Sydney FC’s brimming A-League optimism vanished in a horror 15-minutes on Saturday night as the Brisbane Roar celebrated Matt McKay’s homecoming with a 4-0 drubbing.
As bad as the scoreline looks, it still doesn’t tell the full story of woe for the clueless Sky Blues who must pray for a speedy recovery by inspirational captain Alessandro Del Piero.
The Italian maestro strained his calf and trudged off Suncorp Stadium after 30 minutes never to return.
His exit, at 0-0 with his side doing their best to hang in, saw the floodgates open as the Roar ruthlessly punished sloppy defence with a three-goal blitz to effectively end the contest.
The Roar’s energy and class was in stark contrast to the visitors and they should have racked up a bigger margin for the 21,841-strong Brisbane crowd but lacked finishing precision in a one-sided second half.
It was Sydney’s eighth straight loss at Suncorp Stadium and showed Frank Farina has a massive task to turn them into worthy play-off contenders.
Even before the Roar started toying with them in the second half, the Sky Blues only once entered the home side’s penalty area, compared to 26 at the other end of the field.
Socceroo McKay, playing his first game for the Roar since leading them to the 2010-11 title, shone in the onslaught after rushing back from this week’s two international friendlies in Europe.
He was a constant menace in his 80 minutes in the midfield and superbly set up the third goal, pouncing on a Nicky Carle turnover to help Jade North break a five-year scoring drought just before half-time.
It was the third goal in seven minutes.
Skipper Matt Smith started the roll with a glancing header from a Thomas Broich free kick which keeper Vedran Janjetovic failed to stop.
A minute later, the Sky Blues’ defence was embarrassed as McKay found Ivan Franjic from a corner who headed across to an equally-unmarked Henrique to finish from point blank.
By rights, the Brazilian could have finished with a handful wasted a litany of chances.
It took German playmaker Thomas Broich to supply the exclamation mark by finishing off a brilliant sideline run by stand-out winger Franjic in the 80th minute.
Despite the commanding performance, the Roar did finish with one worry as star striker Besart Berisha suffered a back injury in a clumsy first-half challenge by Marc Warren.
MJC
Guest
I'll bet Yeboah was a little cranky he wasn't on the bench for this game. I beleive he would have had a field day with the wide open spaces offered by ADP FC, which Henrique couldn't take advantage of! Cheers P.S. stu - After watching the Phoenix yesterday (I know they had some players returning) I don't think last weeks effort against Wullingtin was as bad as first appeared!
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Like the one of yours to sack Mike Mulvey lol... I'd like to leave you with one last original thought, but I'm not sure you have anywhere to put it, but for what it's worth, I would forget about you wanting to sack Mike Mulvey. Btw Qantas still remains as one of the FFA's sponsorship partners..
Doc
Roar Rookie
+1 Warren would struggle in NPL
Doc
Roar Rookie
Whilst scoring a goal, Henrique was quite disappointing overall. The man has a good turn, though his distribution and finishing leaves a lot to be desired. Not qualified to start up front, however I am sure that most strikers could get a goal or two given Brisbane's midfield potency. McKay in particular, was outstanding for the time he spent on the park. Fingers crossed Berisha is right for Rd 3, Brisbane will need him.
j binnie
Guest
Real - Very hard to take anything positive out of this game ,the opposition was so poor.However the way Roar's individual players played bodes well for the future but in a way it is going to be interesting to see what Mike Mulvey will do, now that he appears to have a settled team.I put him in that same area where Ange was when HIS team started to impress greatly. Ange continued for 2 years but when it came time to play in the Asian Cup things did turn out the way everyone expected. This is going to be MM's greatest challenge,improving what appears to be a very good team. Even allowing for the amount of possession they had & the standard of the opposition's play, the unforced turnover error ratio to possession was still way too high & has to be improved.Out of 4 goals scored 2 were by central defenders,another by a substitute,& this alone throws down the gauntlet to the attacking midfielders ,Broich,Mackay,Franjic & Miller,who, with that same amount of possession being enjoyed, should have created or taken far more shots at goal.The youngster Brattan could have a great future ahead of him but to go to the next level he is going to have to get a bit more pace & self discipline into his game.All in all there is much for MM & the fans to be pleased with in this team but one must never forget the lessons learned before, Asia is the real standard. jb
Realfootbal
Guest
Has it ever occurred to you, Qantas (name change required), that in all your years fulminating on these forums, you have never once managed to come up with an original thought? I suppose that is an achievement in its own way.
