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The Brisbane Roar have a problem on their hands: their Albanian striker Besart Berisha is brilliant, but easily provoked and willing to explode at any given opportunity.
Yesterday, a first half challenge on Central Coast defender Trent Sainsbury sparked the latest episode.
It can go down with the other chapters that include a willingness to fight Sydney FC defender Pascal Bosschaart on the sideline at Suncorp Stadium and that ‘air swing’ in the A-League grand final last year that many fans still believe was a dive.
Sainsbury was just about to belt the ball up-field when the Albanian crashed into the side of him.
It was rough and careless, not malicious, but Mariners striker Daniel McBreen and midfielder John Hutchinson decided they weren’t happy and confronted Berisha.
Whether standing up for their team-mate or sensing an opportunity to get one of the opposition’s most volatile players sent from the field, the move had the desired effect.
Berisha exploded with rage, tried to head butt Hutchinson, before giving McBreen a gob-full.
His team-mates, having seen this before, rushed in and tried to pull Berisha out of harms way. He tried to brush many of them aside.
The striker copped a yellow card for the challenge and nothing extra for the blow-up. The Brisbane side went on to lose 2 – 1 regardless of his presence on the pitch.
Sooner or later though that yellow will become a red and Brisbane will suffer because of it.
Opposition teams worked out long ago that if you bait Berisha he will explode.
When he explodes anything can happen.
It may take a while, but yesterday proved that when the opportunity arises, teams know exactly what button to push.
Hutchinson and McBreen were equally responsible for the blow-up, but weren’t seen as guilty parties by the masses, particularly on social media.
Berisha wasn’t looking for a fight before he was confronted. Finding one these days isn’t difficult.
It led to an explosion on twitter with fans venting their frustration at the latest outburst. Most weren’t willing to share the blame among the parties.
The Roar have a brilliant striker on their books.
Good strikers are rare in the A-League and his passion is a large part of who he is and what makes him dangerous in every sense of the word.
But coach Rado Vidosic and his assistants need to make sure that he knows he’ll be targeted, tempted and tested.
I’m, by no means, defending Berisha or his quick descent into full blown rage.
It was a terrible look for the game and all parties involved probably deserve a quiet word from head office.
The Roar need to be aware of one simple fact.
Their opposition knows where the big red button is and are more than willing to use it.
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