R15 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 18th Jan | 7:00pm | SS7

That's Jamie Young's 5th game in a row where he has kept Brisbane in it. I think he'll be their player of the season by more than a country mile!

The run had to end - Jamie Young was great - Newcastle will pay

Pleased to see Marinovic head up for the last corner. Shows good attitude through the team.

I used to like you!

very unlucky to lose that one. Some of the general football and transition in particular was as good as any team Ive ever seen in the A League. Steinmann outstanding and Hooper improving. Whole team played well. 

Dissapointing game. Think we would've won that with a better striker than Hooper on the pitch, who gave up runs basically all game. He was pretty terrible. For a guy who seems pretty built, he gets shouldered off the ball ridiculously easily too. I'm not Sotirio's biggest fan, but him coming off instead of Hooper at that stage was ridiculous.

I would've been tempted to cut him loose and look for someone else.

If we want to be doing anything more this season, these are the games we need to be winning. We really wilted in that 2nd half. We've been poor the last two weeks and got away with it; this week, not so lucky.

Assume you have been to Brisbane? Sweat was pissing off the players about 5 mins in. Humidity is a killer.

Could not disagree more. If we had a proper striker who is used to playing in these conditions, we win that, 100%.

Think Davila is much easier to mark out of the game without Piscopo and Ball running the lines.

Whoever decided we wernt wearing yellow/yellow/yellow needs to give themselves a slap. Should have known football Gods dont like that sort of change.

dammit I must’ve pressed the wrong button on the remote again and watched the wrong game. Doh!

Newcastle almost as unlucky as the Phoenix tonight. Dominated City for most of the game. They could easily have won. Anyone who thinks they will be an easy touch next week is dreaming. Also interesting to hear Bozza describe the Phoenix first half performance as ‘fantastic’.

That was actually repeated by Kosmina later on (in modest terms).  We all thought the restart to the second half was the time we would score, naturally.  Was not to be.

I also felt like some of the others that Hooper should have gone off a bit earlier (60 min) for Waine, because while Brisbane kept running Hooper started looking uncomfortable moving about in the humidity.  Unless there was a reason to drag Sotirio off (I did not think there was a reason), Sotirio would have played well together with Waine and McCowatt. Bringing in Ball at that time might have helped the structure.

I do not think we played badly overall. We were a bit unlucky with our goal bound shots, and perhaps not ruthless enough in finishing, but the conditions would have played their role in that. Most of our games were won by a single goal difference so this is the one where we were one goal short.

Hooper still playing all those little layoffs and flick ons to set up shots that Davila connects with, half of the time. Other times we just seem a yard or two away from anticipating what's coming. And sometimes from being over eager and not just waiting for the setup. I think that was the case at the far post for the flick on for Waine and McCowatt was caught flat footed with Hooper nudging it in front of him, for McCowatt to run onto and lace it from close. Seemed Hooper played for both of those and the two young guys just weren't quite there? Just combination and anticipation, stuff that will come with a bit more time? They'd be class goals if we start finishing them. I think that's what I'm seeing. Hope so. 

And I think Hooper's not coming off. Ever. Lols. I think the coach is saying you need to be fit and you need to be contributing what I've paid for you. And you're staying on till you deliver, ready for playoffs. He looks over any injury probs, so hopefully it's just getting the legs with game time now, you'd think, and getting used to Aussie conditions. And getting the combinations working around him as he comes up to speed. I hope so. 

The league is close and we aren't winning by a lot. Playing well, but close games have to go against you sometime. And we're not playing that much better than the opposition, over 90, that if we don't take chances we might see the same result next week. 

They need to find a bit of another gear to stay top 4 I reckon. But I think they have it in them. Ball looked good again when he came on. And Piscopo is back when? Because I think those two may be enough to make the difference. Just a bit more pace and control up front, and bench depth with them in the playing squad. Plus just more time and fitness from Hooper and more of the players reading him. 

Good season with some good football. Hope they can find another 10 or 15%. 

Just my musings. But what a fun season. After four years of drudgery. 

Piscopo is a brilliant player, can't come back soon enough imo. Last night was exactly what we had in the first 4 games, played well but no result. My worry is we never score many goals. Las season we'd put teams away by 3 or more goals. Remember that 8:2 rout against the Mariners? We need more killer I instinct and have more of an urge to score. Do we need to sign another quality striker ot attacking midfielder?

excellent post.

Many players were walking when they had a chance in the game last night, from both teams. Those were the effects of the humid, sapping conditions. The fact that Hooper lasted 90 minutes was a credit to him in my opinion. mjp said it well.

In the interview afterwards Young said it was noticeable that the Phoenix dropped intensity in the second half, he also said that Hooper was complaining to him that even the rain was hot.

Olyroos beat Syria 1-0 in ET, in their U23 QF.

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/australia-u-23s-reach-afc-u-23-championship-semi-finals

So Piscopo now has a SF, and either final or 3rd placed playoff still to play this week.

Definitely misses the Newcastle game, and returns during the bye - which won't hurt as he's playing a lots of minutes in the Thai heat.

I live 30 mins away. Same for both teams.

