Brisbane Roar’s AFC Champions League campaign is hanging by a thread after a deflating 3-0 loss away to Kashima Antlers in Japan.
It was a valiant effort from the Roar, who were recharged after a nine-day break and keen to atone for their horrendous 6-0 thumping against Ulsan Hyundai in their most recent Asian outing.
But while they had their moments in Tuesday night’s clash at Kashima Stadium, they lacked the clinical touch of the reigning J-League and Emperor’s Cup winners, who were simply ruthless in front of goal and much more penetrative with their play.
It leaves John Aloisi’s side winless and on the bottom of Group E after suffering the fifth defeat by an Australian side in this year’s tournament.
They are also yet to find the back of the net in three matches.
Rising Japanese star Yuma Suzuki opened the scoring in the 43rd minute with a first-time stab at an enticing cross from right-back Yukitoshi Ito.
Jamie Young – who is being used by Aloisi as the Roar’s dedicated Champions League goalkeeper – didn’t react in time at his near post and was also at fault for their second goal from a 76th minute corner.
The gloveman failed to secure a header from Naomichi Ueda, who pounced on confusion in the box by following up his effort and bundling it over the line with his shins as Young scrapped to recover.
Three minutes later, Yasushi Endo beat his marker Corey Brown and curled in a left-footed shot to put the final nail in Brisbane’s coffin.
Young’s blunders undid his good early work in the goalmouth as he kept the Roar in the match with a number of athletic diving interventions.
Missing first-choice players Tommy Oar (hamstring), Thomas Kristensen (thigh) and Luke DeVere (calf) as well as the rested Michael Theo, the best chance for the visitors came midway through the first half, when Brandon Borrello trickled a ball into the box towards Jamie Maclaren.
The striker unselfishly left it for Brett Holman, but his dummy seemingly surprised the former Socceroo, who reacted late and scuffed a meek shot from point-blank range that was tipped wide for a corner when he should have scored.
“That was the big one. If that went in I think it would have been easily a different game,” Aloisi said.
“We were limiting their chances to mainly shots from outside the box, they weren’t really causing us too many issues.
“I thought we were matching them.
“But when you’re playing away from home, you need to be a little bit more ruthless.
“We got into a lot of good positions but we probably didn’t create as many chances as we could have.”
Waz
Guest
Can't believe we were trying 4-2-3-1 early in the season in preparation for the ACL but then played 4-3-3. err, what John?
Pauly
Guest
It irritates me when commentators immediately blame the keeper, as if there weren't 10 other players on the field responsible for defending.
Ian
Guest
Thanks, Brisbane did lift when they beat Shanghai and the world's most expensive player 2-0.
Cool and Cold
Guest
Brisbane Roar's left back has been a problem for years. If North moves to cover, there is a problem with the middle. How many clean sheets in matches recently? Cannot remember one. People do not like it but maybe it is time to change the formation upon injuries and fatigue. Change to 4-4-2. The formation has to be flexible. Or, change to 4-4-1-1. ************************* Theo Hingert, Papadopoulos, North, Brown Borrello, Kristensen, Mckay, Ingham D'Agostino Maclaren ************************* Reasons: Calleti has no fire. There is no need to have two midfield holders duplicating Mckay's job. Broich has become a jogger. He should be a super substitute as he cannot cover the left back position. Arana cannot play good defense though he is good in attack. Change back to 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 when needed.
