Wanderers stun Roar to get first win
By Wayne Heming, 28 Oct 2012
- Tagged:
- A-League, Brisbane Roar, football, Football, Mark Bridge, Western Sydney Wanderers
Mark Bridge celebrates scoring the Wanderers first ever A-League goal. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
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Striker Mark Bridge headed home Western Sydney’s first goal as the rookie A-League club secured a maiden win in a massive 1-0 upset of defending champions Brisbane on Saturday night.
After missing a sitter in last weekend’s 1-0 derby loss to Sydney FC, Bridge nodded in the drought-breaker 18 minutes into the first half, leaving Brisbane and the home fans shellshocked.
Brisbane’s defence gave Bridge far too much space to move after Dutch import Youssouf Hersi delivered him a perfect ball off a short corner kick from star Japanese import Shinji Ono.
It ended 288 minutes of anxiety for for the Wanderers, who failed to score in their opening three games, though Bridge may have been lucky to grab his place in club history.
It could easily have gone to 22-year-old midfielder Aaron Mooy, whose fourth minute speculator rebounded off the right post into the left post as a powerless Roar `keeper Michael Theo looked on.
Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic said before the game he was hoping for a “lucky goal” to put Brisbane under pressure.
Mooy almost provided it.
The coach had to wait another 14 minutes but there was nothing lucky about Bridge’s goal and Western Sydney grew in confidence.
They made Brisbane look average in the first half with eight corners to nil.
The magnitude of the upset can be measured by Brisbane’s fabulous Suncorp Stadium record, having lost just three of their previous 34 home games.
The visitors continually upset Brisbane’s rhythm.
Popovic’s defensive structure closed down the Roar in the middle of the pitch where they are usually very dangerous.
Hersi tormented Brisbane’s defenders all night, taking the sting out of the crowd, who expected most of the action would be directed at Wanderers `keeper Ante Covic who was rarely tested.
Covic had heated words with Brisbane’s Jack Hingert, who he claimed had clipped him in the head with his boot searching for the equaliser.
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- A-League, Brisbane Roar, football, Football, Mark Bridge, Western Sydney Wanderers
October 28th 2012 @ 4:21am
Johnno said | October 28th 2012 @ 4:21am | Report comment
The sleeping giant has awaken even more . West Sydney to win 2012-13 A-league title here we come we beat the premiers 1st up.. There on there way. Onya Poppa a proud ex socceroo and wets sydney man born and bread from Sydney Croatia a great old NSL team. It just goes to show old football is still the way forwad merging with new football. Now many old football people feel they have a team at last, a community team, the way it was done in the NSL eg teams like Hakoah in east , and to the west in the heartland of soccer in OZ. And last night from Paramatta to fairfield, to liverpool , too Bossley Park home of Marconi they were having a good time. I was at the Marconi club last night with my mate Dino, and there was big celebrations at the west sydney win. All these NSL clubs have local clubs too like the croatian club, and serbian club, and turkish club, and Melita club too, all with old NSL links, and new football links.
And Apia-leichardht too, and sydney Olympic as well, as well as sydney united . So much history now west sydney wanderers are uniting these clubs. Great times Johnny Warren would be proud. SBS in those days was the only football channel now we have fox and SBS, but it is giong mainstream just as the great man Johnny Warren wanted football too be. But we have to integrate the old teams for sure and heal the wounds.
But west sydney have produced more soccer’s than anywhere. And some greta clubs like Blakctown Bumble Bees,a nd the old NSL teams in west sydney the heart of Aussy football. Only STH Melbourne can match it for passion and a hub for football. As South Melbourne Hellas,was announced as the best club in Oceania history it got an award for that.
People in west sydney are embracing the wanderers they are a special team they will go far, im sure this is the start. Look out Collingwood, and Brisbane Broncos west sydney wanderers are wandering fast.
October 28th 2012 @ 5:19am
Fussball ist unser leben said | October 28th 2012 @ 5:19am | Report comment
Just got home from a night out.
Just saw the result.
Thank you Western Sydney Wanderers FC … the whole of the HAL appreciates what you’ve done.
Brisbane have 4 points and, allegedly, Bris is the best team in the HAL.
MVFC has 3 points and, allegedly, MVFC are rubbish.
Football … it’s a funny game.