Qantas Supports Australian Football
Guest
And you were the same Roar supporter who wanted to sack Mike Mulvey with only one month into his new contract at the Roar... Is there a manager anywhere on the planet you have any respect for...? What is it they say---a hollow vessel makes the loudest noise.
Patrick Hargreaves
Roar Guru
Agree, Carle, Emerton, Garcia shouldn't get worried by Franjic, Brattan and Henrique.
stu
Guest
Matt Mckay stood out last night by adding controlled professionalism to the game, Liam Miller....not too sure as yet. Note of caution for the team, last season first game they were ordinary and lost, second game they demolished Victory then down hill from there. This season they were ordinary last week and demolished Sydney last night, lets break the trend next week against Victory.
Ballymore
Guest
Pleasing to see Brisbane could score 4 despite Berisha's exit with an injury on 25 minutes. I was anxious to know where the goals would come since we don't have a back-up striker. However, the weakness of the opposition means my fears haven't been totally allayed yet. Friday at Docklands will be an acid test I suspect. Positive signs, but Sydney FC were so poor I'm not sure how much we can read into it. Nice to see some goals from set-piece, we've been impotent from the dead ball for a long time. I did find something strange about Sydney - usually Farina's teams atleast go hard for the entire match, even if they are technically inferior or getting belted. So I was surprised how easily they laid down and let the Roar do as they please. PS. Marc Warren doesn't look vaguely like he is HAL standard. He could of got a 2nd yellow in the 1st half, but such was his incompetence I was pleased he survived.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
I loved the way that by half time the A-League website had already chaged the ladder to show BR had two wins from two games and SFC one win and a loss. They can put SFC down for a loss next week as well, I think.
The Bear
Guest
That match was the perfect storm. Roar covered themselves in glory, purr-fect start to the season continues.
realfootball
Guest
From my seat in the stands, the degree to which Sydney were outclassed pretty much dooms the club to also ran status this season. Player for player, this simply isn't a very good team. There is not one Sydney player, and I include Del Piero, would command a starting berth at Brisbane. For what it's worth, my view is that Del Piero was good for the A League, but a net negative for Sydney FC. He is too slow for the League, and he has defocused the club and the team, rather like Kewell did at Victory. I am confident in stating that the best ADP could expect at Brisbane would be an impact role off the bench. Who would he displace at Brisbane? Broich? Berisha? Franjic? I think not. In terms of what he has left in the tank, ADP is wildly, wildly overrated by the media here and by many fans. This is Farina's squad, and he has to take responsibility for these players. He also has to take responsibility for tactics that saw Sydney come to Suncorp to defend and hope for a nil all draw. I can honestly say that I cannot recall a team in an A League game set out as defensively as Sydney was until the first goal. This says volumes about what is wrong at Sydney under Farina. They had conceded the game to Brisbane before a ball was kicked. There were two disconsolate Sydney fans sitting in front of us. They expect Farina to last 6 weeks at best. They detest the way the way their team plays and they have no confidence in either the coach or the quality of the squad. It was a depressing trip for them. I don't know about 6 weeks, but Farina is surely on borrowed time if these performances continue.
copperknob
Guest
Why is it that the AAP writer above fails to mention that Berisha went off injured before Del Piero both the ABC News and the 4KQ news did this also they didn't even mention that Berisha was injured or off the field which makes the praise due to the Brisbane Roar all the more remarkable, it seem they play as a team not individuals, they could have gone to pieces but didn't. Well done boys thoroughly enjoyed the game.
pete4
Guest
No doubt Farina's tactics are questionable but with former Socceroos like Carle, Emerton, Garcia on the pitch they should be taking more responsibility for what's happening out there rather than just looking lost at sea without ADP
Titus
Guest
The club desperately needs to separate the business from the football. The fact that we ended up with Farina, at a time when we really needed to make the right, long term decision, speaks volumes about the lack of football knowledge by the decision makers at the club. Either they just re-signed him because crowds stayed fairly decent at the SFS or they have accepted that we are just a mid table club in this league.