I'd take Ball over Hooper any day. It really frustrates me to see Hooper put not effort in pressing when we don't have the ball. Unless he's banging in goals week-in week-out then he has to contribute in transition. He just strolls around and this takes all the pressure off the back four and allows them to set up and build from the back. Ball on the other hand is tireless and willing to do anything for the team. He never gives up, in attack and defence. Huge difference in attitude between these two IMO.

not sure that's what Talay wants Hooper to do. Ball, Sotirio and Piscopo are in the team to harass the defenders. Hooper on the other hand is there to lead the line and link with the midfield (ie exactly what he's doing)

I really can't believe people are saying this. Hooper's a guy who's played in Scotland and Scun-thorpe most of his life and he's not fully fit, you can't expect him to play like prime Aguero in muggy 30°C weather he's probably only experienced on a binge in Bali. He's put in effort in every other game we've seen. He's a completely different position and role to Ball too. If we wanted our striker to press like a madman we'd play Ball there instead of on the right in a full-strength team.

Thought he did well given the circumstances, and I usually hate this argument but I'd love to see what a lot of forum posters could do in that weather. It was incredibly noticeable that almost all players were struggling

Thought we were humidity drenched by halftime and pretty spent - totally understandable and no surprise we couldn't keep controlling the game. Effort was huge. 

Good to get chance Friday night to get back on track.

We still dominated possession, passes, and shots against the team that has the most possession in the competition and this was on their home ground in pretty muggy conditions. I can think of at least two pretty much certain goals that we didn't get because players were a step short or not making the runs that they normally would, not to mention a pen, two shots hitting the woodwork, and Davilla's shot that was millimeters off.

The main positive was the way the team lifted towards the end, you could tell that was a team that was full of confidence that they could get the win and in fact would get it and pushed to the end.

While it is in terms of straight temperature and humidity, its not the same at all in that the Roar players live and train in that climate while we only get to experience once or twice a year. I lived in Brisbane for a time too and you do get acclimatized to it [not to the extent of having a fire or wearing a jersey in winter like native Queenslanders] but its tough to just live in those conditions to start with let alone play an A League game.

Different styles that's all. What Hooper does gets him and his team regular goals and that's why he got to play Premier League. While Ball is [in my view a very good player], he is not a goal poacher as such, like Hooper is. Heck, when these 2 and others click with each other they are goiung to be devestating. 

we didn't create enough chances, we didn't hit the target enough, we didn't win the game at the start of the second half. In a real battle for top 6 with the other teams reinforcing. Young was immense too.

Hooper should have been released this month and replaced, we over paid for a bum that gets injured from headaches and is so unfit he struggles after the 20min mark. He might get in good areas for around the goal mouth but so would any forward from our bench.

Half way into the season already and I cant see any improvements going forward.  

How much is he getting paid?

Rumours are that he's the most expensive phoenix player ever so it's going to be high six figures.

Davila was hacked and marked out of the game but Hooper did nothing to suggest he should be starting week in week out, he is our most expensive player and seems only good for the bench.

At worst, the fact that he played the full 90 in unpleasant conditions is a credit to Hooper. I will not complain if he hits form late in the season. At best, he played well in the role he was assigned to do.

And Hooper did not singlehandedly lose the game for us, so I do not know what the hate is all about. There were 10 other guys on the park. I would agree that we struggle without Ball and Piscopo but we still managed to play excellent passing game with a couple of really close calls. Another day these close calls might have gone in, or we might have got the nod for a handball penalty as well. This was not the day and that's football. I am really happy to see how we play right now and am grateful for Talay's recruitment. 

And, all kudos to Brisbane for not giving up despite their season looking like a struggle street for them. We've been there too.

Devlin and Davila two excellent finds from Talay. Top class

Let's be honest about this. I've watched the Roar's 4 games prior to this and Young is very much a goalkeeper in top form. He has single handedly kept the Roar in on each of those games. Fair credit to the man. We hit the post twice. and yes we should have been at least 3 up in that first half. What did impress me was how we never gave up and or dropped away. In the years of past, when getting sucker punched heads have dropped and we've given up the ghost. Not this team. It's good to see.

Agreed, the self-belief is at a different level to what we remember from just a few seasons back.

In some ways I am quietly impressed with our back four as it shapes up now, as opposed to how it looked with Dura leading it (in the post-Sigmund years). I see a different mentality (no panic), and good skills, slowly taking hold which I did not see in previous years after Siggy retired.

We need to be better in 2nd halfs. We can't just sit back and absorb pressure giving the opposition teams more space and opportunities to dominate us. Ball was terrific when he came on. Set up a couple of excellent chances and had a couple of shots himself. And whats all the hate for Hooper??? He had a really good few shots as well only to be saved by Young who was in top form. 

We're not capable of sustaining high-pressure game for 90 minutes, and few teams can, unless the teams are badly mismatched.  I have no issue with us dropping off in the second half as long as we can capitalise on the high intensity first half.  Against Brisbane, there were several opportunities where on any other day we would have scored. The same also happened against other teams (notably Sydney FC). If anything, perhaps with time a better understanding between our players might plug these holes, especially between the old foxes like Hooper and the young guns like Waine.

I really asked the question to highlight the stupidity of Roy’s statement. How can you say he’s over paid if you don’t know what he is getting paid?

They are professional footballers. They should be able to sustain high pressure for 90 minutes especially with the energy of the youngsters in our team who tend to be more active than older players. I mean dropping off when you're leading is okay as you want to protect your lead, but why do you have to drop off when you're losing??