Will Brisbane Roar's lack of quality be their downfall?

For all the grief Danning cops the Roar actually need him now as they have nobody else who will take players on. Brisbane were a different team against the Mariners when he came on. He made his usual mistakes but he offered something different tahn the possession for possessions sake of his teammates.

Orignally we were told he would only miss one possibly two games.... it's 5 plus now and we are none the wiser as to why.

Yes Roarchild, I hope they don't suffer the curse of the ACL. We really need another great performance by an A-League team to lift the profile of the A-League and our confidence going into Asian WC Qualifiers and the Asian Cup. Lets hope the Roar recover their scintillating form for the ACL in time and give it the treatment it deserves. I know they're not a one player team, but when is Broich back from injury?

I think the problem with Brisbane along with the other 9 teams in the HAL is if you cop a few injuries, especially your key players, than you don't have the depth to cover them. The reason? Salary Cap. Over to the EPL, both Manchester teams have huge squads to the point, that their 3rd teams would still be competitive. The reason? Theres NO salary cap in the EPL

and people were comparing them to Barca.Yeah right.

Interesting that Broichbane had 8 shots - 2 ON + 6 OFF target - and MH also with 8 shots - 3 ON + 1 OFF which doesn't quite make 8? Anyway, thanks for the data :)

Seems to me every HAL match involving MVFC is preceded by nervous anticipation followed by 90' of drama, controversy & action. We must now work towards generating the same "must watch" feelings for every HAL fixture every week. I'm really looking forward to this round of matches - only Newcastle v Perth seems a bit "ho hum". The other 4 fixtures are set up beautifully.

Bye the way Stevo, these are the stats for the Brisbane v Heart match. I do remember the possession stats being almost level at half time and Heart dominating the territory. But by the end of the match with Heart defending deep and Roar playing their usual game, the end stats looked like any completed Roar match BRISBANE - HEART 1 GOALS 2 8 SHOTS 8 2 SHOTS ON TARGET 3 6 SHOTS OFF TARGET 1 2 CORNERS 5 3 OFFSIDES 6 543 COMPLETED PASSES 142 23 TOTAL CROSSES 17 7 CLEARANCES 22 27 TACKLES 32 11 FOULS 20 http://media.foxsports.com.au/match-centre/a-league/detailed-stats.html?matchid=HAL2011-121001BRIMHT

Thanks to everyone for your contributions - Ange has a dilemma on his hands with Broich missing again against a fired up Victory team. You would hate to be the manager who loses that match. Another must watch A-League game.

I think the lack of money is telling. You can only go so far with bargains if you want sustained success. With a light squad and always relying on someone to step up there will be peaks and troughs. No longer Barcelona we have fond out they are jus Arsenal. And lets not forget it's against the rules for an A league team to enter the ACL in any sort of form.

Then you must have loved that question by the journo "Has the Roar become the easy beats of the HAL?" Ange's reply ... "You must have thought hard and long about that question OK we are the easy beats of the HAL" sic .. Couldn't imagine Kossie rolling over on his back with that question put to him. I know Ange's comment was a dismissive sarcastic response .... but so tame wasn't it ? Miron and Kossie would not stand for such indignation and would risk a fine in response to such a humiliating question put to them. Sometime you need to let the press and your team know that you are 160% behind them and cop a fine as well with a return fire comeback. If that's bad PR then so be it, but show some balls man.

Stevo - Good call. I did not imply that every team tried to stifle the Roar,but simply that it was a "workable " way to play against a team that was recognised as the "top dog" in the league.The scores actually "back-up" this approach. It's not a new idea Stevo ,the tactic can actually be traced back to a Swiss coach called Rappan, who, being given the job of Swiss national team manager, quickly decided that in most of the matches he would be playing, his players would be classed as "second -raters" to Europe's elite at the time ie 1938. Rappan was another coach out of the Meisl school,having being born in Vienna.He developed a player deployment which used a sweeper behind a back three,a staggered midfield of three and three forwards. This was christened "Verrou" at a time when W-M was still the most favoured player deployment.The tactic is widely accepted as the basis for the development of "catenaccio" which peaked in Italy in 1965 but in it's basic form is probably nearer to a 4-3-3 formation as practised today. Sound familiar?????? Not a Dutch idea after all but "a plan" to use when playing against what is perceived as a "better' team. Keep the good ball rolling Cheers jb

Like the analysis but as a Heart supporter I don't think JVS sent the boys out in Brisbane to hang back - in fact possession was relatively even and MH came to attack. You seemed to give Bleiberg a pat on the back ? So Ange has decided that the Roar's signature style of play will be possession based a la Barca/Arsenal come hell or high water. Got to admire that but when Barca or Arsenal need to plug a gap they go and buy a player that fits the bill. In the salary capped HAL we need to nurture players over a period of time so that holes can be plugged by players with similar levels of skill. But as you say, take out the first choice key players and the next level seems relatively thread bare. HAL teams have to hope they have no serious injuries during the year or they get "lucky" and can call on substitutes of equal ability. If not change the game plan to suit the cattle on the pitch.

