A huge weight of responsibility has just fallen onto the shoulders of Brisbane striker Andrija Kaluderovic – but you wouldn’t know it.
The Serbian striker is yet to fully settle into life as an A-League player, but he will be tasked with leading a youthful attacking line-up for the Roar in their critical clash with Western Sydney on Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium.
In the indefinite absence of star men, Thomas Broich (ankle) and Henrique (knee), the Roar need Kaluderovic to begin hitting the back of the net with regularity or risk seeing their A-League top six and AFC Champions League round-of-16 dreams slip further and further away.
Whatever pressure that is, Kaluderovic isn’t feeling it.
“It’s not a problem for me,” a non-plussed Kaluderovic said on Tuesday.
“In my career always, I score goals.
“You see on Sunday, the first game I start at home I score, and I hope I will score more in the future.
“I lead the attack at every club I play – that’s nothing new for me.”
With a career goalscoring record approaching one goal every two games, there’s plenty of reason to believe he can get the job done against the wooden spooners-elect.
But Kaluderovic, who has scored three goals in eight Roar appearances, admitted it had been tough adapting to the rough and tumble of the A-League after his mid-season injection into the squad.
“It’s not easy,” he said.
“You come into a new country with new players and I’m here now only two months.
“I need to see how my teammates play; they need to see how I play – it takes time to be excellent.”
The Roar and the Wanderers are likely to field unrecognisable line-ups on Wednesday, with a whopping 19 players from both sides unavailable due to injury or international duty.
On top of Broich and Henrique, Brisbane will be missing Michael Theo (groin), Jade North (groin), and Corey Brown, Matt McKay, James Donachie and Luke DeVere (all international duty).
But they won’t get any sympathy from Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic, who has no choice but to again turn to youth players after fielding one of the youngest sides in A-League history on the weekend.
“They’ve got a difficult period now in terms of the games they’re playing. They’re feeling now what we’ve felt all year,” Popovic said.
Ian
Guest
Perhaps for games played in extreme heat and humidity just stop them at 73 minutes. Because no team will score in the last 20 minutes anyway.
Lionheart
Guest
yeah. let it go mate. But I do think we should somehow mark the 73rd minutes in future games v Phoenix. Maybe with our water pistols at six paces, or something.
Lionheart
Guest
gotta' laugh heck, we might even play in the rain then too.
Waz
Guest
There'll be few neutrals for this match Stevo - the Top 5 would prefer City in the 6th position (no disrespect just Roar don't follow a script so are more unpredictable), City obviously want a Wanderers win, Mariners would fancy 7th spot if Roar lose and Jets will want Roar to win to help them out in the race away from the spoon. Remember the new FFA Rules mind - whoever is winning at the 73rd minute wins, no arguements please, the FFA is "all powerful" (let it go Waz, let it go ....)
BES
Guest
What has happened to Bowles and Danning? Havent even been listed in the unavailables for weeks now either of them. Are they still with the club?
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Madness, huh? I don't know what I was thinking... ;)
Stevo
Roar Rookie
When it comes to football there's nothing wrong with having a Balkan pedigree. In fact, a lot right. Anyway, looking for WSW to do the business tonight and give City a leg-up :)
Paul
Guest
That's radical man ... next you'll be suggesting we could even play some Australian international games here in Australia !
Paul
Guest
Isn't this Brisbane's third "Yugoslavian" striker? Any insight as to why they keep recruiting there?
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
of course, we could always do what the other leagues do and actually break during the international fixtures windows...
Waz
Guest
Good point on Steff - he's 35 now so can't see him going another full season - would like to see him stay involved with the club in some way though either as coach, scout or ambassador. Bigger squads only seem to be needed during international breaks and Clubs in the ACL - expand by 2 more teams though and everyone will need a bigger squad.
Ian
Guest
Bratts is good at dead ball situations outside the box but I don't recall him taking spot kicks. Definitely a different skill involved. Andrea has them for in the box but happy to see him take a couple outside the box to see what he has. Also happy to see Bratts take a spot kick and see how he goes. When Henrique is back, next season most likely,
Lionheart
Guest
Even Steffanuto must be questioned for next year. But so many missing from the teams tonight, 19 players unavailable, begs the question surely, for the FFA "Do we need bigger squads in the A League"?
Bob
Guest
I didn't think Henrique was out of favour with Mulvey, it's just his focus was on getting Kurtishi to function and Kurtishi/Ricky never actually looked like they clicked on the park.
Bob
Guest
He looks and sounds confident, that's one better than Mensur Kurtishi anyway! I think Roar need to decide who in the current squad they want to keep (Lustica, Bowles, Danning all have question marks above them possibly even North given his age), then who from the NYL side needs to be elevated, and finally what signings are needed for next season - who, what positions, when can we sign them. We can't repeat the mistakes of the last close season.
Waz
Guest
I didn't think Bes would get better at Victory but I think he has, which is great because he's a top bloke. Kaluderovic was also rated as a dead ball specialist when he was signed, I don't see Luke Brattan giving up the free kicks easily but I'd like to see the new bloke get a crack if theyre as good as his penalties :) Not exactly sure on Henrique, Kurtishi started pre-season and I think the issue with Henrique was one of starting in which position - there was that interview after the Hets game where the interviewer was fishing for something but Henrique gave him the best reply of "I'll play anywhere". It may have been nothing.
Ian
Guest
I didn't see Henrique being out of favour with Mulvey at the beginning of the season. He was starting games wasn't he? . Bes is one of the best. He has played a slightly different role at MV which even Broich has commented on recently which added to his game. But that's over now. Andrea, as he likes to be known, I agree he has some good skills and a decent shot. he's good at penalties also which is a plus. Glad he got on the end of one against Wellington.
Waz
Guest
This is an interesting one for Roar - we started the season so poorly I'm not sure Messi himself would have played well in our set up - the reason offered up was the loss of Bes and his goals but time revealed there were far more structural issues behind the scenes which remain a mystery to most Roar fans today. Henrique and Solorzano, both not exactly in favour with Mulvey and/or Smith at the beginning of the season, have each proven capable of bagging 11+ goals a season so Kaluderovic + goals is welcome but not essential (and that's before considering the rapidly developing Borrello) Bes brought more than goals and it was his ability to recieve the ball coming out of defence, hold it and then link with another attacking player to keep the momentum of a move going - his work rate in this regard was huge and you see it at Victory this season. Solo doesn't do any of that, Kurtishi didn't seem to have the skill or style to do it, so amongst other early season issues we really missed Bes's other work which led up to chances/goals. This looks to be an area Kaluderovic's skill fit - hes hit a good first touch, great turn, a good pass, can shoot from far out, and his work rate is excellent. So he's not a like-like replacement for Bes who remains fairly unique in the HAL imo but he does seem to have the skill set to fit the style of BR.