A-League 2016/17 – Round Eight – Brisbane Draw

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2 PERTH GLORY 0

WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 1 BRISBANE ROAR 1

MELBOURNE VICTORY 2 NEWCASTLE JETS 0

SYDNEY FC 0 ADELAIDE UNITED 0

MELBOURNE CITY 2 WELLINGTON PHOENIX 1

Brisbane Draw

For most Brisbane Roar fans, this has been a season of frustration and inconsistency.  Despite only the one loss this season and now a run of six undefeated games, the Roar find themselves unable to hit fifth gear.  They’ve had moments of promise, as they did in this away fixture to Western Sydney Wanderers, but for the seventh time in eight games they’ve failed to score more than one goal and they’ve now recorded their fourth draw of the season.  Only Jamie Maclaren was able to find the back of the net and that was after a needlessly conceded penalty by the Wanderers.

For most of the game, the Roar sat deep and played defensively, a tactical decision from John Aloisi that isn’t something that fans have been used to seeing from their club.

To make matters worse, this week Jamie Maclaren’s agent went public with the players ongoing contract negotiations with the Roar stating that the club’s most recent offer was ‘a disgrace’.  The Roar find themselves in a tough spot with both marquee spots for next season stitched up with Tommy Oar and Brett Holman (neither of whom are playing well enough to warrant that position in most people’s opinion).  It would be a disaster for the club to lose Maclaren to a rival club because they couldn’t find room in the salary cap.  It would be the Besart Berisha situation all over again.  Coincidentally, Western Sydney Wanderers are rumoured to be one of the clubs vying for Maclaren’s services.  That’s if they’re not able to secure the contract of aging Irish football star Robbie Keane.

News and Notes

• Central Coast Mariners defeated Perth Glory on Thursday night to record their first home win in 13 months as well as their first clean sheet in 36 games (?!).  The club celebrated like they won a cup final and there was joy for long suffering Mariners supporters.  It only goes to show how far the side has fallen since coach Graham Arnold left.  Although they have been the whipping boys of the competition for the last two seasons, it was as recently as 2013 that they won the grand final.
• The Wanderers remain out of sorts.  This is their fourth fixture at their temporary home ground of Spotless Stadium and they too have been plagued by a series of draws.  They are yet to win (or lose) at Spotless.
• Sydney FC played an ugly 0-0 draw at Adelaide in a clash between first and last.  Although Sydney have been comfortably top of the table for some weeks now, they play a pretty cynical brand of football at times.  When ranking the players who have conceded the most fouls in the competition, three of the top five are from Sydney FC.  The club plays a physical brand of football that isn’t particularly pleasing to the eye but thus far has been getting results.
• After the latest 2-1 defeat, the Nix look to be on the brink and out of ideas.