Ruhs wisely dragged

grazorblade said:

Is it my imagination or is this a crazy low scoring season?

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This is a crazy low scoring round

RIMB said:

And yet there was the blatant kick on O'Shea's standing leg from behind that also went unnoticed early on. Ball gone and just nasty.

It is a spiteful, ugly game and neither side is the dirtier. Not good watching as far as I am concerned and for my side the lack of composure and control is a worry. Belligerence is not a substitute for intensity.

On the football, Adelaide are the better side in attacking combinations; building so well time and again.

Roar proving to be a little better on the scrappy goal attack side.

Fairly even in the overall game context and both hitting woodwork.

Roar defensively upset by losing our good attacking DM in the warmup and I don't think Ludwik is a good replacement for Valkanis in CB or Valkanis a good replacement for Stajic in DM. Pretty sure Valkanis was the one who gave the ball to an Adelaide forward when his pass was under hit.

I would hope the game settles in the second half but I can't see either team backing off so it will be stupidity and aggression for the another 45 minutes.

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Take your orange glasses off.

grazorblade said:

Is it my imagination or is this a crazy low scoring season?

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It's part of the reason interest is down think of all the great strikers we used to have

grazorblade said:

Feels like the whole season has been low scoring

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I thought the same about the Prem and WSL last season. Is football just becoming more defensive?

melbcityguy said:

It's part of the reason interest is down think of all the great strikers we used to have

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I don’t think the standard of strikers is any worse. If anything, I like the fact we have lots of AL standard strikers coming through instead of every team having a foreign striker

So undeserved

Most Adelaide home game ever. Be the better team and lose.

Have at least 3 of those a season.

I enjoyed that! I thought that AU were the better organised and structured team but they could not break the BR defence. Fancy tricks get the heart racing but it is goals that matter and that is where the BR defence stood tall, short and skilled.
Last season I thought that AU had a great potential with their youth in Alegich, Jovanavic and Yull but now I feel that they have stalled. The potential from being good to Socceroos level was there but now I can only see them as AL players.
I find BR's Klein fustrating as he always seems to take the easy way out by going backwards. As a mid-fielder he does not seem terribly creative. Herrington, massive as always.

AUFC_Fan said:

I don’t think the standard of strikers is any worse. If anything, I like the fact we have lots of AL standard strikers coming through instead of every team having a foreign striker

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I respectfully disagree the days of berisha Bruno thompson brosque etc were way better then what we have now

Well done Bris Roar, I picked them to win. Strange game to watch and def Roar should have had a pen but they end up scoring and winning.
2nd on the ladder it’s a shame they won’t get another home game for 2 weeks, anyway will this be the end of Roars 3k crowds?

grazorblade said:

Striker does seem a week position in the a league right now, but those were standout outliers, would be interesting to compare the average standard.
Shmeltz was barely league 2 standard in that era and was a standout. Today we have a greek superleague and 2 league 1 strikers who struggle to impose themselves despite being a decent age

even brosque thompson and berisha were buli 2/jupiler league standard. It would be a stretch but not a surprise if jovanovic and caputo could play in those leagues next season

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THe thing is berisha thompson Bruno cummings they were large then life players you'd watch to hopefully see them lose if you're a opposition fan or cheer for them if their playing for your team.

We need players like that in the league

Orange glasses definitely.

But to suggest it was heavily one sided is not looking through very clear glasses either.

I found the ref letting a lot of the niggle go and Adelaide do a lot of that. The foul count in games like that is irrelevant because the stuff that is ignored would balance the ledger somewhat. For our part, I thought we made the point of contact about 30 cm the other side of our opponent too much - running in full body for a ball that was not ours by rights and stopping right on their feet. I call that charging and I wish we would cut it out and play with our heads more.

But you watch Kitto going to ground on every contact trying to get someone carded and it reminds us that you don't have to be the player making contact to be playing nasty.

I would have seen a 0-0 draw a pretty fair result. It was a battle in which we never gained any composure and Adelaide had us playing unsettled football all night.

Until the blatant foul and non-penalty call on McGarry by VAR in the 89th minute.

You can see the Adelaide player clearly sticking his leg out when McGarry cut inside beautifully, then lunging a little further and tripping McGarry. There is no way that VAR can have looked at that from the side angle and not called for a visit by the ref to the monitor.

If you don't agree I would be suggesting that the red glasses may have gotten a bit fogged up with the heat of battle at that moment.

Then what a fantastically weighted and accurate pass from Bouzanis. What fantastic control by Long to trap it and beat all 4 Adelaide defenders in proximity and beat the keeper.

