Apparently Rado Vidosic wasn’t the man for the Roar, but the ever-successful Mike Mulvey just might have what it takes.
Is Rado Vidosic the man to lead Brisbane Roar out of their form slump? Evidently not. But if Mike Mulvey wanted to endear himself to Roar supporters he missed his first chance on Friday night.
Mulvey said in the post-match press conference his team needs to get their mojo back following Brisbane-s 1-0 defeat to Perth Glory but on the basis of their performance, there-s no need for him to give Austin Powers a call just yet.
Brisbane dominated the second half at Suncorp Stadium and had just one of Henrique, Besart Berisha or Ben Halloran managed to hit the target from golden chances, they-d have snatched a well-deserved point.
Roar skipper Matt Smith pointed out that you can-t miss such glorious opportunities and expect to win matches and surely the sight of last season-s top scorer Berisha butchering a one-on-one will have hurt Roar fans the most.
The Albanian striker was put through on goal by a precise Mitch Nichols pass only to chip his shot straight into the arms of grateful Glory custodian Danny Vukovic.
If anyone has lost his mojo, it-s Berisha, and the Roar desperately need their talismanic striker to rediscover his goal scoring form.
Judging by Mulvey-s declaration that he will be active during the January transfer window, Berisha is not alone in being put on notice.
Holding midfielder Erik Paartalu recently said he and his teammates are “playing for our futures,” however Paartalu-s future is almost certainly away from Suncorp Stadium.
That means Brisbane are likely to be in the market for a holding midfielder but there are other key positions Mulvey may also be keen to strengthen.
One is central defence, with ex-Sydney FC defender Matt Jurman recently dropped to the youth team and Japanese youngster Yuji Takahashi ignored altogether.
As far as Takahashi is concerned, it-s clearly a case of the wrong player signed for the right reason.
A-League clubs should be looking to sign talented Asian players but when those players have no previous professional experience to speak of, it-s a tough ask to expect them to perform at this level.
But given that last season A-League clubs passed up the opportunity to sign both Mitsuo Ogasawara – arguably the greatest J. League player of his generation – and Yojiro Takahagi, who just won the league with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, it-s hard to fathom why Takahashi of all players was summoned to Australia.
At any rate, youngster James Donachie has shown some promise alongside Smith in central defence, although it was Donachie-s failure to stick with Glory midfielder Steven McGarry which opened up the space for the Scotsman to curl home the winner.
McGarry-s strike was a stunner and a deserved winning goal, even if it did brush Roar goalkeeper Michael Theo-s fingertips on its way in.
It settled Perth-s second 1-0 win of the campaign over Brisbane and while that won-t make up for last season-s bitter grand final defeat, it will have put a spring in coach Ian Ferguson-s step ahead of the festive season.
“We-ve played better (before) and got nothing,” said Ferguson after his team withstood Brisbane-s second-half onslaught, and the Glory are now well placed to launch an assault on the top three.
That-s something the Roar can only dream of, with their back-to-back championship wins looking an increasingly distant memory.
They-ll hope Mulvey is their saviour and he comes highly rated on the back of a seven-game cameo at the helm of Gold Coast United and a recent stint in charge of Melbourne Victory-s W-League team.
Articulate, knowledgeable and deeply passionate about the game, the Mancunian appears to have all the credentials needed to get Brisbane back to winning ways.
But then, so too did Vidosic. Time will tell if Mulvey-s reign works out any differently.
