Brisbane Roar vs Sydney FC highlights: Sky Blues held by Roar

Bes Did the sprinkling of the pitch only affect one team's passes for I don't recollect Sydney having the same problem with finding their team-mates when passing, in fact it could be construed that their service of passes to their team mates was in fact "doubled" due to the mis-passing going on by Roar, who were in fact aiding and abetting that service. Cheers jb.

jb - I hear your point, but perhaps I did not explain mine well enough. The passes that 'ended up at oppositions feet' where in the main because the opposition was able to intercept them before they got to their intended target. Why? because they were either underhit, or were slowed by the wet field. I am not trying to be kind - they were all still unforced errors and perhaps you allow a player to do it once, but they should certainly never be guilty of repeating the dose which we continued to do - but even then interestingly, only up until about the 40th minute. I dont believe I saw it happen again once after that. Pitch dried out perhaps??

jbinnie - my use of the word 'clever' in no way was mean't to imply it was morally defensible. It is clever in the sense that it is well organised, surreptitious and hitherto has escaped the attention of the referees. I am with you and hope it is stamped out ASAP.

Bes - You are being too kind. You are actually isolating what one would term as a "short pass" and blaming it on the condition of the ground. My problem with that first half was not only short passes,it was the sheer number of Roar passes that found their way unerringly to a Sydney FC foot. You see, "playing out from the back" or "possession football" requires a very high degree of accuracy in the pass and if there was ANY degree of accuracy in Roar's passing in that first half it was not immediately noticeable. Roar should have been punished severely for their laxity in this department and it was only a good goal allied to a bit of good luck that saw then even at half time. It was not a good showing. Cheers jb.

Hmmm - where to start? I too was seated behind the goal - just to the side of the Den and therefore close to hand when Devere and Hingert put on their 1st half horror show. I'm wandering whether it wasn't due to the bizarre watering of the field seconds before the game started. I know it is not rare to water the pitch prior to kick off on occasion if the local coach believes it will assist his team vs the opposition. I know the ball is meant to travel faster across the surface - but this close before kick off? Every one of those horror back passes stopped short of where the player intended it to go and it never happened again from around the 20 min mark on. I would be avoiding that tactic again in the future JA if I were you. But we were shocking for the majority of that first half - actually no we weren't shocking (apart from the defensive hour show), Sydney were just much much better at all the basis things that used to be the hall mark of our game. 1 - pressing! Where was our pressing?? We allowed their player to waltz wherever they wanted to anywhere in both their and our half while we hung off and watched? 2 - Movement ahead of the ball player? Vs Sydney we were statues. Yes I completely concur with everyones observations that we CONTINUE to drift left and right with our passes when there is ALWAYS at least 1 option forward. Why oh why oh why! 3 - waaaaaaaaaay to long on the ball. Sydney had the chance for a 5 sec catch your breath between every (sideways) pass we made in that 1st half. Beautiful cross and wonderful goal by Oar and Kristensen. Pure quality. Would only have been bettered by the sensational cross from Broich in the 2nd half onto the foot of Arana who hit the volley beautifully (again with the outside of the foot) but pulled it just wide. That was a golden opportunity for Arana to introduce himself as a hero to the locals. Jury on him remains out for the moment for mine. Seem to be caught out of position too many times but was certainly putting himself about and getting into good attacking positions. 2nd half was much better in every sense. I think Arnie might have this sky blue sunnies on there to say Syd dominated for 75% of the game. 75% of the 1st half? absolutely but the 2nd half was a classic end to end contest which could of gone either way. Yes Sydney did create more clear cut opportunities and I would think Theos spot is pretty safe at least for a while now after that performance. But I couldn't sign off on this comment with commenting on that joke of a move by the ref with Grant. I have a ref license and you CANT pull your card and then change your mind again and put it away - you clown.  All in all a thoroughly entertaining game and I guess a fair result. At the very least we prevented Grumpie Arnie from being able to put a record equalling start on his coaching resume. He has a great team and they are flying but man oh man - I cannot stand that man..... Bring on WSW and lets get to chasing down 2nd spot.

