Rado needs to start roaring in Brisbane

+1 ElGee

hoping our impressive record against the mariners remains intact.

Did we do well? We did well enough against Sydney, but if that had been the Mariners we would have lost, I am sure. They boys will need step up several notches on this performance at Bluetongue. The positives were Broich, Halloran and Berisha. Broich is the big mover, and if he is playing himself back into form, then there is a good chance of giving the Mariners an unpleasant surprise. Much will depend on whether Partaalu can contain Rogic.

Geez some tough markers on here. I couldn't agree less real football. You can't turn a team around in a week but the key thing there was improvement last night. Something to build upon. Rado dropped Jurman (and Nichols dropped himself but would have been doubtful if not injured) and we got the result we required in a pressure game with a big crowd watching. Thats all you can ask a coach to do. Something to build upon. Partaalu & Broich both recovered some lost form. Hingert is a kid the guy is allowed to make mistakes as long as he learns from them and the only way he is going to get stronger is by playing - especially against somone like Del Piero, the thing he did well was get forward and look threatening which Franjic has not been able to do recently. Now barring injury Vidosic should not change a winning side next week and players like Jurman and Nichols will be busting there balls to get back in the squad and hopefully drive better performances from the players trying to hold onto those positions. The other positive is that we created a whole lot more chances then we actually scored. I don't know what football planet you live on but the indicators that I've outline usually show your team is moving in the right direction in my experience as both a player and a coach. Rado will be here for at least a season if we do poorly so stop complaining when we do well, a 4-2 scoreline is not to be sneezed at.

And Nope again. That was a far from convincing performance last night against a punch drunk opponent. The central defence didn't work, Stef was awful again, Murdocca was a headless chook, Henrique made the wrong decision every time he broke into space, the ball was way too slow leaving the midfield, the final ball in the penalty area was mostly awful, Hingert isn't an A League standard defender, and the turnover rate was again unacceptable, with Partaalu again a notable culprit. If Brisbane play like that against Central Coast, rather than Sydney, they will lose by 2 at least. Next week will be a far more accurate indication as to whether Rado is steadying the ship. Personally, I think not. For a start, this bandaid central defence isn't anywhere near all enough to go up against most attacks, including CCM. So what the hell was Rado doing going out with a game plan he knows he can't risk next week? Why is he playing Murdocca when all he does is run around like a headless chook and waste his final ball time after time? Nope and triple nope. I am not impressed.

JB, the same thought re Partaalu as a target man struck me too last night. Like you, I am far from convinced that his most effective role is in the midfield. His qualities, as you note - strength and height NOT mobility - suggest he is far better suited to the front or back lines, where he can make the best use of his assets. For my money, all of Murdocca's considerable limitations were on show last night. His inability to finish his leadup work is now a chronic problem. In particular his utter inability to the move the ball quickly to Halloran (when there was no reason not to do so) was a constant block to Brisbane's effectiveness last night. I remain unconvinced that he is A League standard, and I believe that it is time some of the younger mids are given a start in his place. Likewise Henrique, though he is a fan favourite. He has the technique, but he no longer has the pace to make the most of it and without pace he is simply too small for top level football. With both he and Murdocca in the team, the lack of height and stength becomes an issue.

Nope. You put five against the second worst defense in the league, four past the worst. Against everyone else you've been blanked or picked up only one, whilst conceding, Telling people to pipe down after that game is akin to a professional boxer going through a bad rut staging a match against a primary school kid and pointing to that result when he wins. Rado needs to post results against teams that aren't an apocalyptic shambles at the moment if he wants to clear the heat off his back.

So can everyone shut up about the Roar's "fall from grace" (read: Loss of three games) now? They finally put their chances away last night like they did against Victory (in a 5-0 drubbing that could have been more). They lost a game to Adelaide after completely dominating the whole game and only through a long range effort from Vidosic and a lack of finishing did they not at least get a point. By the way, one thing I will say is that Theo gets beaten from distance WAY too often. ADP again last night and quite a few last year beat Theo from range - Kewell comes to mind but Im sure there were others. Heart dominated Roar and it was a poor performance but people forget at 1-0 they had a legitimate goal ruled out in a period of the game where Heart barely touched the ball for 20mins. The Perth game was close the whole way through and Perth scrapped a late goal to win. Perth are that type of team and will worry pretty much any side in the comp because they hang around the whole game and have some decent strikers to nab a winner. WSW out Roared the Roar and would have beaten any side in the comp that night. Easily. Now Roar have smashed Sydney with a 4-2 scoreline that flattered the bling. Let's be honest, if ADP wasn't playing, Sydney don't score their two goals and a truer reflection of the game would have resulted. So when you actually look a little further than the results (ie by watching the games), I'm not sure why people are so quick to froth at the mouth over this dramatic fall from grace when there was probably only 1 game where the Roar were outplayed. Surely even 2-time champions are allowed to be outplayed once or twice. The Roar have played 7 games. I'd be waiting until week 20 before writing any team off let alone the champions.

