Brisbane Roar Head Coach Rado Vidosic has spent the week working on ways to improve his side’s defence ahead of their gruelling cross-Tasman trip to play Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand.
Brisbane Roar Head Coach Rado Vidosic has spent the week working on ways to improve his side-s defence ahead of their gruelling cross-Tasman trip to play Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand.
Even after last Saturday-s 5-0 win over Melbourne Victory, Vidosic was not content to rest on the performance of his players, insisting there was still parts of the Roar game plan that can be further developed.
“We can definitely improve on our defending,” he said.
“That is one area we were not happy with although generally our defence has played much better this season than what we did last year.
“It-s an area we-re aiming to improve even more and make as many clean sheets as possible.
“Goals win you the game but I think clean sheets will win us the title.
“We need to improve every game, that-s the way we-ve operated for the past several years and we-re not going to change that.”
As usual, a weekly video analysis session formed an important part of Brisbane-s pre-match preparation and captain and central defender Matt Smith was also quick to point out the strengths in the Phoenix-s approach that had the potential to cause problems.
“From what I-ve seen, they-ve got a very different front line and anyone of those guys can hurt us,” he said.
“They can get a few goals from anywhere, they like a few crosses into the box and they-ve got some big boys who come up for set pieces.
“We-ve got to be very careful we don-t give too many set pieces away and we-ll have to be on our toes at the back to watch out for their front three.”
The team travels to Wellington tomorrow and will have one training session in New Zealand before Sunday-s round four clash against the Phoenix at Westpac Stadium Kick-off is at 1.30pm Queensland time.
Join the rest of the Roar supporters at the club-s official away match supporters venue Shafston Hotel to watch the game and make the most of the food and beverage discounts on offer.
Sunday, October 21
Wellington Phoenix v Brisbane Roar
Venue: Westpac Stadium
Kick off: 4:30 PM
Referee: Adam Kersey
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1HD and Sky Sport 2.
Radio broadcast: Some commentary and Highlights in National Grandstand on Sunday.
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Mark Paston (GK), 2. Manny Muscat, 3. Tony Lochhead, 5. Michael Boxall, 6. Alex Smith, 7. Leo Bertos, 8. Paul Ifill, 9. Benjamin Totori, 10. Stein Huysegems, 11. Jeremy Brockie, 12. Tyler Boyd, 15. Cameron Lindsay, 16. Louis Fenton, 17. Vince Lia, 18. Ben Sigmund, 19. Jimmy Downey, 20. Glen Moss (GK), 22. Andrew Durante (C), 28. Ricardo Clarke (four to be omitted).
Ins: Mark Paston (returns from international duty), Glen Moss (returns from international duty), Leo Bertos (returns from international duty), Ben Sigmund (returns from international duty), Tony Lochhead (returns from international duty), Jeremy Brockie (returns from international duty), Benjamin Totori (returns from international duty).
Outs: Luke Rowe (returns to Phoenix FSE), Scott Basalaj (returns to Phoenix FSE), Tom Biss (returns to Phoenix FSE), Jacob Spoonley (returns to Auckland City after one week loan).
Unavailable: Lucas Pantelis (knee injury – indefinite), Mirjan Pavlovic (medical condition – indefinite), Dani Sanchez (knee injury – 5 weeks)
Brisbane Roar squad: 1. Michael Theo (GK), 2. Matt Smith (capt.), 3. Shane Stefanutto, 4. Matt Jurman, 6. Erik Paartalu, 7. Besart Berisha, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 10. Henrique, 11. Ben Halloran, 13. Yuji Takahashi, 16. Do Dong-Hyun, 17. Mitch Nichols, 18. Luke Brattan, 19. Jack Hingert, 20. Matt Acton (GK), 22. Thomas Broich, 24. Nick Fitzgerald. *two to be omitted*
Ins: Henrique (returns from injury)
Outs: Ivan Franjic (abdominal strain – one week)
Unavailable: James Meyer (groin – one week)
