Henrique has proved Brisbane Roar’s hero for the second time in less than a week, helping his side reclaim the A-League leadership with a 1-1 draw against Melbourne City on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Just days after scoring the winner against Perth Glory in his comeback from injury, Henrique came off the bench to score a 70th minute equaliser – but he has Thomas Broich to thank for an exquisite ball over the top, which set the Brazilian up to finish past Thomas Sorensen.
It sparked another spirited celebration from Henrique and the 10,812-strong crowd, who were as much relieved as ecstatic after the Roar handed the visitors the lead in comical circumstances two minutes after the halftime break.
As the Roar looked to play out from a goal kick, gloveman Jamie Young passed to Daniel Bowles, on the edge of the penalty box – the only trouble was the defender wasn’t looking – the ball then cannonned off his heel and into the path of returning Socceroos midfielder Aaron Mooy.
After a quick one-two with Bruno Fornaroli, Mooy took aim and while Young was able to save his attempt, he could only parry in the direction of livewire winger Harry Novillo, who duly found the net.
It was a second howler on the night from Young, but neither of them ended up costing the Roar all the points as they moved back into top spot on the A-League ladder with the draw, one point in front of Melbourne Victory.
Midway through an evenly-matched and exciting first half, Young had nearly gifted City the opener when he slipped as he shaped to throw to a teammate, spilling the ball through his legs and to the in-form Fornaroli.
The Uruguayan passed to Mooy, but much to a scrambling Young’s relief the shot flashed wide of the far post.
City had their chances, and were vastly improved on their last start loss at home to Western Sydney – largely due to the return of Mooy and a decent early shift from an undermanned defence, which hushed the Roar’s strike duo Jamie Maclaren and Brandon Borrello for much of the opening half.
But Brisbane eventually clicked, with Dimitri Petratos their most threatening attacking outlet, and coach John Aloisi’s decision to send on substitutes Henrique and Spaniard Javier Hervas gave them new energy.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Chill out Waz and have a read of this: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/nov/23/a-league-talking-points-aloisis-anti-football-barb-misses-its-target
jbinnie
Guest
Waz Commentators as a rule tend to report on the game based on where the ball is and therefore do not tend to watch a player "in total" so only report when that player is in or around the ball..Now I ,like you, have been watching Petratos a little bit more deeply than they would and also like you I think Petratos has improved his fitness greatly and this shows him up in a good light for he is much "busier" than in the past That said one must be careful when nominating how he is performing in a set position for to me one of the major duties in playing as a midfielder is the ability to win a ball back when possession has been lost.This part of midfield play is not the lad's strong point and if close attention is made to that part of his game you will note that factor to be true. However,with his new industry on the ball, and a good basic skill content in his game, he is probably worth his place in this team but IMO he is a far more likely candidate for the wide right flank position where his skills could get the team behind a defence more often than is being done at the moment. In other words I see the lad as a natural attack minded player who does not 'defend" all that well due to his weakness in ball winning.It is notable in the last 2 games he has been switched to the right wing later in the game so perhaps JA is noticing his "weakness" too , after all, a coach's prerogative.. Cheers jb.
Slim
Guest
Henrique Silva now qualifies for Socceroos, Ange knows him from Roar days too. Should get picked.
Waz
Guest
Nothing's new Stevo - except the European leagues have recognised it and dealt with it through yellow cards which has stamped it out by in large. The stat published last week was EPL games rarely have as many as 10 fouls per game while HAL games rarely have as few as 10 fouls per game. (In fact I don't think there's been one HAL games this season with less than ten fouls in it). And Arnie wasn't the first to raise this comment, others had already commented on the rise in transition fouls, several commentators/writers now agree as well so neither Arnie or JA are alone in this. And I love your last comment about JA "... says something similar to deflect from the fact that his team was held to a draw by a side missing many experienced players" .... Roars injury list this season: Theo, DeVere, Henrique, Donachie, Solorzano, Steffanatu, plus we've lost McKay, Brown and MacKaren to international duty - Roars lost 9 players over the first 7 rounds but the teams just got on with it and find themselves top. City meanwhile with a similar injury list just moan about it and sit in 7th place. Go figure that one out but I suspect there's a bit of "coach envy" going on down south :)
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Exactly. Good players get targeted. What's new for heaven's sake !!!!! Just because Arnie started this little story to deflect from his team's performances, JA decided to say something similar to deflect from the fact that his team was held to a draw by a side missing many experienced players through injury. LOL JA.
Lionheart
Guest
Watched the Liverpool v Man City game this morning. Very impressed by the referee, yellow for players with obvious spoiling fouls. Our refs could learn a lot from them.
