{"id":3206,"date":"2010-10-27T08:08:26","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T22:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=3206"},"modified":"2010-10-31T21:51:34","modified_gmt":"2010-10-31T11:51:34","slug":"a-league-round-11-brisbane-roar-vs-melbourne-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=3206","title":{"rendered":"A-League Round 11: Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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They must be putting something in the water in Brisbane.\u00a0 Somehow, completely against the run of form, both our local rugby and football teams have transformed from being basement dwelling also-rans into genuine title contenders.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the year, the Queensland Reds managed to turn around almost half a decade of mediocrity into a fifth place finish in the Super 14, defeating the top three of the teams in the competition as well as translating this newfound success into national representation.\u00a0 The current Wallabie squad includes twelve Reds players.<\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t awesome enough, we are now at the halfway stage in the 2010\/11 season of the A-League and the Brisbane Roar are looking like the real deal.\u00a0 They sit second on the table behind Adelaide United and are looking dominant in every game.\u00a0 I was prompted to blog about this after witnessing their latest game where they dismantled last year’s finalists Melbourne Victory 2-1.\u00a0 We were the better side and we made the most of our chances.\u00a0 A goal midway through the second half from Costa Rican import Solazarno sealed the game for us.\u00a0 We’re only 3 points behind Adelaide and now well clear of the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t always like this.\u00a0 Last season we had a pretty average start to the season.\u00a0 We played conservative and unambitious football.\u00a0 More often than not, it felt like we were happy if we came away with a draw.\u00a0 If we got a goal, it was more of a fluke than anything.\u00a0 Then we\u2019d sit on it, hoping it would be enough.<\/p>\n

Things took a turn for the worse when former coach Frank Farina had a bit of problem with drinky drinky before getting in his car and driving to training.\u00a0 We then got a new coach in Ange Postecoglou whose first act was to clear out over half of the starting eleven in a matter of weeks.\u00a0 Although it meant a right-off for the remainder of the season, the new blood Postecoglou has brought in has dramatically revived the fortunes of the club.\u00a0 The new talent play quick, confident and attacking football.\u00a0 We play to win.\u00a0 The quality of the midfield in particular has meant the Roar have enjoyed the lion\u2019s share of possession and territory in almost all their games.<\/p>\n

Even crusty old veterans who survived the cut last season are lifting their game.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been going to Roar games for about three years now and I\u2019d be hard pressed to pick a lazier player than Reinaldo.\u00a0 He reminds me a lot of the former Southampton striker Matt Le Tissier.\u00a0 He is capable of scoring some sensational goals but is incredibly tempermental and the level of effort he applies seems directly proportional to whether the team is winning or not.\u00a0 This season, he broke a 10 month goal drought and has since gone on to score 3 more and he\u2019s even helped out with a couple of assists.\u00a0 It\u2019s a remarkable turn around.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s looking good for the rest of the season.\u00a0 We\u2019re not overly reliant on one or two players like those jerks at Adelaide United who stole Sergio \u2018Squidward\u2019 Van Dyk from us last season and the team seem to get better with every outing.\u00a0 The team has even gone viral on the Internet with a unique kayak celebration from last week\u2019s game against the Mariners garnering over 100,000 hits on Youtube.<\/p>\n[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6ADzPJerCck[\/youtube]\n

We just need Adelaide to slip up and lose their first game of the season and I predict we will surpass them and run away with the league title.\u00a0 Regardless, it\u2019s good to see the local boys doing well.\u00a0 It\u2019s way more engaging supporting a team that you actually get to see in person on a regular basis than one you only see on TV.<\/p>\n

Brisbane Roar 2 – Melbourne Victory 1<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They must be putting something in the water in Brisbane.\u00a0 Somehow, completely against the run of form, both our local rugby and football teams have transformed from being basement dwelling also-rans into genuine title contenders. Earlier in the year, the Queensland Reds managed to turn around almost half a decade of mediocrity into a fifth …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[218],"class_list":["post-3206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-a-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3237,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions\/3237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}