October 28th 2012 @ 8:29am
jbinnie said | October 28th 2012 @ 8:29am | Report comment
Fuss – Tread carefully my friend.While taking nothing away from a thoroughly workmanlike performance from WSW when, and if, you watch the game you will be absolutely astounded at the amount of ball that was turned over by Roar during this game.IMO, with a performance like this, any team in the league would have beaten Roar and it would also be correct to say this percentage of turnover was not just caused by the ‘pressing ‘ nature of WSW’s tactics (albeit they were successful) on the night. After the Wellington game I suggested Rado should make viewing of a tape of the game a mandatory part of training,this week’s effort was ten times worse.To see players of the supposed calibre of Paartlu and Broich continually mis-pass or get caught in possession,not by pressure ,but by tardiness in execution, is almost unbelievable and Bosnich was not far away at half time when he described Roar as “rubbish.”.With Nichols’ sole contribution to the game a shot that hit the post the Roar midfield was non existent and there is something “tragic” in watching a renowned goal poacher like Berisha having to come back into his own back third to get a touch at the ball.
So to get back to your summation, last night no one in their right mind could standardise Roar’s performance as indicating they are the best team in the HAL.far from it,in fact many might agree that this was the worst Roar performane of the last 3 years.Good luck to WSW, they fully deserved their win but the signs were there as early as the 20 minute mark that the Roar were there for the taking,and so it proved. Rado has some work ahead of him to raise their heads after this showing.jb
October 28th 2012 @ 9:47am
Realfootball said | October 28th 2012 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Relax, Fuss sure as hell Brisbane aren’t the best team in the comp. That’s 3 games out of 4 that the team has served up absolute garbage football. I pondered last week which Brisbane would turn up against the Wanderers, and I was not optimistic. My fears were well founded.
October 28th 2012 @ 1:23pm
johnno said | October 28th 2012 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
cant beleive they say the crowd was 12000 was lucky to be 6000
October 28th 2012 @ 2:13pm
Harry said | October 28th 2012 @ 2:13pm | Report comment
Fans get let into the top tiers of the stadium when heavy rain…
October 28th 2012 @ 3:33pm
Nathan of Perth said | October 28th 2012 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
Yeah, noticed the top deck was loaded with punters.
October 28th 2012 @ 5:59pm
Ian said | October 28th 2012 @ 5:59pm | Report comment
Jbinnie has made a good summation of the night’s performance.
we deserved to get pounded though i recall two weeks ago we destroyed the Victory 5-0. we played well against perth and the performance was a bit poorer against wellington.
last night was disappointing to say the least. its really, WTF happened?
i think the mid field was poor, nichols and paartaluu. i think in turn broich had extra put on him as a result but he also made uncharacteristic errors.
congrats to WSW.
but the season is 4 weeks old.
yes, as due to the weather punters not covered were given the opportunity to sit in the eastern and western stands under cover. the upper western tier has never had so many people. i remained in an uncovered area next to the den and could see the entire crowd. the crowd figure is accurate.
October 29th 2012 @ 9:36am
Winter Is Coming said | October 29th 2012 @ 9:36am | Report comment
The chip on your shoulder must be getting immensely heavy by now Joe….
October 28th 2012 @ 7:56am
Roger said | October 28th 2012 @ 7:56am | Report comment
Congratulations to WSW!
Too bad for Roar supporters. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch.
October 28th 2012 @ 7:58am
striker said | October 28th 2012 @ 7:58am | Report comment
Gotta agree this is the club to unite the all football lovers from the old NSL, this club has the potentail to be the biggest club in the A League not doubt about it.
October 28th 2012 @ 8:14am
Roger said | October 28th 2012 @ 8:14am | Report comment
Gotta love the enthusiasm of WSW supporters!
October 28th 2012 @ 7:59am
pete4 said | October 28th 2012 @ 7:59am | Report comment
Absolutely massive upset!
October 28th 2012 @ 9:08am
TC said | October 28th 2012 @ 9:08am | Report comment
Congratulations to the Wanderers on their first goal and first win.
TC
October 28th 2012 @ 9:17am
Finally said | October 28th 2012 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Hopefully this puts to bed the notion that you can’t press for 90mins. Of course you can if you do it as a team, which is exactly what WSW did.
October 28th 2012 @ 9:52am
Realfootball said | October 28th 2012 @ 9:52am | Report comment
Great result for the A-League. Congratulations to the Wanderers.
Brisbane have big problems. Only Berisha looked up to standard. The team was so poor all over the park that it’s hard to single out individuals. But the worst of all, for the second game in a row, was Broich. He should have been pulled off the park on 60 minutes at the latest. If Broich is poor, Brisbane are poor, because he makes the midflielders around him look better than they are. Leave them alone to their own devices and we get tripe like last night.
After 4 games, Brisbane is looking uncomfortably like a team with a coaching problem. Lack of structure, motivation, leadership and cohesion. If the same rubbish is served up against Adelaide, the spotllight will be firmly on Vidosic.
But on the positives, I think last night we saw the birth of something special. A winning Wanderers team has the potential to sit alongside Victory in terms of support. And we saw an excellent young coach in action. Popovic has worked wonders at WSW. Even as a Roar supporter, I can’t help but think it was a great result.