Amazing turnaround in form Athas. Certainly the absence of Broich is a negative and they do play better with him - he leads the A-League assists table. But I agree its also a matter of the other teams having worked out the Roar's system and that pressing and fast counter attacking will leave them at fives and sixes and opens up some scoring opportunities before they have time to reorganise. Closing down Nicholls also closes down their scoring options and Ange needs to work on a plan B. Unfortunately when you pick a squad to suit your playing style, its not that easy to change your playing style - these guys would have no idea how to defend doggedly, park the bus and play for a draw. They just know how to run all day and pass the ball in a triangle.

We all remember Kofi when he first burst onto the scene for SFC---he looked like he was something special and I had high hopes for him. But then he was selected by the Dutchman Jan to play for one of his teams at youth level. He has never been the same since.. Not a coincidence in my view---the Dutchman destroyed all of his natural instincts to attack the players in front of him.

Bleiberg is the last person Ange needs media lessons from. He has been a PR disaster for Gold Coast in its heartland. Agree, however, that we were not seeing a manager who seemed to be meeting the challenge. All Roar supporters wondered what Ange's plan B was - now we know: he hasn't got one, largely because he doesn't have the squad.

Athas Another well put together discussion piece that doesn't really help Roar in their problem area but accurately spells out what is going on around them in their place of operation,the HAL. Accepting some teams are on the improve one must ask how would CCM perform if they lost Wilkinson,McGlinchey,Abini & Simon ,Heart lost Thompson,Fred &,Duganzic,or Victory lost Hernandez, Leier, and Thompson from their present teams for an extended period. That in fact is what is being asked for that is what has happened to Roar. Lets look at those 5 defeats,9 goals against,2 goals for and 0 points out of a poss.15, 0-2,1-2,0-2,1-2 & 0-1,hardly a thrashing there and all those negatives occurring while enjoying a greater share of possession. At least 6 of those nine goals can be attributed to breaks by fast men through a high playing backline. Obviously a weakness has been found in the Roar's defensive system and has been getting exploited over the last 5 weeks.Can it be cured???? During the first 3 weeks of these 5, Roar had an international centre-back sitting on the bench. By simply drafting him into the backline and letting Smith organise strategic runs from behind that line, the "hole" would have been closed, the fast men nullified. An example. Five weeks ago GCU were leaking goals at a far greater rate than Roar and were bottom of the heap. A slight change in formation and "voila", like a trick from a magician,three blank sheets and 7 points from a possible 9 all because 3 men were used at the back.(a sweeper, to use the old lingo). So where does that leave Roar and Ange with their 2 main problem areas,injury and tactical deficiency in their system, NOT caused by Roar players but by oppositions being prepared to hang back and hope for a successful break,in fact, a plan based on FEAR, but fast developing into how to get 3 points when playing Roar. Ange has to recognise these problems. He has to recognise that for the moment he does not have the midfielders with the guile to supply what is missing in his system.That is not to say he hasn't got the players, but the essential ones are not available.So what to do? Cut down on the breakaway goals which GCU have found to be easily achieved and proved to be successful.Play either Issy or Mitch but not both. Use the "downtime" to give opportunity to younger talent that he may need when Murdocca and Steffanuto finally succumb to the inevitable.This "down" time can be used to experiment ,try out options,try out players, but to simply do the same thing week in week out is definitely not the answer,especially when the injury time to vital players appears to be indeterminate.I don't think Roar are all that far behind the pack and the results in their losses prove that. But ,if the loss run continues, there are other things to be considered, the gains made this year in crowd numbers will start to dwindle,confidence will drop,both in players and fans,and that is a road I would not like to see Roar go down again after so much sterling work and effort, so let's hope it can be arrested and the team gets back to the form of 6 weeks ago. jb

Add Murdocca and Stefanuto to that list. plus Brattan from the backups. Massimo - unfortunately for him - is a litmus test for how far the League as come in the last couple of years., He used to look pacey and technically compact, but now - at his physical peak - he is outdone for pace and his technique looks substandard, particularly his passing game. Perhaps not enough credit is being given to other clubs for rising to Brisbane's challenge so successfully. We all hoped they would be good for the League, and so it is proving. To their cost, unfortunately - but the only way forward is up.

I have never seen a more despondent manager in a post game interview as we saw with Ange.. He really could take some lessons on how to handle the press from Miron Bleiberg. Don't get me wrong Ange is a master coach and a hero of Australian Football of how it should be played, but that interview was tragic---full of self pity. His head was bowed rarely looking up to make a clear statement to the press. C'mon man, you let us all down with that one. That's why I like Kossie and Miron they are specials in a club crisis and always come out swinging.

It was pretty apparent while he was at Sydney that Danning was a fairly limited player. Great speed, but can spend most of the game being uninvolved and then usually fluff his lines when he gets the chance.......a real shame because he is a nice kid, hopefully he can grow but again it looks like he hasn't grabbed his chance to play regular first team football. Jurman I thought could go alright, he got a bit overhyped at Sydney amongst much wrist slashing when we lost him, but I guess it is apparent he still has a lot of learning to do.