability of our first team. I know some will say our replacements off the bench are very close to the capability of our first team and that is part of the problem - but I think our first team is good enough to be winning games.

To me, one big factor is that every game we see changes in the front third and our play is disjointed because of it.

Another factor, and more damning, is that I do not think we have the strategy or team philosophy throughout the squad that has been a strength of Roar sides in the past. Depending on who we have playing on the day we go backwards or forwards in attack, we go long or do our short passing, we have players who press and players who don't, and we rarely play as a team with the focus, speed and intent, with or without the ball, that I have come to expect from our teams.

I think if we have a consistent starting eleven that play together game after game then we will see more cohesive play and I also think the rest of the squad will work harder to break in. As we are now, it looks like most of the squad players are content knowing they will get their turn every couple of games and few players are playing every minute of the game like it counts (not in the blue-arsed fly sense either).

Hingert, Aldred, Gillesphey, Brown, Trewin all play like moments matter. going forward or back.
Scott McDonald has the required competitive streak, and both Danzaki and DWH are lively and enthusiastic whenever they are on the field. O'Shea is a clever, skilful, workhorse but playing deeper stifles what he should be bringing to the team.
For the rest of the squad, whoever fills the blanks, something is lacking in their play which is not actually lacking in their skillset - resulting in broken play, overly defensive play, dwelling on the ball and giving the ball away.
Our midfield does not show urgency and drive, and often shows timidity where confidence in self and teammates is required- which is odd because they have all been part of a machine that has played the 'right' way many times.

Last night we saw more of the blank fillers than usual and that is why I commented on that game being anything indicative of what we should be. I know you get that point.

We are competitive in the sense that we do not leak goals and we almost always have shots on goal and opportunities that arguably should be converted by the players we have. We would be more than just competitive if we were putting away that goal or two - and I take the point someone has made that most games at this level would be swung by a goal or two for either side anyway - but our chances are genuinely gettable and rarely gotten.

For all that - we are still only a converted opportunity away from winning most games - which is why I call us competitive.
Convert any one gettable chance and we are back to being winners.