If it was even possible, defending Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar just got a whole lot more dangerous.
If it was even possible, defending Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar just got a whole lot more dangerous.
After seven years as an assistant, new coach Rado Vidosic’s influence is starting to become clear following his team’s effortless dismantling of Melbourne Victory in a 5-0 rout on Saturday night.
Already known as the preeminent ball-keeping club in the A-League, Brisbane have now shrugged off the shackles and added the smart long ball to their repertoire.
It cut swathes through Victory’s patchwork defence and threatens to keep the Roar at the top of the tree for a little while yet, flying in the face of suggestions they would struggle without supercoach Ange Postecoglou.
While Vidosic has been quick to preach the mantra of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, the changes under his watch are clear to see.
“You try to educate the players to take the best options, to make the best decisions,” he said.
“You try to instil certain frameworks – but after that, you need to give them some freedom.”
As teams learn to press high up the pitch against the Roar to loosen their grip on possession, opportunity beckons for Brisbane in the space behind opposition defenders.
This was no more evident than in the move that ended with Besart Berisha’s first of two goals – it began with a long, booming goal kick from Michael Theo that sailed over the heads of Victory’s troubled back four.
“I’ve always said, even over the past couple of years, there is no right or wrong way of playing football,” captain Matt Smith said.
“We certainly are capable of playing the short passing game, and that’s our first priority, but if it opens up we’re certainly going to take that long ball opportunity – particularly if it’s to get behind the opposition’s lines.
“We’ve got a different gameplan to what we had last year, it is as simple as that.”
Central to that gameplan is recruit Ben Halloran, who was the shining light out of Gold Coast United’s final season.
The nimble young winger impressed against Victory and was again unlucky to not open his account for his new club, hitting the crossbar in the dying stages of a match for the second week in a row.
Halloran was one of the hottest properties on the market after Gold Coast folded and Vidosic said his coveted signature opens up new tactical opportunities for Brisbane.
“We knew that he can definitely improve our playing style,” he said.
“You could see how influential he can be, especially when teams are opening up a little bit and they push up in numbers.
“All our midfield controlled the game and those passes that were played behind Melbourne Victory’s backline were just tremendous.”
The pace of the 20-year-old helped long-time apprentice Vidosic win out in a battle against a mastermind with a playbook that turned the A-League its head.
“When you look at the result, we just could not have asked for any more,” Vidosic said.
“We forced them to make a lot of mistakes and we punished them on fast breaks.
“You could not even dream about such a result at the beginning of the game.”
