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The Orange Army. (Brisbane Roar Official Thread)

Maybe you should copy this to the Western United thread too Grazor. You know you want to...
some football content in the western united thread would just feel wrong
 
Roar Media Release:

Roar confirm head coach of newly branded Brisbane Roar ‘B’

Brisbane Roar can today announce that experienced youth coach, Borja Souto will arrive at the football club as the new head coach of the Brisbane Roar ‘B’ team.

For Souto, who holds a UEFA A Pro License, his journey through football has seen him coach in Spain, Türkiye, Israel and China, allowing him to specialize in the development of young footballers during a crucial period of their careers.

Souto’s role will see him lead the Brisbane Roar ‘B’ team, which will serve as the football club’s official reserve side and launching pad for the best up and coming talent in Queensland, who will gain access to professional facilities, elite level coaching and train daily amongst Brisbane Roar’s Isuzu UTE A-League Men squad.

The ‘B’ team will be positioned within the club as a key pillar in our developmental pipeline and act as a bridge between youth and professional football. The championed homegrown talent will be subject to a top tier professional environment every single day across both Meakin Park and Brendale training facilities with the ability for those who excel to be called directly into the club’s Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s team for training and competitive matches.

Under the watchful eye of Souto, the ‘B’ team will be closely aligned with the first team squad and head coach Michael Valkanis, further extending the breadth of players preparing for top tier professional football. It is the aim that under the leadership of Souto, Roar fans will see more local talent, such as Lucas Herrington, Thomas Waddingham, Macklin Freke, Noah Maieroni, Quinn MacNicol, Sam Klein and James Durrington to name a few, transition into the first team and beyond.

Speaking on joining the club as ‘B’ team Head Coach, Borja Souto said: “I am extremely pleased to be taking on the role of Head Coach for Brisbane Roar B and want to thank Michael and the football club, for their belief in me.

“I am excited to be here in Brisbane and to start immediately, with the aim of taking more great Queensland talent and preparing them to become professionals here at Brisbane Roar – Something that I am very confident can be achieved.”

Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s Head Coach, Michael Valkanis said:
“During my time working with Borja at Adana Demirspor and Hapoel tel Aviv, I saw firsthand his expertise and skills. It is because of this that I have no doubt he is perfectly suited to the role of head coach for Brisbane Roar B.

Brisbane Roar B isn’t just an NPL team, but rather an extension of our A-League Men’s squad and I look forward to working alongside Borja here at the club to develop the best Queensland has to offer.”

Brisbane Roar Chief Executive Officer, Kaz Patafta said: “I want to welcome Borja to the football club in what is a crucial role. His announcement, along with the creation of Brisbane Roar ‘B’ is a statement of how vital our development pathways are at the football club.

“With access to the best of the best here in Queensland, Brisbane Roar ‘B’ is without doubt the place to be for aspiring young footballers here in Queensland who want to be immersed amongst a professional environment every day. I look forward to watching Borja develop and nurture the best Queensland talent.”

Roar can confirm that Souto will oversee his first session with the Brisbane Roar B team when their pre season commences in November.
 
is the b team the npl club?
I think it must be. They mention pre-season and that is the only other competition of note.

Interesting news.

Seems sort of half youth team and half actual Reserve team - 'aligning closely' with the senior team says players a will be in and out of the senior team as required like a proper reserve team.

Youth team out - B team in. May also be an element of 'this is change' in the renaming.
 
While being a disappointing result against the Nix, I have not yet built any true expectation of how we will play this season against aleagues level opposition. We are still learning how to play.

Klein should have put his header away and Vrakas digging his studs into the turf for his attempt was another 'should have been' moment.

It was when Nix pushed us back to defending our box that we were fragile - we had the better of the open play defence and it felt good and solid.

We dropped off badly after 60 minutes which could be fitness or subs changing the dynamic.

Having Long in the team sort of forces us to start him - but I think we are more effective when we have Ruhs and Vidic as our starting forwards. Long is a 'clever' player to me which often means he needs other clever players around him to set him up or be set up. He is not a bullheaded forward like the other two and it will take some time for the team to work out the best in him.

Hore might have been Valkanis' preferred attacking partner with Long - I can see their styles complementing each other - but his late injury withdrawal changed that line up.

Vidic and Ruhs coming in later against tiring legs would be an effective bench option that would offer a huge threat with an excellent chance of goals.

At the back, Bility did well for most of the game, but the two times he was called on for reflex clearances he miss hit them both - one going backwards for a corner kick. He did get turned and beaten for the goal line easily but I do expect a good, fast attacker to be able to do that to any defender.

Right sided defence is where we were vulnerable last night - Armiento, Piper, and a couple of others got too much opportunity there.

I thought we did too many long balls - which offers a swift forward a chance to create something but at the expense of playing 50/50 football instead of a controlling game. We had a plan to beat Nix's high line obviously but we still needed to balance it more with ground play through the middle third to keep the Nix defending and keep us sharp. Once Nix started to fight back our mid third just did not seem to be the commanding presence they can be - like we had lost the edge by using the easy long ball so much or we were just too tired. It is possible the Nix subs simply gave them the advantage and they used it well.

It was a constant battle in midfield whoever tried to bring the ball through. All mud and blood in the trenches. We have not faced enough gritty opposition in that sense with pre-season and it is a good test for us to learn and build from.

