Queensland Roar 0 Newcastle Jets 1

Having spent the past few games receiving little reward for playing good football and creating lots of chances, wasted by profligate strikers, Queensland tried a new approach: play awful football and create virtually no chances. Against a Jets side that looked poor, albeit basically competent, with the exception of Carle, who was a stylish livewire with a hatful tricks, the Roar pumped the ball upfield for the whole first field, bypassing the midfield (perhaps not a bad idea, because every time one of them did get the ball, he promptly gave it to the opposition. The first half was abysmal and the Roar were deservedly booed off. They barely competed in midfield and were woeful going forward. Midfielders pass the ball into the box, but no one follows it in; Dilevski refuses to get into space when he is played in the right, and McKay has no notion of attacking when out wide, looking always to lay it off to his full back (a poor idea when you are playing with three at the back, and you are notionally the full back yourself). Baird was especially poor: if he would only take the easy option occasionally, instead of trying to do things he simply isn't equipped for. Brosque was little better: he's technically good but he simply has no idea how to play up front. Brosque needs to watch videos of Henry, or even Carle, to see how he can find space and be able to receive the ball to feet with room to do something with it. He is always getting it with his back to goal, which, given his slight frame, means he all too often loses it.

Where Queensland have done well this season has been at the back. They're a little prone to errors, particularly Gibson, who must surely be told by the coach not to venture up field if he simply can't be bothered to work back hard and to kick the thing into the stands when he is pressured. But they looked vulnerable this week. Again and again, Newcastle attacked down the righthand side. Bleiberg again played 3142, but I think the Jets clearly demonstrated its limitations. Buess and Gibson played in the centre and Gava on the left, but there was a huge hole on the right, which Dilevski, having a very poor game, couldn't fill. The defence was turned several times and the lack of pace showed in the middle.

Seo is absolutely wasted as a defensive midfielder if he's not given the ball. If he's going to play there, Willis should be rolling the ball out to him every time he gets it, and the defenders, rather than looking to get it out wide to players who are far, far too deep to do anything with it, should be playing it through him.

It's clear what Queensland should do. Play four at the back (clearly, fitness allowing, they should be Dodd, Buess, Gibson and McCloughan; Gava is not entirely useless but he didn't cover himself in glory on Sunday either; Dilevski is not a fullback in anyone's language; Murdocca could fill in at rightback though, and McKay would possibly make a useful leftback, something to consider at the moment, and push Buess into the middle while McCloughan is out) and four across the middle and forget clever tactics. There would be no need to swamp the midfield if Seo played higher up the pitch. Bleiberg's tactical plan revolves around playing with three men in a column: a DM, a CM and an AM. But it funnels all the play through the middle, making it very hard to break down determined defences, and leaving the strikers always to try to play in very tight spaces, rather than being free to pick the ball up wide (where Baird does look more useful). Switching to a 442, in which the wide guys are encouraged to join the attackers and the midfielders complement each other in midfield instead of playing in different parts of the pitch, would make better use of Queensland's resources. He should look at playing Seo and McKay in the middle (for McKay, read Murdocca or Carro, either could do a job, and Brosque and Richter out wide. Richter's pace is a tremendous asset but he is being brought on as a sub without a role. Tell him to hug the touchline and burn past the typically slow full-backs. He is genuinely quick and that's rare in the A-League. So use it! Brosque would be much more useful on the left. He should be encouraged to float, to roam in search of space and the ball. He's a useful passer and a skilful runner, but he's not able to use those abilities with a big central defender up his arse. Up front, it's time to realise that Baird cannot cut it. Put him on the bench and bring him on if needed. I thought Simpson, a sub on Sunday, looked willing and could be given a chance. He was clumsy but he put himself about a bit, showing for the ball, and using it mostly intelligently. He is tall enough to make a proper target man too; Baird is depressingly lightweight, although willing to compete in the air. Brownlie is probably the best of the strikers, although it remains a problem that Queensland do not have a goalscorer of any note. If I were coaching them, I'd be willing to try Dilevski up front. He's not a terrible player, but he's unhappy as a right wingback. He looks better on the left, and happiest of all when he's going forward. He's quite sharp, playing several good passes into the box in the past couple of games. With more freedom, I think he'd be a better player. Ask him to pick up the pieces alongside Simpson and I think Queensland could be a little less unpredictable up front and score a few more goals. It's worth trying because there won't be a coach in the league who hasn't realised that if you mark Brosque reasonably tightly, Queensland have nowhere to go up front.

The Roar improved a little in the second half, and were very unlucky to have a Carro goal disallowed for offside when the Jets had a defender standing on the near post. But it would not have been fair reward on the night: Newcastle missed several good chances, with Milicic uncharacteristically clueless in front of goal.


There has to be more movement and more energy than the team displayed on Sunday. Newcastle are solid and competitive but not actually any good, and any team that puts in the effort will beat them. We just didn't work hard enough to get a reward.

I remain convinced that we have a better than average team but this was a below average performance. Bleiberg's tactical tinkering just isn't working. It was a good idea to create more width, yes, and he should stick with that, but picking wingbacks and at the same time three midfielders who play in a column works at cross purposes.

Very hard to pick a best player for Queensland. They were uniformly poor in the first half. Simpson did well when he came on, looking very keen and popping up everywhere. Carro also tried hard and did some nice things. Tommy Willis did well in goal. He's very reliable and capable. I'd say he was best for us, although Carle for Newcastle was far and away the best player on the pitch. Thompson a distant second for them, he was solid. Their defence did well as a unit, really making it hard for Baird and Brosque to get into the game.

The officials must hang their heads. The referee was very poor, as they have often been in the A-League. He seemed to disapprove of the physical challenge altogether and often made poor decisions. The lineos wanted shooting, simple as that. Each missed clear offsides, and the one on the far side from me will shudder when he watches the match on tape, because he flagged away our equalising goal when it was clear that Carro was nothing like offside.

posted by Dr Zen @ 3:55 pm