Roar at Heart
Guest
Vince you are away off beam as to the concession of the goals. Are you seriously saying that the first goal which was perfectly executed and hammered in at pace was a goalkeeping error? Few goalkeepers would have saved that if any. The blame was quite clearly the defence which ball watched instead of player watched and secondly Brown who was not tight enough to prevent the cross. The second goal which IMO Young did well to get down to was caused as the result of a header from about the 6 yard line even though he was surrounded by Roar players who did not do their defensive job properly. Following the header not one Roar player was close to the action when the goal was actually scored but 2 Kashima players were. How come? Serious questions must be asked in this instance as to the defensive formation at corners if the Roar defence does not employ goal line defenders. To justify such a tactic then the least you can expect is that defenders who were previously assigned goal line duty diligently mark attackers and get get to the ball first when it is sent into the penalty area. That did not happen and thus the goal was not Young's fault. The Roar lost the game because they were not good enough. They could not hold the ball and gave it away too often too easily. At crucial moments the defence faltered. This was however not a bad performance against a team which lost the final of the world club championship to real Madrid in extra time.
Nemesis
Guest
Great work by Adelaide Utd. Match ends 3-3 draw with Jeju after going behind 1-2 and 2-3. WSW also taken an early lead away to Seoul. Good to see some ALeague teams lifting & able to match it with Asia's best.
Waz
Guest
I'm at the point where I think he's become a liability to the team. And Roar either need to change formation to accomodate him or change maclaren out to accomodate the team.
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
I'm not claiming he is worthy of marquee status or anything, I'm just saying I'm seeing a lot of people putting the blame for the teams woes on him and him alone, which is wrong. I think people may have their expectations out of touch with the level of his ability - that includes Jamie himself. However, when everything else is in order, he is a valuable asset and can be deadly. If the midfield was working slicker in this game, he could have been much more dangerous.
Lionheart
Guest
MV doing well with their Roar recruits
Waz
Guest
Or we could just "aim for the stars". I'll go with that one thanks.
Nemesis
Guest
"getting out of a group is not good enough" Well it is when you're not getting out of the Groups with regularity. "Not losing" or "winning at home" is a low objective, but it's a reasonable objective for teams that always lose, or don't win at home. Set your expectations at reasonable levels, or you'll live a life of disappointment.
Waz
Guest
I think there in lies the problem. I don't disagree with your assessment of Roar in the ACL as results speak for themselves; but if we're "proud" because we made it out of the group stages then there's something wrong - getting out of a group is not good enough. Especially when the two sides mentioned finished 7th and 6th domestically.
Waz
Guest
Josh, if you watched several of maclaren's runs last night he's going way too early in many cases putting him offside or allowing a defender to track him. It's not all his fault, but last night showed his ability and level - if he played in the J League he wouldn't be scoring 13-20 goals.
Nemesis
Guest
MV has entered the ACL 5 times. It has finished 2nd in the Groups twice. It has missed finished 2nd in the Groups a 3rd time by 1 goal difference. It has failed dismally twice. Is it a perfect record? No. But given WSW & AUFC are likely to fail spectacularly this season in the ACL it would appear both those clubs have only had 1 good ACL campaign. I'd rather MV aims to finish 2nd in the Groups every time it enters ACL and never make the Final, rather than make the Finals once and fail forever after. Let's aim for every ALeague club to qualify for the Knock Out Stage. If we do that every season, then I'll raise the bar to aim for the Final; then the Champions
Lionheart
Guest
and it scraped in by a mil
Fadida
Guest
Agree. You're so much better off with Santalab, Griffiths and Scott who together have about half of his goals
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
I agree with you on the first goal, the static defending should be to blame for that.
Ian
Guest
agree JB with your assessment on the first two goals in particular.
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
I would argue that he always has been more of a poacher, than a player who is capable of beating other players with skill or speed - though he did the latter a few times last season. If the rest of the team is running smoothly, he suddenly becomes very dangerous.
Ian
Guest
"Jamie Young – who is being used by Aloisi as the Roar’s dedicated Champions League goalkeeper – didn’t react in time at his near post and was also at fault for their second goal from a 76th minute corner." Let's not start blame the keeper. There were around 4 Brisbane defenders in the danger area when that cross came in for the first goal, from memory two Japanese players.......so let's look at defensive positioning rather than 'keeper reacted late'. And the 2nd was a bit of shambolic defending from the corner with Young surrounded by multiple opposition players on his line.