Just a shame Mooy isn’t playing for Brisbane. My word he made Partaalu look pedestrian (and that’s putting it kindly).
October 28th 2012 @ 10:45am
fadida said | October 28th 2012 @ 10:45am | Report comment
Agree completely. Roar really struggling. Early days of course but they have lost their subtleties and patience in possession. On the subject of coaching, Popovic totally won the battle. One of the best tactical performances I have seen in the league. Really mature. Pressed high when they could win it, if not low pressure around half way. Superbly organised, great shape, and both stifled and hurt the Roar. Gibbs was excellent and changed the dynamic. Hersi much improved and was very threatening. Mooy looks like he is ready for NT. CB’s vastly improved on previous seasons.
Many comments re Roars lack of motivation, but they just ran out of ideas in the end, due to WSW excellence. AP’s Roar stuck to their plan. This side weren’t sure what approach I take. Too much room for decision making?
For me this game showed the importance of tactics (previous thread in this blog). People who don’t understand tactics will talk about lack of hunger, desire etc… People who do will look at WSW set up which dominated Roar’s.
Pressure on Rado. He’s breaking bits that didn’t need tinkering.
October 28th 2012 @ 12:23pm
jbinnie said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
fadida – “Pressing” be it “high or low” is not a new tactic in the game in fact it can be traced back to the ’50′s and is used by coaches who perceive their team as being of lesser quality, and so, set out to upset the “better” players by putting them under constant pressure.Perhaps the best known exponent to us in latter years would be Graham Taylor’s application when appointed to the manager’s job in 1977 at Watford, who were a fourth division club.He took them to the first division in 4 years using “lesser” players (John Barnes probably being the only exception) with great heart and determination.
However the tactical game has evolved since that time and the prime example of how to defeat “‘pressing” is of course supplied by Barcelona whose players all have wonderful first touch,almost constant movement on and off the ball ,and a great ability to pass the ball to a teamate with speed and accuracy.
WSW applied the tactic perfectly last night while playing some attractive football themselves but if you refer to the talents of Barcelona and compare them with what the Roar dished up last night you begin to understand their (WSW’s)success, albeit just by one goal.
Ange did start to try and emulate a passing game strategy but for 3 seasons now it has been obvious certain players do not have the skills to counter the “pressing” game and that is where the fault lies.Recruitment has failed to find the men who can take the passing game to it’s next level so the problems will continue until certain positions are filled.
The great Bill Shankly said it all when he said “Above all the main aim is that everyone can control a ball and do the basic things well. Control and pass,control and pass ” and went on to say “Players (on the ball) need options,not one but two or three and that is accomplished by movement from his team mates”.Shankly knew it was a simple game to play well ,it’s only people who make it difficult. jb
October 28th 2012 @ 12:45pm
fadida said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
Thanks for the history lesson
I wasnt suggested WSW have invented the wheel. “Mature” as in for the A-League was my comment only. Over the last 2 seasons sides playing Brisbane have either gone for the park-the /bus approach ie low pressure ( but most haven’t got enough pressure on the ball) or all out high pressure regardless of whether Roar have got quality possession, so they have been ripped apart as Roar can play out too easily, or they have tired after 60 minutes. WSW used triggers to start pressure eg poor touch, long pass, dead balls. If no trigger they were compact and set up at half way. For the A-league this was impressive in comparison to previous seasons ie mature.
The problem for Roar was they lacked patience, rather than recycle possession. They gave it away or played long balls/forced passes. They were too stretched and easy to counter and lacked options with the ball. Far fewer triangles of possession compared to AP sides. Agree that greater pressure forced mistakes.
As for the Graham Taylor comment, his sides played route 1, aiming for field position in the opponents half then pressed.
October 28th 2012 @ 3:02pm
jbinnie said | October 28th 2012 @ 3:02pm | Report comment
fadida – I think you missed my point completely. This Roar team is not competent enough in every position to continue playing what has become known as their “passing game”.You mention “triggers” to start pressing,well I lost count of the triggers that were given to WSW last night by what could only be described as downright poor football. Is this new? No. It happened 5 times last year after the 9 man Victory beat Roar in Melbourne with A Thompson, aided and abetted by pin point passing from one Harry Kewell, created a lead that the remaining players managed to hold by pressuring Roar into error.
By the way I did not say WSW “invented the wheel” and in no way was suggesting that Popovic was remiss in using the tactic,my congratulations to him and his team for the job they did. I have always admired Tony as a player and I know he will not be fooled by that Roar performance last night,a performance one of his old team-mates deemed “rubbish”
Finally, Roar lacked patience.!!!!, Some of theIr supposed better players looked as if they were half asleep when the game started and it didn’t get any better as time passed.Not one of their better displays.