Bloody awesome win when a game is that tightly poised and to come away with three points.

Dukuly was fantastic with his touches and control. His Pele heel flick over our right fullback to get inside was beautiful. Goodwin played his usual quality balls into the box and it was luck, desperation and some excellent keeping that kept our goal safe.

I do not like how we invited Adelaide to bring the ball up the sides uncontested so often. We chose to pull back into the box and defend tight when I prefer us to fight for every piece of ground. With Goodwin as always and Dukuly in such fine form why are we giving them the time and luxury to choose how to bring the ball in? Deadly.

Herrington had an unsettled game too, with a centreback partner who he was not used to and who is not quite as good (yet?) as our normal defensive set. He still exerted his dominance of the space he was in but did get beaten by a good metre or so from a standing start (like so many other players) by Perias just outside the penalty area. I am sure his lunge was intended to get the ball rather than the player but Perias' speed left Herrington on the ground and tripping him without getting near the ball.

Other than that Herrington popped up anywhere he was needed in his usual style.

I don't think it unfair to suggest that Ludwik is not his replacement at this stage.

I couldn't really tell but in the second half I think D.Valkanis may have moved back into CB and Ludwik stepped forward more to cover DM. Hard to say because it also looked like 3/5 at the back at times especially when we turtled it.

One glimpse of O'Shea showed the difference that quality and experience brings. Adelaide got past him on the right wing and without trying to regain the ball O'Shea ran straight back to take up a goal side position before attempting to challenge. So often we see players choosing to run alongside or chasing behind the player they need to challenge - thinking it all about winning the ball back. But to take up a good defensive position first then execute the challenge is such a relief to eyes weary of players pulling at shirts and stumbling over heels trying to run their opponent down.

Salas and McGarry had huge (clean) battles all night - winning some and losing others. They both stayed in it and at it all game and continue to prove themselves good finds for us.

Valkanis made changes at halftime with Ruhs and Vrakas off - replaced by Long and Lauton. I agree it was sensible to replace Ruhs who clearly has trouble seeing the line between aggressive and aggression.

I have to admit I was thinking that it is pointless having an isolated Long up front because his impact when unsupported is minimal...until the 91st minute. Hore came on and even he struggled to play composed football - largely due to us playing defensively once again and choosing to be pinned back and pass backwards.

It is unusual for Klein to play as defensively as he did tonight. His pre-season and previous season form saw him as a key attacking strength linking up to bring the ball forward. I think he is learning to balance attacking and defensive responsibilities and at the moment he is leaning too far into the safe side.

It was so obvious that when Adelaide put balls into the box they had multiple players and options striving to receive - but when we crossed it was most often 5 against 1 and ineffective. We positioned ourselves much more defensively than was enjoyable in an attacking sense - but I have to think back to the question asked about coaches changing game plans for specific opponents and I think Adelaide is one that it is worth playing more defensively against.

Their multiple threatening options in speed and skill would expose a normal defensive formation quite easily.

I can understand a level of pain from Adelaide supporters who can see dominant play and opportunity being squandered. But I feel honour bound to admit that does nothing to lessen the feeling of joy I had at fulltime and the warm buzz I feel still.

Blame where you will, but we deserved that win by keeping our goal clean and the one brilliant moment by Bouzanis and Long.

NoMates said:

Well done Bris Roar, I picked them to win. Strange game to watch and def Roar should have had a pen but they end up scoring and winning.
2nd on the ladder it’s a shame they won’t get another home game for 2 weeks, anyway will this be the end of Roars 3k crowds?

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You can never write off a low crowd at the Roar - but we went from I think 6k to 8 k with our last game.

I can see that increase continuing over time (not 2k a game though) as long as we keep playing good football. Sink into defensive, negative football with a jagged goal to win and I am not so sure we will get the fans back who left because of poor football.

WhatAmIWatching said:

I enjoyed that! I thought that AU were the better organised and structured team but they could not break the BR defence. Fancy tricks get the heart racing but it is goals that matter and that is where the BR defence stood tall, short and skilled.
Last season I thought that AU had a great potential with their youth in Alegich, Jovanavic and Yull but now I feel that they have stalled. The potential from being good to Socceroos level was there but now I can only see them as AL players.
I find BR's Klein fustrating as he always seems to take the easy way out by going backwards. As a mid-fielder he does not seem terribly creative. Herrington, massive as always.

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I mentioned Klein above.

He is not playing like the Klein we have seen before - but he does have it in him to be positive focussed and effective, and I think that positive impact is his natural game.