Ever since I boldly and confidently declared to a mate who was curious about how Brisbane Roar had gone 36 games unbeaten, and who does not normally follow football, that the Roar would win this season's A-League championship "in a canter" they have lost five in a row. In doing so they have established another record - the most consecutive losing games in the club's history and they have suddenly become arguably the team in the crappiest form of the competition.
Some turnaround, huh? How can a team that was playing like millionaires week after week, and that had everyone scratching their heads about how to stop them, all of a sudden start playing like paupers and start sliding down the A-League table at a rate that must now be alarming all concerned with the club? On the evidence of my statement above, that is for smarter heads than mine to figure out.
But I think that what it shows is actually something quite beautiful - that there can be no such thing as a "certainty" in the game of football. No matter what people involved in football for one club or another might do to try to engineer as much certainty in it for themselves as possible, they cannot succeed all the time because the game retains an innate capacity to surprise. And here in Australia, where the A-League has a salary cap, the game is probably more unpredictable than almost any other place on earth given that most countries have no such barriers to the power of the mighty dollar, pound or peseta to make things a little more predictable. We might not yet have the best football on earth to watch week in and week out, but we certainly have a kind of football where the soul of the game - the notion that every team can dream of being winners and champions - survives and even flourishes. There's something really satisfying about that for me.
It also, by the way, shows what an astonishing achievement it was by the Roar to go 36 games unbeaten. Some people, when they reached that milestone, were dumb or ill-intentioned enough to suggest that because football (or "soccer" as they usually called it) is a game in which a draw is a common result, the Roar's achievement was somehow diminished. That in comparison, for example, with a rugby league club that had gone 35 games unbeaten in a suburban Sydney competition back in the 1930s, it did not rate. I thought such statements were nonsense at the time they were uttered and the last five weeks have only magnified that impression for me.
I reckon the Roar would be more than happy with going two games unbeaten right about now!
Good to hear from you Striker Steve!
ReplyDeleteOn a personal level I'm finding it very difficult to predict the outcome of many of these matches let alone when and if the Roar are going to win their next one!
I(and the family) was there at Skilled Stadium to watch a pretty tame match.
Overall I think that was the worst performance thus far in the losing streak. Brisbane were pretty awful in the first half coughing up possession more times than they have in recent memory. But the Gold Coast failed to capitalise on nearly every occasion when the ball was 'turned over'.
Bleiberg must have been pretty vocal at half time because the Coast came out in the 2nd half with a much more aggressive attitude and pretty much dominated the first 10 minutes or so of the 2nd half when they really should have been 2 or 3 goals up with some well crafted chances spurned by MOTM Halloran (1) & the normally lethal Maceo Rigters.
Normal service was pretty much resumed for the rest of the 2nd half with Brisbane dominating it possession wise but doing absolutely nothing with the ball. Which has pretty much been the story since the record run ended. The penalty came out of nothing really and from where we sat it looked very harsh even on the big screen (albeit a bit too far away). Having seen the footage on Fox Sports upon returning home I don't blame the referee one iota. At normal speed he seems to have got it right and very difficult not to give it.
So just where do the Roar go to from here? Right at this juncture it appears that Thomas Broich is their main salvation with a bit of Enrique thrown in. Both players have the speed of thought to make more of an impact than anybody on display in this current side with the possible exception of Berisha who hasn't really had a sniff in the penalty area since that embarassing clanger against Perth, where he should have buried a gift wrapped chance late in the match.
The most concerning thing for me from Brisbanes' perspective is their lack of improvement this season. Postecoglou 'banged on' about the need to improve nearly every week during that incredible run. They weren't really doing it then and they certainly aren't now. Even with their full complement of players back in fine fettle it's really difficult to see them improving on some of the stellar performances of recent times playing the way they do. Opposing teams have worked out how to combat their possession game and the likes of Berisha and even Broich are getting a lot more attention from defenders than they once were.
They have to throw caution to the wind a little bit more. There was one instance last night when Steffanutto broke on the left and could have played a long sweeping cross to Berisha in the centre who had broken free of his marker. But instead he kept going into the penalty box and cut the ball back to a sadly out of form Nichols who unfortunately had slighty overrun the ball resulting in a scuffed shot.
On a couple of other occasions last night Mohammed Adnan played a couple of nice long balls out to the left wing which found their mark. They didn't result in anything but it would be nice to see a bit more of that. And it would be even nicer to see a pass going forward when they are in the final 3rd instead of backwards!
We have all been very priveleged to see a side go so many games undefeated playing a style of Football never seen in this country. That style was highly acceptable when the goals were being knocked in at will, and even bearable when games resulted in a Draw.
But to coin a term it has become 'as boring as batshit' during this losing run and was painfully evident in the Wellington game and last night where a bit more urgency would have paid dividends.
I'll reserve any more judgement until Broich in particular returns. He really could make that much of a diffence to a team that is sadly devoid of attacking creativity.