History lesson? Sorry if I offended but the pressing game as a tactic is widely recognised as having been first used, among other tactical advances, in that forgotten centre of football excellence—–Russia ,some 30 years before G Taylor used his form of the tactic .Nevertheless, thank you for your informative reply. Yours jb
October 28th 2012 @ 11:19pm
fadida said | October 28th 2012 @ 11:19pm | Report comment
I’m not disagreeing with your points jbinnie, Your initial response missed my point, that it was a mature performance for our league and really well coached. You then took a tangent and ended up talking about Watford and the history of pressing (which I am aware of) which I didn’t allude to. Good job you weren’t in an exam
I always enjoy your posts as you’re obviously well educated on the game and I always like a tactial discussion, but you can come across as someone who thinks they are superior
October 29th 2012 @ 8:23am
jbinnie said | October 29th 2012 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Fadida- Don’t know whether you are joking or not.
We appear to be looking at the same target for discussion, a game played between 2 teams, and no matter how often I say how much I admired the way WSW played in the game and how well they were prepared you appear to be set on taking one point of my responses and denigrating them to suit your opinion.What you appear to ignore is that there are many many people who contribute and read these columns who may or may not know the history of the “pressing game” and yet when I cite Watford as one example of when it was used previously you choose to select that point and try for some reason or other to belittle an attempt to extend knowledge to those who may find the topic interesting.
If that makes me “superior” (your word) or ,God forbid ,makes you think I think you are inferior ,then so be it,there is little I can do to alter that but don’t you find it strange that no one else seems to have taken offence at anything that I have said.
Now let’s move on and when you see my name attached to any offering just ignore the content for the last thing I want to do is to offend somone’s ego. I will continue to read every offering and judge it accordingly,and by doing so add to my knowledge of our great game. Cheers jb
October 29th 2012 @ 9:19am
fadida said | October 29th 2012 @ 9:19am | Report comment
jbinnie, no attempt to belittle you at all and I apologise if you have taken offence. Not my goal. The little smiley faces are a supposed to represent resoect/ friendliness/ no hard feelings etc… (the joys of modern communication)
Just to clarify, if you go back to my initial post I mentioned a mature performance for Australian standards. You responded by saying this wasn’t new, as it has been around for years worldwide. I knew this and it wasn’t my point. I wasn’t suggesting a new trend, such as Puskas’ Hungary, or wingless wonders. You then mentioned Barcelona, and comparisons with Roar. Again not a point I made. Had you compared Adelaide City or Marconi as examples of previous Australian sides who employed a mature pressing game well and good. Having said I didn’t answer your point was ironic a you didn’t address my comment in any sort of context. My initial points re Roar stand true however, they don’t patiently keep the ball this season. They force passes that aren’t on rather than switch and probe patiently. whether they have the technical ability to do so wasn’t a point I raised.
Again absolutely no offence intended, and I certainly don’t feel inferior, as I could easily hold my own in discussions re history/ tactics all day
Merely pointing out that you were off point with the purpose it appeared of emphasising how much you know (eg referencing Shankly, history) rather than address my points which were pertinent only to the modern A-league, hence the “coming across as superior” comment.
Regards, Fadida
I certainly plan to read and respond to your future posts, as I believe in playing the ball not the man, and as I said you have plenty of great point to add to discussions. Again no offence.
October 28th 2012 @ 9:59am
Roarsome said | October 28th 2012 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Yes, motivation seems the problem at Brisbane. As Fox Sports news framed the loss “Western Sydney out enthused” Brisbane. The Roar only showed some running late in the game. They have a habit of lifting for big games or tough games but have struggled to out the cleaners through teams they are expected to beat. Remember, they lost to the Gold Coast last season and were expected to win comfortably. Good to see Portaloo replaced for playing so poorly, even better to see his reaction. The league have what they want to keep the Where’s Wally fans coming back, Brisbane should lift against Adelaide, they’ll need to. Unless Adelaide are distracted by headlines this week.
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October 28th 2012 @ 12:17pm
Ballymore said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
Missed Paartalau’s reaction. What happened?
October 28th 2012 @ 10:33am
philipcoates said | October 28th 2012 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Among many things to like about the Wanderer’s game last night was the fact that in the last few minutes when they had the ball in attack they didnt head for the corner flag to waste time. They kept playing inside, pushing on goal and had faith in their football.
Bris may have been poor but Wanderer’s looked impressive with their ball movement, constant chasing and willingness to have a shot on goal when opportunity presented. The only thing they need to concern themselves with was their actual inability to score a second goal given so many chances. I hope the win adds many thousands of supporters to their next home game crowd.