The Nix first goal where their attacker ran between our two defenders just seemed too easy. It was a perfectly weighted cross into an excellent position, but we had two players who did not seem to have any drive or urgency towards the ball (towards our goal and not far out so scary stuff). Did they lose focus for a moment, were they not sufficiently aware of the Nix player, or was it just one of those unstoppable moments with things exactly as they were?

We should have been more goals up, and we struggled to regain any level of dominance in possession from 60 minutes on. We have better football than that in us but now we have Melbourne City at Suncorp to look forward to. That will tell us how well we go against a quality football playing team in serious competition.

I am excited for this Friday. Expecting a quality game from both sides.
 
I reckon we will learn alot from yesterday. Tough loss but you can take alot away about how we approached things. I have faith Valkanis will act unlike Zadkovich.

Things that I’ve taken away from R1 and R2.

Good -

- lots of fight in the team. Can’t see us being belted regularly like the last few seasons

- actual depth with legitimate options off the bench (yesterday however this didn’t work for whatever reason)

- more technical ability and just overall better quality of player than previous seasons

- a decent enough game plan to start

Bad

- not generating enough chances. We need a creative player closer to goal

- not finishing the chances we’re getting. Long last week and Klein/Vrakas yesterday are clear examples

- need to find a balance between the aggressive, hard style and fluid attacking football. Not quite there yet

I’m sure there’s more but cause for optimism and at least something to get excited about. We do however need to keep picking up results, there’s been plenty of talking the talk, we need to walk the walk and give the club a reason to open up the other side of Suncorp for home games.
 
The press conference after the 1-0 win over Macarthur was interesting.

Michael Valkanis came in and absolutely dominated the room. I don't think the team will have any issue with motivation this season.
I am worried about the nepotism of his son playing, particularly over herrington

That can kill motivation. They have looked fired up so far
 
Be interesting how dench goes for you lot
As a left back I don't know how much of a run he will get unless someone gets injured or transferred.

He is likely to sit behind both McGarry and Burke-Gilroy.

An investment in the future is my guess.
 
As a left back I don't know how much of a run he will get unless someone gets injured or transferred.

He is likely to sit behind both McGarry and Burke-Gilroy.

An investment in the future is my guess.
I think that B-G has hit his ceiling.
 
I think that B-G has hit his ceiling.
A couple of seasons ago he was a key player in the left back position - good enough that when we needed him he was switched to right back.

He seemed to lose a bit of favour somewhere along the line and has dropped out of contention. The way we are seeing him play now is not Burke-Gilroy at his best. He seems to be playing a much more restrained way.

I agree how he is now he is not pushing against any upper barriers for progress - I can't say if that is because he is not playing as much, if the structure and team dynamic limits his effective game, or he just can't do it anymore - but I don't think his body is hitting its limit. I would like him to be given more game time but that is in competition with McGarry; who edges him on strength and a little skill too at least.

I wouldn't be surprised if McGarry gets injured for a few weeks that we would see Burke-Gilroy coming good again with the opportunity.
 
I am wondering how long we will have Herrington playing out 90 minutes as we get closer to his departure date in January.

We have seen Bility get a bit of a run, Valkanis is obviously favoured as one of our fixed centrebacks, and I think we have seen a glimpse of Warland but I can't remember if that was a pre-season game.

Ferkranus is still out injured but got a few appearances in pre-season.

Ludwik made the bench yesterday after his injury, so Valkanis must be keen to see how he goes or at least to rate him equivalent to the others.

Is this the sort of situation where a coach might go to 3/5 at the back to settle a replacement in then revert to a back 4 after? I have no idea if a coach might think that way and tinker with his preferred team structure just to bring an extra player into a specific position. I would guess not and that we will see a few 60 minute games from Herrington in January and the inclusion of the front runner for his replacement.

It is also possible that Herrington is good enough to hold a back 4 together and that we will 'need' to go to a 3/5 backline when he leaves. That may show how little I understand technical football and coaching.

Herrington is one of those players who is so influential that it would be tempting to have him play as long as he can to get results.
 
I’d be p
I am wondering how long we will have Herrington playing out 90 minutes as we get closer to his departure date in January.

We have seen Bility get a bit of a run, Valkanis is obviously favoured as one of our fixed centrebacks, and I think we have seen a glimpse of Warland but I can't remember if that was a pre-season game.

Ferkranus is still out injured but got a few appearances in pre-season.

Ludwik made the bench yesterday after his injury, so Valkanis must be keen to see how he goes or at least to rate him equivalent to the others.

Is this the sort of situation where a coach might go to 3/5 at the back to settle a replacement in then revert to a back 4 after? I have no idea if a coach might think that way and tinker with his preferred team structure just to bring an extra player into a specific position. I would guess not and that we will see a few 60 minute games from Herrington in January and the inclusion of the front runner for his replacement.

It is also possible that Herrington is good enough to hold a back 4 together and that we will 'need' to go to a 3/5 backline when he leaves. That may show how little I understand technical football and coaching.

Herrington is one of those players who is so influential that it would be tempting to have him play as long as he can to get results.
I would be playing Herrington every single minute of every single game possible while we’ve got him. Hes a level above anything else we have which is saying something as he’s only a kid.
 
I thought his header for the first goal was top notch, the run from back post to front through a sea of Jets players, then the little deflection for the goal. Didn't even make the nominations for goal of the week, maybe not dramatic enough
 
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