Brisbane Roar defeated the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the A-League game over the weekend. Mitch Nichols scored for the Roars in the 72nd minute, sealing the victory.
Performance of Roar players:
Michael Theoklitos – Goalkeeper – 6
Was not threatened on too many occasions, but was reliable when it mattered to keep a clean sheet.
Shane Stefanutto – Left Wingback – 6
Created several chances on the left-side and provided good support in attack.
Matthew Smith – Central Defender – 8
Saved a certain goal off a Michael Baird header, with a lunging goal-line clearance in the 47th minute. Showed commitment and leadership in defence.
Matthew Jurman – Central Defender – 6
Performed very well in defensive tackles and showed some good decision-making. However, occasionally gave away possession with poor passing.
Ivan Franjic – Right Wingback – 7
Provided powerful runs on the right side and delivered the assist for the winning goal.
Erik Paartalu – Defensive Midfielder – 6
Played well in the holding midfield role, with good vision to distribute the ball to the wings. Dropped deep in defence as cover for central defenders, as they shifted wide, to enable wingbacks to penetrate in attack.
Thomas Broich – Left Central Midfielder – 8
Showed tremendous heart throughout the match, battling for possession on every occasion. His technique on the ball was exceptional and was matched by his vision on the pitch.
Provided excellent leadership in the final third. Won the Man-of-the-Match award.
Mitch Nichols – Right Central Midfielder – 8
An exceptional performance all round. Was involved in a large number of attacking moves, either in support, or to provide a breakthrough pass, or making a run into space to receive the ball himself.
Scored the winning goal with a fierce strike into the bottom corner. He also won several challenges in defence to regain possession and dispel opposition build-up play.
Issey Nakajima-Farran – Left Winger – 7
Displayed dynamic skills in his dribbling and passing abilities, to wreak havoc on an otherwise strong Mariners defence. Supplied an outstanding through-ball to Mitch Nichols in the 24th minute and a wonderful low-cross to James Meyer in the 53rd minute.
Replaced by Kofi Danning in the 80th minute.
James Meyer – Right Winger/Central Midfielder – 3
Struggled somewhat in an unfamiliar right-wing role and could not produce a goal to finish the cross supplied by teammate Nakajima-Farran. Lacked pace and strength against the formidable Central Coast defender Joshua Rose.
Besart Berisha – Striker – 4
Showed signs of potential, but was not yet fully adjusted to the Roar’s style of play. Made some dangerous runs and had a few good touches, but generally did not engage effectively enough in the build-up play. Substituted in the 66th minute.
Substitutes
Massimo Murdocca – Right Winger – 4
Replaced Berisha in the 66th minute. Played in the right wing to move Meyer to the central midfielder role and play Thomas Broich as striker. Positionally, he played very well and supported the offensive pressure exerted by the overlapping wingback.
Kofi Danning – Striker – 4
Came on in the 80th minute to replace Nakajima-Farran. Played in the striker role, while Thomas Broich moved to the left wing. Reinvigorated the momentum in the attacking half with strength and acceleration power.
Roar team summary
Dominating possession, the Roar looked in control for the majority of the game. There was good movement and cohesion across the back four to build the play from the defensive line.
The midfielders and wingbacks added a dynamic element to the attacking play; however the finishing on several occasions was not clinical enough.
A middle-pressing Mariners defence took advantage of poor passing in the lower-middle third and counter-attacked well on several occasions to threaten the Roar.
Overall, the Roar showed determination to win and maintained a high level of intensity throughout the match.
Standout Mariners players:
Matt Ryan – Goalkeeper
Positioned himself very well to block several critical strikes on goal.
Oliver Bozanic – Left Midfielder
A very exciting performance by the 22-year old, who showed blistering pace on the ball to threaten the Roar on the counter-attack.
Matt Simon – Striker
Caused trouble for the Roar’s defensive line on several occasions by making angled runs to find space behind central defenders. He also contributed with dangerous crosses to supply chances to teammates.
James Norris
Roar Rookie
no worries :)
Davo
Guest
fair enough. I look foward to seeing how the team develops this season. It wasn't meant to be a personal attack or anything mate :)
James Norris
Roar Rookie
Thanks for your comments guys, sorry to disappoint with some of the lower rating, but yes, perhaps I will revise the substitute ratings as impact rather than game-time. I generally don't like giving ratings lower than a 5, but going off a 5 as being a solid, expected, average performance its hard to say everyone played better than average. Last week I wrote an article praising James for his movement and finishing and seeing what he is capable of when he is performing at his best. I think he is much better suited to central positioning roles where he can use frame and awareness to interplay with teammates and then unleash his great finishing skills. In the wing position, he has to employ a higher level of acceleration, pace, dribbling technique and on-ball agility, a lot more than he would normally use in the central positions, and lets face it, he didn't really show the high level of quickness and agility that wingers use to maximise that position (like Andrezinho in the Perth game, or even Issey on the left wing) . Berisha will definitely be a great quality striker for the Roar, but I think at the moment, and in this game, he struggled to fit in with the Roar's 4-1-2-3 system and drop into space to provide support and lay-offs to advancing midfielder/wingers. When Barbarouses played in that similar position he would often drop very deep in the midfield area to recieve the ball and build the play with the wingers and other midfielders from there and then get on the end of a cut back or through ball and score. It felt as though Berisha, in this game, skipped the involvement in the build up and preferred to wait high up on the line to then make a quick run and recieve the ball for the finish.
Davo
Guest
james Meyer 3??? are you Joking??? The amount of times he effortlessly beat players with pace and acceleration was worthy of a 7 or 8. He was outstanding in that match on the weekend and his combinations with Franjic, Nichols and Berisha were awesome. Berisha was definately not a 4. He made some fantastic runs but couldn't quite finish them off. He also had some fantastic touch under pressure and some delightful lay off balls. he will be a quality striker. Were you at the game???
mattt
Guest
A 3 for James Meyer! Jesus H Christ. Okay he didnt set the world on fire but he didn't run over a puppy or anything. No player on either team deserved anything less than a 6.
James Norris
Roar Rookie
Yes, they announced it during the match at Suncorp Stadium. Nichols, Nakajima-Farran and Ryan were fantastic but I think it was Broich's work ethic and involvement in many of the attacking plays that made him MOTM. Yeah, I agree that Broich has had better games in the past, particularly in the dribbling and passing areas. Thanks for your comments though TomC!
Matt
Guest
I think a few of your ratings are a bit off, but that aside, I think you should judge substitues vs the time they spent on the field rather than the whole game. Kofi was quite dynamic and a real threat when he came on - something that is not represented at all by a 4.
TomC
Guest
Broich won the man of the match award? I didn't realise the A-league had a man of the match award. Very surprised Broich won it ahead of Nichols, Nakajima-Farran or even Matt Ryan. I didn't think it was Broich's best performance.