TheVolley
Guest
JB, for me Young is neither 'not good enough' nor 'seasoned/advanced' in that respect. Also, I'm not too interested in the theoretical analysis of 'how he compares to other players'. Some are better than others, but each have their own strengths as well. My point simply states that he needs to recover because it is crucial that the rest of the team has confidence in him, as playing out from defence is a key part of Roar's game. Young is not Eugene G. in this particular skill, but, I don't expect him to be a Eugene G. As long as your players have confidence in him, then game on.
jbinnie
Guest
The Volley -What is the main purpose of a goalkeeper is it to 'stop shots" or is it to act as an "auxiliary sweeper" to his teams overall effort in playing a match??? This aux/sweeper idea is not new it was part of the strategy used by Holland when they played in 2 World Cup.Finals in 1974 and 78.The goalie in that team, Joengblud, had the reputation as being "adventurous" but it was notable that he only ventured from his goal when Cruyff and co. were in possession of the ball and in doing so he released a back four player to move forward to help in the attack mode. This was actually part of the plan grossly mis-named as "total football" by a story hungry media.. Jamie Young came to Roar,not from Ajax,but from the English third dividion where "playing out from the back" or "possession football "plays second fiddle to getting a result ,no matter what.He needed time to adapt and recent showings suggests that he has come a long way in matching his fellow players in a system that needs not a little talent if perfection is to be strived for. With that in mind I would not place him far behind many of his outfield team mates who consistently turnover possession with poor choice of target,or even worse,poor technique.Would you agree to that observation.Cheers jb
Waz
Guest
He does, and while some in the minority have say he "dives" video analysis and independent commentators don't support that view. In the course of his career he's been fouled almost twice as many times as the next player around for the same period (450+ v 280 fouls). But he's not the only one - there's now a systemic culture of fouling in transition play which the referees don't appear keen to tackle.
Waz
Guest
I've been no Petratos supporter but I watched the game back again and thought he was one of the better players on the park and he's clearly developing into a very good wide midfielder. Even the commentators were very complementary. That said I would start Hervas and Ricky over both Petratos and Borrello next week. Roar lucky to get a point? Can't see that myself but hey ...
jbinnie
Guest
Jimmy T- Could you please use your contacts to get Roar to sign that other "bumbling idiot" Carzola from Arsenal. Imagine getting paid thousands a week and daring to slip when taking an equalizing penalty !!!!!!!. I'm sure you could work a deal with fellow "thinker" Arsene Wenger.We await with bated breath. jb
TK
Guest
It's a tough call. I agree with you that Young is a great shot stopper but a heart stopper with the ball at his feet. It is this characteristic that makes me nervous about Young, but we aren't in a position to choose anyway with Theo broken all the time. I'd like to see Clut getting some more game time (not in goals), based on what he showed last season. Anyway Merry Xmas everyone, that's it at Suncorp until after the 25th and with no foxtel in our house the A league viewing and commenting will be limited.
AZ_RBB
Guest
From what I've seen Broich gets targeted and hacked by every team.
Lionheart
Guest
It was an entertaining game to watch live. Broich alone is worth the admittance fee. Roar need to work around these spoiling tactics that teams like MCY (and several others) use against them. Strikers are being given plenty of chances.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"while you are over estimating the quality of the A League. Its not as high quality as you make out and its not as bad as others here make out." I've never compared the quality of the Aleague to any other league, so your comment has no foundation. All I've ever said are 2 things: 1. I watch ALeague because it's my football club, playing in my football league 2. Even the big leagues of Europe I see: low intensity football, technical mistakes made by players, mistakes made by refs. I don't only watch football because I expect good quality entertainment. For sure, if I don't have an attachment to a team that's playing, I'll switch off if I'm not engaged. But, for my team I'll watch regardless of the quality. That's how football fans behave. That's why people who follow 4th division clubs in England will stand in the snow to watch their team, rather than watch an EPL club that means nothing to them.
Chopper
Guest
Poor finishing and poor choices in the final third actually put pressure on our midfield and then consequentially on the defence. There is one issue I have to bring up and that is the adulation and support Petratos is getting. I admit he is playing better than last season but he is in my opinion not a midfielder. He is a poor reader of the game and still has this habit of head down dribbling. At times this looks excellent bubigt in reality creates nothing as he becomes more and more predictable. John however sees something in him but I think if he is merely a winger and a squad player. I agree that Borello looks tired and at times out of his depth so maybe try Petratos there and get him to play for the team and not his ego. Young will have to take responsibility for his mistakes as although the defenders should have been facing him he has eyes (and a mouth)too and there was no stopwatch on the goal kick. Other than that his ability as a shot stopper is without question but his capability in distributing the ball has always been suss. I find myself agreeing with John on City's rough house tactics which is borne out by the five yellow cards they received but referee Beath also had a poor game in controlling these tactics as there could have been a least one red given to repeat offenders. Beath seemed apologetic at times when giving out the cards. If City do not alter their ways their squad will not be big enough to cover for the suspensions and if so they will fall by the wayside. It would be worthwhile to see their history to date. Finally I think the Roar were lucky to GAIN a point with too many players underperforming and I look forward to the tirades dished out by the Petratos supporters club.
Waz
Guest
Young also
Ian
Guest
Young ;-) You asked.
Stevo
Guest
Hate for the A League you say? I think its fair to say that some of the people knocking the A league are under estimating the quality, while you Fuss are over estimating the quality of the A League. Its not as high quality as you make out and its not as bad as others here make out.
holly
Guest
ask yourselves this simple question. Theo or Young ?