jb - 1st half defence display by Brisbane was indeed a horror show, but you must admit an extraordinarily out of the usual performance and it ceased from around the 20 minute mark on. I am thinking it may well have been at least in part due to the bizarre soaking of the pitch just seconds before kick off. I know there is nothing new in watering a pitch before a game, but when done that heavily and that close to kick off, it does not speed the ball up, it slows it down and every miss hit back pass and misplaced forward pass looked as if it had been 'under hit'' which of course is what happens when the ball rolls more slowly than the player intended due (in this case I believe) to the grass being too wet. I would take a reasonable size bet that the players have never trained on that pitch seconds after it has been watered before and that you won't see JA repeat that tactic again - or at least not before he does indeed give his players a chance to do just that.

holly - "systematic fouling" being clever???. It is a clever idea that almost wiped the game of the map in Serie A in the late 1960's early 70's when fed up fans voted with their feet and stayed away in their thousands. It is to be hoped that our officials soon waken up to what is the purpose behind the tactic. You have noticed,will they??? Hope so. Cheers jb

Two fantastic goals - not many shots will be more powerful than Brillante's this season. Kristensen's goal was sublime though. Great play by Oar to delay the cross, Kristensen's 1st touch and the sweet timing of his shot. A very fine goal from a very good player.

The referee was very bad. Theo was blocked but given a yellow card. The video replay shows clearly. "The referees aren't allowed to look at the screen. The rule is, once you take it out - you're not allowed to look at the screen anyway - it's then deemed a yellow card. Sometimes it baffles you that they can get it wrong like that." Rhyan Grant, should have been sent off.

Sydney rely heavily on winning 2nd balls and systematic fouling to disrupt the opposition from building any momentum. It's quite clever but possibly unsustainable over a full season as the other clubs and referees wake up to the tactic.

Nemesis - Anyone who sat through that first half of Brisbane's apparent attempts at "playing out from the back" would realise that Brisbane have a problem,a huge problem ,and it can probably best be measured by the number of passes that went straight to an opponent's feet. and ,more than anything else, was a measure of an overall problem we have in Aussie football at the moment,from the Socceroos down,the inability to turn "possession" into goals. Sydney had a 33% accuracy score in "hitting the target" with shots,while Roar were even worse with only 25% accuracy. Did you also note the "foul count", Roar's 8, to Sydney's 25, a "score" that saw only 3 players from each side booked for offences,not what one would describe a "balanced outcome" There is little doubt this factor alone is helping Sydney achieve the targets they have set for themselves. If an opponent looks like stringing a move together ,stop it quickly by committing an offence (in fact 1 offence every 3 or 4 minutes) Shades of Italy circa 1960's. Cheers jb.

Agree that, apart from the Derby when they were good over 90 mins, City have been playing in patches. But, maybe, if we analyse all the other 3 teams they've done the same. Sydney were rubbish in the 1st half against Victory, and very poor over 90 mins against Wellington. Perth have had bad games. Jets smashed Brisbane 4-0 and I've been unimpressed by Jets other than that match so it shows Brisbane has problems too.

WSW v City was difficult on the eye. OK in patches but heck both coaches would be wanting a lot more from their players. JVS has the most expensive HAL team ever but you wouldn't know it sometimes. He has an extraordinary knack of converting a silk purse into a sows ear :(

I would agree with Sydney, Brisbane Perth, but I watched most of what was supposed to be a football match between City and WSW on Friday and that was appalling. It looked like 2 x U7 in the local park in the suburbs.

I think the idiot Ref Millner rescinded his first Grant caution.

Top quality match. 4 teams playing very good football over first 7 matches: Sydney, City, Brisbane, Perth. Adelaide playing reasonable football without results. Other 5 teams have been mediocre most matches; awful for the ones when they're not mediocre.

The 1st incident didn't attract a Yellow Card, only the 2nd incident. So, nothing to do with realising he had to give a red.

Match of the year candidate. We have just found our newest A-League rivalry - blues v maroons Brilliant stuff

Good game!