Two sent off in Roar's 1-0 A-League win

Thanks for the correction JohnL.Just for my knowledge did he start the game against GCU or come on as a sub..?????jb

jbinnie... Donachie actually made his debut last season against Gold Coast

All good points, Jb. Thoroughly enjoy you learned contributions. My reaction was definitely coloured by a mixture of disappointment and frustration in equal measure. I wished Rado Vidosic well, and I take no pleasure in actively agitating for his dismissal, but it is now very clear that he isn't up to the job, and the club has to come first. Brisbane are now the least watchable side in the comp - a tragedy that they could fall so far, so fast.

realfootball - Whether a team plays poorly or well is in the eye of the beholder & I personally think that under the circumstances - (1) playing a team they haven't beaten for years at Suncorp, (2) using a 19 year old making his debut directly against a player who was playing in the EPL last year,(3) missing 2 of their regular defenders, & (4) losing probably their best playmaker at half time, the team played "well",not "prettily", but "well" The last of these reasons called for a change of tactics & whether that was "bench generated" I do not know but whether it was accidental or planned matters not,they kept a clean sheet with the keeper only making one outstanding save from a long range piledriver from Griffiths. Not bad defending for a 45 minute session with 2 "new" players in the back line. Also I feel I should correct another difference of opinion we have. Smith has a difficult role in the Roar team & has had since Mike de Vere left. He has played with different centre-halves,none of whom could be descibed as quick,neither on the turn or even in a straight line. If Erik Paartlu has a weakness in his game that too could apply to him so it is inevitable in a game that Smith is going to get caught out ,for also remember, Roar play with 2 advancing wing - backs & he is expected to cover for them also. Smith is nor "fast" in the way you would describe Halloran but if you watch him very closely during a game you will find he covers an amazing amount of ground doing covering work for others. Another thing that needs mentioning,I was not quoting "possession figures" or how they were attained,I was measuring how often every player in the team turned over the ball to the opposition in the 90 minutes played. If you are interested you can do this exercise but I suggest what you would have to do is measure how often a pass does not contribute to PENETRATION for I feel from your reply it is that practice that "gets up your nose". Don't worry it gets up mine as well. Yours jb.

It was a very cagey game after the send offs, the refs are a bit trigger happy in the HAL for mine.

Well. Brisbane now firmly back in the playoff mix, looks like we'll have some mid-table congestion!

Smith is not fast - anything but. His lack of pace is exposed time and time again when he has to turn and chase a quick striker. Interesting stats - support my observation about another poor performance from Steffanuto. He has become a flat-out liability - and he's the first to blame his teammates. Brisbane need a new left back next season. They need one now, actually, but won't get one. However, Jb, I think you sometimes don't see wood for trees. This wasn't 3 points well earned. They won by the narrowest of margins, playing poorly. I also think that "possession" is a term that needs to be far more closely scrutinised than is generally the case. In Brisbane's case, their possession stats are inflated by the endless tennis matches between the back 4 and the midfielders. This was a problem in the later half of last season, and is a constant now. I see no evidence that Rado Vidosic is steering this ship, nor any indication that he knows where he is going. The team is demoralised and playing with neither pleasure nor conviction.

tenschooners & TC - Read and comprehend lads.I was not denigrating the Victory performance in any way but comparing how some pundits were NOT comparing the way Victory & Roar approached the way to protect a one goal lead (should have been 2) after having been reduced to ten men.That "change" I found rightfully comparable. ok? jb

tenschooners is correct - also, MV defeated WSW 2-0 last weekend. TC

the difference is that both teams were reduced to ten men

Agree, jb. I'm not sure why people are focusing on the passing and then using it to rubbish Rado; Brisbane did the same sort of passing with Ange. The passing game also tires the opposition as they constantly have to shift from one side of the field to the other, which is energy sapping in the Australian heat, and Brisbane's humidity. I have no problem with the slow passing game; it is right for Aussie conditions. The problem is that there is rarely any quick quick to go with the slow slow. The ball over the top doesn't cut it as quick quick. Only Broich has the guile to make it work at Brisbane (and Matt McKay - what a loss he was). Without Broich Brisbane lacks any sort creativity. Relying on the running of Halloran isn't the answer - another Broich type player is (was hoping Luke Brattan would become that player).

Isn't it strange,last week, the" reduced to ten men" Ange's Victory performance was raised to the heavens for beating Perth 1-0.Yet here,with Roar also playing with ten men & missing 2 experienced defenders,held their proven "nemesis" of past seasons, to come out 1-0 winners. The difference????? I don't know, but what I do know is that Roar did improve their possession statistic the longer this game progressed.Possession football is not designed to entertain, it is a system that aims to nullify your opponents chances of creating constructive spells of creative football,spells that usually end in a scoring opportunity.Was this done in this game?. Here are some figures taken during the game. In the first 15 minute session Roar gave away possession 13 times almost 1 a minute.& ,at the same time, the Jets created 2 clear cut chances. In the next 2 x15 min, sessions the "sins" were reduced to 11 per session.& Jets created no more chances during this period. With the 10 men reorganisation the second half started as expected, withdraw & play on the break ,(just like Victory), & once again the stats proved that without a doubt the possession game was on the improve,7 giveaways in the first 15 minutes followed by 5 & 4 in the remaining 2x15 minute sessions. During this period Theo had to make one outstanding save from a long range Griffiths drive, while Henrique should have doubled the lead. Because of international duties the back four came under more than normal scrutiny,& a blank sheet is hard to beat. From the data gathered & cited above in 90 minutes,Hingert gave up possession 3 times,Donnachie 2 times, Jurman 5 times & Steffanuto 9 times. This is part of player assessment in today's coaching sytems. All in all,faced with some "out of the norm" considerations this was 3 points well earned. Questions to be faced,does the boy Donnachie deserve another chance? can the irrepressible,fit & fast Smith be tried somewhere else to benefit team performance?,or likewise the same question arises about Franjic.Paartlu appears to be getting better & some of his passes should have got better reaction from the young Halloran who has much to learn when playing against packed defences who now know of his attribues and "press" him accordingly.These questions have to answered before the next game? That is a manager's lot in today's game. jb

Seems to me that Rado is trying to play Ange's system but doesn't have a clue as to how to do it. He hasn't changed the system at all; he's simply screwed it up.

