Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United: A-League live scores, blog

Brisbane are doing OK for a ten man team, replace MCKay and the new eleven could just do it. What exactly does McKay do?

Brisbane are doing OK for a ten man team, replace MCKay and the new eleven could just do it. What exactly does McKay do?

TK - Like you I am more puzzled by what Roar are trying to achieve rather than working out what we we are seeing. Some have noticed that Roar have played the same line up in the last 3 matches and have gleaned some results in doing so, scoring 2 goals,conceding 3 and securing 3 points out of a possible 9 on offer. Hardly world shattering figures. So what really has this "settled line up" delivered? I watched all three games and am starting to believe that this Roar team is playing it "off the cuff " as they used to say. Firstly their goalkeeper is in his best form ever and is keeping the team in the game at all times.. It would appear that the 2 full backs are actually playing more and more as full backs,thus supporting the team's defensive structure even though it is obvious to older fans that Franjic is better on the right side than the left. The centre backs are both experienced and perform reasonably well until later in the game,when Bowles can be used to "spell" the ageing North. It is then we start to be puzzled by who is playing where and the jobs they are doing as individuals. In Khallfallah and Buatheac the team has 2 natural wingers (unfortunately both left wingers) but both talented enough to interchange and cause an opposing defence some discomfort. Between these two we again have 2 very experienced players in Mackay and Kristensen who,if given long enough together and playing with understanding, could screen out opponents quite well. I'm not so sure they both understand that they should work collectively rather than spasmodically. We now come to what I regard as the problem area for this team,the goal scoring department. There is little doubt that Roar are what could be described as an ageing team but in Maccaronne and Holman they probably have the most experienced front men in the HAL. Do they play well together? Obviously not, or the "goals for" figure would be much higher. That to me is where the changes have to be made, not necessarily in personnel but in game instruction Holman for years has played his football in a run anywhere, never say die ,non stop midfielder, but that is not what is required in this team.He has to use his reputation to scare defenders and the closer he is to goal the more effective that will be. At the moment he is popping up here,there, and everywhere and that is not always to the benefit of Maccaronne who, as you say, is left on his lonesome to try and bypass 2 or 3 defenders,all younger and faster than he is. By channeling his effort nearer the opponents penalty area Holman could improve his own performance and help his team-mate. Roar,despite the age , have a lot of talent and experience on field and should be getting better return from their players. Cheers jb.,

Spot on the prediction Stuart yet again!

Well based on that performance Adelaide are the new Roar..they have got nothing. Harsh but fair. Brisbanes found their dead ball specialist at the end of the season...no suprises there that we haven't used Eric all year when the talent was obvious to everyone in the stands. Holman continues to perform like a man who has realised he can't take his salary for granted. Well done him at last. Aloisi's continued reliance on playing 1 man up front is reaping nothing as expected. Didn't matter if it was macca or gameiro 1 man against three defenders is never going to result in goals as we saw tonight. Our old men in midfield struggled to keep up with play made so obvious when gameiro broke free in tbe second half and faced with either seetiing up a game of poker with the adelaide defence while waiting for support or shooting he rightly chose the offensive shot over the game of cards. Its not an issue for resolution this season but JA had better get rid of dead wood at the end of the year. 3 pts but not that convincing given the inability to score from the dominance in open play.

It happened, 2-1 in the same venue in Round 2.