Brisbane lose but they remain far from defeated

Personally jb I believe Ange wants/needs to be in this position. He talks about constantly improving. But how can you improve when nobody is testing you. Sydney did not just him a favour in assessing the chinks in the Roar armour(particularly personnel as mentioned) but the A-League generally. For me he's advanced this league many years ahead of where it would be in relation to playing standard if he hadnt taken over the Roar when he did. Its the mantra I've adopted since the beginning of the A-League the quality/standard(whichever term you like) of football will determine its success in emulating the newer leagues like the J & the MLS. I look forward to this Friday to see what happens on the park..

Stu.-That is exactly the problem facing the Roar as it prepares for the upcoming Asian Cup "adventure. So what to do? A few months back the pundits in our game were telling us Barcelona were the pick of all club teams playing the game and everyone should try and achieve that level. They are now lying second to Real in the Spanish league so one must assume Mourhino saw something our pundits didn't and planned his strategy accordingly.!!!!! You see Stu,in my opinion, the game of football is constantly in a state of change, that is why it has lasted 150yrs.That's where the Roar are at this very moment. Can they afford to put aside the warnings given to them by Victory and Sydney,and carry on battling along in an attempt to win another title or do they "tweak" the system that has done them proud,get a few new players playing in "doubtful positions" and all in all improve on their last 18 months form???. That is the challenge ahead and I wish them well for they have done the game proud in this country. jb

perhaps the roar will not be able to reach that 'next level' with the current players in the squad. we all need to remember each player will reach a level they can not exceed.

It's only the smallest hint of a rumor but perhaps Dario Vidosic might be available. He would be a huge upgrade over Issey or Henrique and would make the attack look a lot more menacing. You didn't mention Franjic in your players out of form list.... he was ok on the weekend but he was playing at a level good enough for the Socceroos before he was injured towards the end of last season.

philip - When a team has gone 36 games unbeaten it is relatively easy to slip into a "wait and see" attitude and now that Victory and Sydney have highlighted weaknesses in the Roar system the time for change has come.Personally I refuse to believe that AP is satisfied with every player in his squad,there are obvious improvements that could be made but it must be remembered up until now he,AP,has been working to a budget (successfully) but with the Asian Cup looming he is going to have to make these obvious improvments sooner rather than later. jb

Realfootball - Your comment about Roar needing more variety in their game is very interesting. You mention a big strong centre-forward and strangely I found myself thinking exactly the same thing on Sunday especially when Meyer was brought on for he has all those physical abilities and on his few appearances has shown he has a nose for goals.This is where the Roar system could do with a tweak for Berisha is now a marked man and is spending more and more time chasing after the ball even back to the half way line,and that is exactly where his centre-back opponents want him to be.He is extremely mobile in the penalty area and that's exactly where he should be but could do with a bit of strong assistance. A few weeks ago Archie Thompson highlighted a "hole" in Roar's defence especially when a fast forward ran at the space between the centre-backs. The Sydney winger found it on Sunday.What to do? Can Roar afford to have that gap when an international centre-half is on the bench.Maybe another tweak to the system is needed there. These 2 changes would not alter the basics of the system presently used they would simply "stretch" the overall "length " of the Roar's area of operation making it just a little harder to close them down swiftly> Will be interesting to see what,if anything, will be done.jb

Stevo - It's not "you",you are quite right.One of the components of presenting a defensive line up to a team when possession is lost is the immediate retreat of all players into the back two thirds of the pitch and, when allied to a constant "pressing" game, the tactic becomes very effective if discipline and effort are maintained. This was the tactic Sydney used and the only way to counteract it is to lift the "passing game" as practiced by the Roar with speed and accuracy, not only with the ball, but with movement of players off the ball..If this is done the "pressing tactic" is not only nullified for,when an opponent tries to close down quickly, a ball passed accurately to a mate who is on the move will actually takes the "presser" out of the game as the ball passes him on it's way FORWARD.. In Sunday's game we had two different systems of play being used against each opponent and the Roar lads came off second best.The danger now is that other teams (who are not necessarily better "football" teams) can sneak victories this way so the Roar are going to have to change,not necessarily the system they have used so successfully, but the application of that system and it is in this area I think the Roar have the players to lift their game to a new level,even when being "pressed". Roar,like every team,can be improved. There have been signs in recent weeks that their "passing game" may be beyond the talents of some players when attempts to "speed up" are tried.This is what football management is all about,seeing where improvements can be made, then quietly going about applying the remedies.Victory applied a fright some weeks ago,Sydney did a little more,now it's up to Ange & staff to take the necessary steps to fix the potential problem areas. They can do that,they have proved themselves. jb