Mate, it's 7 rounds in and with that win they are in the 6. Give me strength

i'd love to add to what you said jbinnie, but i have saturday morning chores to do!! thanks for the read and insightful comments. hingert played well and is inexperienced, but played better than Jurman had been. a better performance and 3 points. The Roar can improve, last night was a good start.

Well Rado roared & the Roar roared so whereto from here?To answer that question we must look ultra critically at last night's perfomance,calculate what was done, then attempt to move forward & see if further improvement can be achieved with the players at his disposal. Moving Franjic into the middle of the backline certainly gave it far more mobility but then the question must be put what will happen when the team meets an opponent with tall forwards for neither Smith or Franjic are what one would say is tall. So mobility has been gained but a height threat remains. That leads us to the right full back position.Is young Hingert an improvement on Franjic?Although he put up a reasonable performance the answer to the question must be in the negative for his inexperience showed at critical junctures in the match so he still has a bit to learn, At left full back Shane is coming on and a long term replacement should be in Rado's mind. So overall there is room for improvement in the centre back and left full back positions. Midfield is another area where long term replacements could be procured. As someone else has pointed out Murdocca is probably the best "bench player" in the league but too often his wonderful industry is wasted by the poor selection or execution of the final pass.Even the commentators passed remarks on his ability to finish off his good work.Halloran was a breath of fresh air on the right flank but it should be worrying to Rado the number of times his pace is NOT being used because of poor service from the others in mid-field. Paartlu is another case altogether.A lot of his work is done in the back third of the field and yet once again last night he added a dimension to the Roar's play with his aerial threat and goal snatching ability.Could he be used more beneficially to Roar than in midfield? He has all the attributes of a class cenre back and yet,after last night one wonders if he could be better used as a target man for the "lone ranger" to work off.What a handful for any defence,Paartlu's height and power plus Berisha's industry.With the tendancy of Roar's system to have fast flank penetration with lots of ball crossing this is an area that could be improved upon for aerial threat is not in Berisha's physical capabilities.Henrique remains a problem. He plays well with Broich out wide on the left but last night he too showed a disturbing tendency to pick the wrong ball at crucial times. Now to last night. An overall much improved performance,but the above discussion takes the reader to the next level of a managers job, how and where can improvements be made. The never ending question. jb

its at least in our hands so to speak. was asked at work for a prediction but for the first time in a while i had no clue on predictions. i know we can do it, its just up to if we click and can start playing. don't have to be brilliant but start getting better and being reliable. oh - and getting 3 points would be nice.

Hard one to pick. If Brisbane start to play, they'll win by at least 3. If they don't turn up, Sydney could spring a surprise.

Brisbane to win 3-1

Around 20,000 tickets pre sold so far...lets hope the Roar and ADP can put a decent game! I'm tipping 1-1.

Yeah, it wasn't great for a lot of last season - that's true. I too became frustrated as all get up with Brisbane's lack of directness. Yes, we won the Championship, but a lot of the football played was really, really dull. Basically, that was recruitment too. Devere, and in particular Barba and McKay were never replaced anywhere near adequately. Last year's Roar was a shadow of the team that won the first championship.

i agree with the lack of finishing which as you say happened with ange also. but we were winning, it was still frustrating as all hell and an opposition can do a quick counter and only has a couple of chances but scores a goal. while we peppered around the box with heaps of possession.

It's been a sore point since the Bakries took over. But how vocal can you be when your team has been champions two years in a row and have just signed the core group for another few years?

I agree there's a coaching issue, or, probably more accurately, a management issue, a leadership issue. I wonder whether Rado has the authority among the players to demand a performance. Mind you, if the players are slacking off just because they've got an easy boss doesn't say much for their professionalism. I maintain that if not for a Galekovic save and a dismal decision by a linesman we would not be having this conversation. I fully believe Brisbane would have won both of those games. That's not to say the players haven't been underperforming. Nichols, Paartalu and Jurman in particular look awful for the most part, and there's not much imagination or guile in the final third, and I get so frustrated at the lack of end product. But, frankly, those things used to frustrate the hell out of me with Ange as well, only I didn't mind it so much because we were winning.

BV, we can't afford to give him a whole season. If the team continues to track like this for another 3 games, he has to go immediately. The team's only performance that wasn't substandard this season was, obviously, the Victory game, and unfortunately for Rado, it looks like the coaching driver for that performance was Ange, not Rado. Good teams most certainly can become bad teams overnight, if they are badly coached. This is unequivocally a coaching issue. The recruitment was poor, certainly, but it doesn't explain these performances. The players are disorganised, unmotivated, underperforming, and the team is showing visible fractures on the pitch. Would that have happened under Ange? Most certainly not.