Brisbane Roar will round out 2022 with a trip to Melbourne to face Western United in the Isuzu UTE A-League on Friday night while our Liberty A-League squad host Sydney FC on New Year’s Eve.
Isuzu UTE A-League
Brisbane Roar are preparing for a crucial period which will see them play their next three games on the road.
The squad come into this week’s match off the back of a 1-1 draw against Western Sydney Wanderers, thanks to a Carlo Armiento goal.
With three games in just 11 days, the side has been preparing for an extended road trip, starting this week against Western United.
Then it’s a trip back down to Victoria to face Melbourne Victory on 6 January before flying to Western Australia for Perth Glory on 10 January.
While the side are currently six games unbeaten, they are looking to turn their draws into wins over the coming weeks.
The December to January period always plays an important role in the Isuzu UTE A-League season with Moon explaining the next three games will be critical for the Roar.
“We’re not strangers to travelling, we know we need to do it and we’ve done road trips last year, so our intention as always is to go in with a positive mindset to get the three points and that’s what we’re going to do starting tomorrow,” he said.
Recently, the 2021/22 Isuzu UTE A-League champions have had a resurgence after a slow start to the season, where they lost two of their opening three matches and saw them rooted to the bottom of the table.
After wins against Western Sydney Wanderers and Victory last week, they’ve shot up the table and sit a point behind the Roar.
“Obviously they didn’t get the start they want, and I don’t think anyone thought they weren’t going to turn it around or rediscover their form,” Moon said.
“We know they are a very good team so for us we’ve done our prep as we would, we’ll go into the game worrying about ourselves but know they have a lot of quality.”
Catch all the action between Western United and Brisbane Roar live on Paramount+.
Liberty A-League
The match against Sydney FC on Saturday will offer more than just a chance at redemption for the Brisbane Roar.
On a day that will mark Larissa Crummer’s 50th appearance for the Roar, head coach Garrath McPherson said that this weekend’s match is an opportunity to show appreciation to his players in closing out 2022.
“It’s a great occasion for the team to show Larissa how much her contribution to the club has meant to them and an opportunity to see off Teagan Thompson, who in the last few weeks has been wonderful for the team and we very much feel we want to send her off on a positive note,” he said.
Thompson was signed as an eight-week injury replacement for Talitha Kramer after the 31-year-old suffered a knee injury on the eve of the Liberty A-League season.
Since their 4-0 loss to the Sky Blues earlier this month, the Roar has had the chance to put some vital lessons into practice.
McPherson said that Sydney will be facing a very different Brisbane side, come Saturday afternoon.
“They have the potent attackers but up until the 92nd minute we were pushing to get us back in the game,” he said.
“They scored one very good goal from [Madison] Hayley…she’s a great player and hard to deal with in essential areas.
“Since that game we’ve been working to improve our organisation on defending in the back third, that’s going to be really important for us.
“We need to find ways to nullify the potency that they’ve got in those wide areas…in the last two weeks, we’ve had Newcastle and Western Sydney who in terms of the way they’ve built their squads, have gone for speed and power in their wide areas too, so that’s been a really nice lead-in for us,” he added.
The side has also managed to keep two clean sheets heading into this weekend’s match at AJ Kelly Park, after a 1-0 win against the Wanderers and 2-0 over the Jets last week.
Catch all the action between Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC live on Paramount+ and 10Play.
MATCH DETAILS
Isuzu UTE A-League
Western United v Brisbane Roar
Friday 30 December
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Kick off 6:45pm AEST
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Liberty A-League
Brisbane Roar v Syndey FC
Saturday 31 December
A.J. Kelly Park
Kick off 2:00pm AEST
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
