One thing that cannot be simply ignored - the team has been having 48 hours of quarantine after every away game, along with the fly in fly out.

If that was nothing, then all squads would be able to have a couple of days off after games and still perform.

Not a small thing, and not used as an excuse - but something that should no longer be an issue.

If the next couple of games show no improvement then man the pumps. Too soon now though!

With the backline, several posters questioned our depth in the off season and asked what we had if our first team suffered injuries. Clearly they were on the money as our defence has been OK but nowhere near solid. A lot of luck and desperation has kept goals out that on any other day would go in. Milnaric has proven capable and improving but as Crimson says he is only on loan.

Any thoughts on our best xi and formation? I'm struggling fitting a cohesive unit together.  4-2-3-1? With brown out, I don't think 5 at the back works. 
I'd like to see:
                          Lescano
Olsen                parsons             ivanovic
                    Steinmann  o Shea 
Mlnira..        trwein      Neville       b-south 

Milneusic has been average and defends poorly. We have no providers/crosses for lescano other than o Shea (with brown out). 

I don't think we are in a position to put our best XI out there yet. Moon still has to find out what Lescano offers, or how to get more out of him, so he needs game time to work out if he is another Kudo or can work with what we have.

If we still have Ramazani on the books I would include him. Otherwise as far as I can tell, we only have 4 fit defenders. Maybe one of the three injured players will be back this weekend...?

I don't have a problem with Akbari playing midfield so I would stick with him.

More testing to be done before we get our 'best available team' picked and functioning.

                                Lescano
                                      Ivanovic
                 Akbari                   O'Shea
                        Steinmann/Daley
Ramazani                                           Brindell-South
                  Trewin Mlinaric Longbottom

CCM showed last season (and to an extent this season) that you can take a team with majority of players young/NPL level players and compete as long as you have quality in key positions. One is a keeper that inspires confidence that if there are shots coming in he wont concede easily (birraz), one is a domineering midfielder that can both break up play and keep play moving forward quickly dictating play and pleyers (Bozanic), and one creative striker that can play with the ball at his feet and score (urean/kuol)

unfortunately we have none of those. Oshae is the closest, but he is not really domineering and definitely does not organise the rest of the team like bozanic does. when the ball goes to our midfield we are not breaking a line or moving quickly to turn teams around and ivanovic and lecano are not good enough with the ball at their feet to worry defences. they are easily ushered into wide areas where they are not a threat with the ball at their feet and we dont have enough creative drive from other players to create chances for them in central areas where they are a threat. 

i like akbari but he just isnt creative enough at the moment to play AM. the biggest issue i see though is that none of our players seem to be on the same page as to how we create chances. when we win the ball at the back and play into the midfield our strikers stand motionless the midfield dont have an option forward so they look for interplay with the defenders, but the defenders are thinking that once they have played the ball into the midfield their job is done and are not providing an option so the ball goes backwards, rinse and repeat until we look for a long ball to our strikers, who either try to flick it on (and loose it because they are all standing flat not creating an option) or bring it down and try to beat 4 defenders by themselves (because the midfield are either too deep from being forced backwards or flat footed because they think their job is done). 

It is like no one knows how we are meant to attack as a team and everyone is waiting for someone else to do something with the ball. 

O'Shea just has not run at defenders since last season when he was played deeper. He has either been told to play deeper and adopts that as his standard now or he has somehow lost confidence in his ability - but he did run at, round and through defenders before that creating what we need. He has never bossed the midfield by strength but he can draw in several desperate players and pass of enough to do the same as a Bozanic going forward - defensively and organisationally not the same though as you say.

The flat footed, clueless attack over the last couple of games is spot on. Individuals are trying things but they are doing it for the most part as individuals and so many players have been standing still instead of working spaces or moving opponents around. That much is on Moon to sort out regardless of who we have playing.

When we played well against City we showed our ability to move the ball forward and create threats at least - to have completely lost that means to me the travel/quarantine has been messing with players more than we anticipated.

I dont think JOS and Steinmann work together as DM’s they are not quite agile and mobile enough together.Hence one of Daley and Akbari.
You can shuffle the rest around .But basically they are not good enough to scare teams .Lets face it playing against  Roar looks like a day at the office.If you put in you should beat us.Enough pressure will crack the defence and staying tight at the back and pressuring the man with the ball will stop any serious goal threat.
The whole forward line isnt good enough.Strikers,wingers and AM all needed.
At the back we need a fit Aldred or experienced organiser.
Full backs are serviceable in most teams.But wont win you games.
Midfield again is serviceable .But compared to other teams ,not in the top six teams.
Thats it .A recipe for a bottom four team and most likely bottom two.

Apart from the Victory game our defence has been ok, only giving up limited opportunities but there is only so long that a defence can hold out when you are only creating 1 (very very tame) shot on target and that is the midfield and forwards responsibility. 

I like akbari but he is not creating enough in the AM role and our strikers are not offering enough. 