Agree with the comment re Nicholls suffering from some Olyroos malaise....Matt Ryan and Olly Bozanic seemed to be playing at a lower level this week (maybe that's understandable to a degree). I do think Nicholls is too selfish and obviously cannot play with Nakajima-Farran ( conflict of interest????). Obviously Brisbane were missing the creativity of Broich and this says much about squad depth....something that will need to be sorted out if Brisbane are to be genuine contenders in the ACL.

I know Brisbane Roar broke the record for longest undefeated streak in aussie sports history, how many games did they Win in a row? and was that also an aussie record? And no, i'm not asking to be a smart arse league/afl fan, i'm just curious as to what the longest winning streak in soccer/football is and if it's something else the champion brisbane team holds.

Not much pazazz in the roar's effort, and i have happily come up with 3 excuses for my boys. 1. Like the Broncos, no Lockyer no Broncos. No Broich, No Roar. 2. Big Artie could not bare another week of Roar bragging about the record, so he swing the arm of justice, from the heavens. 3. Make, ? why are the best team in the leaGUE PLAYING ON A COW PADDOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF A WIND STORM. ? 4. Bugger the cap locks. And that should be "mate" after a few it turns into make.

Agree with your comments. It was great, coming from the Sutherland Shire and being a Sydney FC season ticket holder, to not have to make the great trek into Moore Park. I've attended a number of NRL games at Kogarah and also thought there were a few thousand more than the quoted crowd figure. Great games from Petratos and Cazarine and I think Shannon Cole's best for the club, a real hum dinger. Interested to see how FC back up on the short turn around to play Perth on Wednesday. Hope that Lavicka persists with starting with Cazarine and that Bridge warms the bench.

Agree jbinnie, the Roar are not the finished product and I think Ange has been given a lot to think about in recent times. MV's park-the-bus and hit on the counter with Archie nearly paid off. The Roar have found it hard to break down teams that have decided to defend well. The challenge in the ACL will be greater than in the A-league and teams can be expected to be solid both defensively and offensively. What I have found to be somewhat dissapointing about Roar is their "same paced" approach. Just when I think they should zip the ball across the pitch to catch opponents off-balance they allow teams time to get behind the ball and create a "wall". Maybe it's just me.

Massive dragons fan, been to Kogarah alot as kid watching the likes of Reddy snr, Craig Young, Teddy Goodwin etc, while this teams weren't as good as the St George teams that won 11 in a row, they weren't a bad side, Bath's babes. However having watched alot of Brisbane games, I can assure you this Brisbane has been worth the hype.

Good for you!

I love the irony that the ground that was the home ground for the club who hold the best record in Australian team sport, that will never be beaten (11 straight premierships by the St George Dragons) is the one which ended this painfully over publicised (by the A-League anyway), all be it impressive storyline of the Brisbane Roar.

Brisbane looked very sluggish yesterday, while Sydney played well and had some luck. Brisbane were without Broich who may have been the difference in getting them back into the match. Let's be honest of Brisbane's 9 matches, in 3 of them they have not looked their best. The whole undefeated thing was a marvelous streak and we'll most likely never see it again in our life time. In another way though it's good for Brisbane, they get to focus less on their streak and concentrate more on their football and where they went wrong. Their touches and movement of the ball yesterday was sloppy, Sydney were allowed to adjust their defense without any panic. Had Brisbane not been so slow they could have still cut through the Sydney defense like butter as soon as they make a mistake or can't keep up, which when Brisbane is playing good football, is only an inevitability.

Great publicity for Sydney FC. Now let's hope they go on with it.

Had forgotten about Fitzgerald - was most impressed with him in pre season. I'm surprised that he hasn't at least been on the bench, given his pace and the goal scoring threat he offers. Visconte never impressed me. Not enough pace for an out and out winger, and a truly awful first touch. Had his chances last season and didn't take them.

Yeah i was surprised to see we knocked the cricket off the back page and the Rugby League what a shock.

Good to see we made the covers of the sport sections of both Sydney papers, even knocking out the cricket.