Once again, the Roar players have shown their lack of creative courage. I stated recently in one of these forums that they need to learn that you don't score goals on the halfway line. Their backwards and sideways passing in their own half took on Monty Python proportions against Newcastle. No-one wanted to take the responsibilty of doing something positive with the ball - that is, move the bloody thing up the field and not across it. Please don't tell me what the Roar does is clever and patient leadup work - it isn't. When you passed 10 to 15 times and don't advance one metre, then tell me what's the use of it? Especially when the ball is inevitably lost when one of those so so delicate passes goes awry. Let's start playing some really positive football. Take the intiative, create something.

Baffling game. Sitting/standing in the crowd had me in a consatant state of wonderment. Why was Broich sent off? What was it the ref saw? Or has he joined the ranks of officials who determine decisions on probability? How come Mitchell only got a 2nd yellow? Why didn't Paartalu get a yellow? Did the assistant see anything? And why o why don't they show replays at the ground? It is even more frustrating not knowing what went on than it is knowing the ref made a mistake. Why wasn't a penalty given in the second half? It looked as clear as the first one from where I was sweariing. How Henrique miss so easy a shot on goal? I don't even think he would have hit the target; the ball seemed to be going across the goalmouth and the goalkeeper almost turned it in. Not a great game by any standards, but absorbing enough. The second half especially was a bit like a basketball game - each side taking turns to have periods of possession. Not that the possession usually led to anything, mind. Good to see the whole team celebrate together, and I thought Paartalu put in a good workmanlike shift for a change. Interesting to see Berisha play a deep lying striker role - playing in that gaping space between midfield and nobody. Thought Hingert deserved his MotM. Why isn't Donachie in the team ahead of Jurman? A couple of important Theo saves were quite entertaining on the eye. A 'dirty' win, but a win nonetheless. That'sprobably all Brisbane needed. I came away smiling, if a little baffled.

Drama? Well, for about 60 seconds, with the two red cards, I guess there was. As for the rest of the game - indescribably boring. The current Brisbane side are excruciatingly dull to watch. Backwards, sideways and backwards again. And again. And again. And so it goes on. The positives: Donachie looked assured and must start ahead of Jurman; Meyer really added some bite and forward momentum when he came on; Hingert was good going forward - but again suspect defensively. Partaalu was much improved. But if this game was a measure of how far they have come - forget it. The team, overall, was still poor, lacking purpose and endeavour. The way to win games is not run around in circles and pass sideways and backwards. I saw absolutely nothing in this game to suggest that the team is picking up, or that Rado is up to the job. This urban myth that Rado was "the brains" really is laughable - his lack of tactical acumen has been a feature of this season. The most obvious manifestations of this are his absolute cluelessness when it comes to using his substitutes, and his complete inability to shift anything when the game is going against his team. Stef had yet another poor game - they are stacking up one after another. Age seems to have caught up with him. Sadly, I am rapidly concluding that the same thing has happened to Broich. I don't think we will ever see the Broich of the first Championship season again. Really, he hasn't been back to that form since his injury layoff last season. Still, it was great while it lasted. Ricky still has his technique but has completely lost his pace. Not much point playing him on the wing, and he was much better in the midfield. Halloran had a very poor game and it looks very much as though Rado is doing to his career what Miron did to Minniecon - take a stellar young talent and throttle the life out of it. Unfortunately, all this win really does is prolong the agony of the team with Rado in charge. Like JohnL, I have absolutely no faith in Rado's ability to take this team forward. All he has been able to do after 8 games is take them backwards.

Can someone tell me why Rado doesn't like using his subs? Sticky weekend here in Brisbane, playing with 10 men, so the players are having to do more work, yet he makes two subs in the last 5 mins of the game. Newcastle had three sets of fresh legs out there by just after the 70th minute, and we hadn't even made our first by then. Hingert was in trouble from about the 65th minute. Halloran was spent by about the 70th minute. Donachie played well, but I can see him being dropped and Jurman kept when Smith and Franjic return from international duty. Meyer injected some go forward when he came on, but again, I can see him getting dropped when Nichols is available again. Our build up play is far too pedestrian, and are passes to each other are weak - just put some zip on the ball when you play it for crying out loud! Have absolutely no faith that Rado can take the club forward.

What a drama! The players and coach had to deliver tonight...and they did just enough to get them through. It's funny that Broich got "ejected" - perhaps the brush with losing game time will propel him into his normally golden form next week (if there is a next week). When Ricky tepidly placed that ball goal-ward, I thought we blew it.... but the lads hung on. Donachie was pretty good and Jurman was solid enough. Steff had a bit of a shocker and Hingert still is a work-in-progress. I think the fans can hold their heads high knowing that the Roar gave good account of themselves. If there was a measure of how far they have come from AP's departure, it was this against the Jets in front of a tested fan base. Rado may have been the brains behind the last couple of seasons, but Ange gave them Heart. Now perhaps the club has strengthened their own will, enough to see them into Season 8. A season that has already shown that the A League is definitely no place for amateurs. btw Wayne, Meyer is in his mid-20's...he should be putting pressure on Berisha for a spot (off the bench at the very least) in the A league squad.