I would bring in Steinmann in DM along with Daley or Akbari for their mobility and move Oshae into the AM role. I would be happy not to see melusenic again, as so far he has offered less than nothing. With him and akbari in AM it is like we are playing with 9 players, you may as well play one of the local kids. At least that gives us fans some pride, lofty or parsons. hopefully Aldred is fit again to bring a bit of organisation onto the pitch and it might be time to give Holmes a shot at the back. if so i would go with 

                        Holmes
             Trewin  Aldred Millarnic
Neville                                           JBS
               Akbari        Steinman
                        Oshae
         Ivanovic              Lescano/Parsons

Hope that roar use the weekend off wisely.  Injuries will hopefully have more time to heal

More time off in A League than council workers and teachers.

Back off on teachers 
Most work hard, bring work home, plan lessons and stress over student progress.

Now if you said politicians,  i would agree. Most are useless bast***s , in it for themselves and don't give a sh1t about the rest of the population. 

Agree with that....teachers...heros.
So under appreciated in the community.
just like football coaches.

Looks like MVictory have learnt their lesson after sitting on bottom of table last year.
Recruitment looks to be working, playing with intensity and desire.
With rivals MC as champions and WUtd near the top at present Victory HAD to sort things out or risk losing supporter base.
Roar need to learn that lesson.
I think another team from Brisbane wanting a crack At the ALeague could push Roar panic buttons.

Ok, council workers, teachers, politicians and most of all, A League players, we can thank those in charge for that situation.

So, other than council workers, teachers, politicians, ALeague players, and football coaches...what have the Romans ever given us?

Its sad how we have been taken from being a big team to an NPL standard team.We even play outside of Brisbane at Redcliffe at an NPL club ground half way to the sunshine coast.
I have no idea what the owners are planning.But where we are now is pretty much rock bottom.
We have had two novice managers in a row.Both have done their best.But have relied on cheap visa players and less than top shelf Aussie players.This suggests to me a budget driven owner.
Clearly Roar is the new cut price team following in CCM ‘s footsteps of old.
When was the last time we had one quality import ?

People ask where the next expansion team will come from.Well how about a Brisbane team,Brisbane people can go and watch?
Some savvy investors should seize the opportunity.What better time to grab those football fans of Brisbane.

we have had plenty of quality imports in recent times, as long as you are talking about actual playing ability and not a big name. Oshae is a quality player Danzaki and gillesphie last season, quality, Beauteac, papdopolous, I would much rather those sort of quality players over big names. 

the problem with a second brisbane team will be the same problem that the roar have, where do they play? suncorp just isnt viable in the long run. with a break even point at 15-18k even with the best deal they can get then a new team will just haemorrhage money until they are forced out of the city or a new smaller stadium is built. 

Sandals?

I agree with all of those players but who have we left out of those? O’Shae and lucky to have him.....but not for long I’d say,

all the rest....gone.

So for tomorrow's game, Mileusnić, Aldred, Hingert, Brown, Mlinarić, Lofthouse and Hore are all not available. Could get pretty ugly I'm thinking. 

They all got covid?

Aldred,Hingert and Brown injured.Mileusnic personal matters,Milarnic SFC barred,the other two not FFA Cup eligible for Cup game.

Big big trouble,especially when the coach is now complaining how tough the fly in fly out thing is.He is basically conceding.
We know its tough but you can have a heap of reserves,during the game ,so whats the problem?just have a go !

Both the FFA Cup game with SFC and the City game have now been postponed - maybe the medical gods are giving us a chance...

Take all the luck we can get. 

Just in two minds as I want to see uptop change at the club. But never like to see my team bottom playing shit. But it feels like it's going to be the only way.

The upside of Roar games being postponed is no poor performances  for another week.

How time flies? Can’t believe it’s a decade since we were playing the best football seen in this country. What is both most depressing and most unbelievable to me is that since Ange, no Australian manager has thought to implement a similar style. This is despite Ange’s philosophy being proven in Japan and now at Celtic?
What’s happened to the idea that you determine how you’re going to play and then buy players to fit as the best managers do. Fowler was headed in the right direction - he had a plan - he first wanted to shore up the defence so he bought Aldred and Gillesphey. Shame his tenure was cut short for whatever reason. 

Agree that the direction of coaching post AP is a puzzle. Unfortunately Arnold seems to have been the template instead. Reactive and dull. His success with Sydney has been, in may view, the worst thing to happen to the A league until the advent of Western United.
CO, I don't understand some of the worship for O'Shea on this thread. He's just above average in my view. Competent with polish. 

O'Shea has accomplished alot in his career and it may be time to not play him in every match from here on in and play a younger guy or draft in a mid-late 20's CM. 
Give Steinmann an extended run as the DM.

Yea, never thought he was anything special, you tend to stand out more when the players around you are bang average or below. 

I don't have the stats, but I thought under Fowler he was the leading creator of chances at some point in the league - or the Roar were and he was basically the one who made it that way. Stats aside, we were a very dangerous side under his creativity and skill and it was just our strikers who could not hit the goal holding us back.

To do what he did with a team of players who, on that damning paper, were not that great individually actually makes his achievement so much greater than if he was a player in a better team.

O'Shea is a much better player than he has been allowed to be over the last season through his deeper and more defensive role.

Put him in as keeper and he would no doubt be crap - but play him in the role he was selected for and he shone bright.