Brisbane Roar coach John Aloisi has promised “a reaction” from his side against Central Coast Mariners in Gosford following last week’s poor 4-0 loss to Newcastle Jets.
Aloisi’s team will head south across the border for the second straight week and Brisbane’s coach expects a completely different performance to the one at McDonald Jones Stadium in Round 2.
The Jets blitzed Roar on the counterattack last Sunday, with Newcastle scoring three goals in the second half to secure a comfortable win at home.
Hyundai A-League preview: Mariners v Roar
Brisbane made almost double the amount of passes, had almost two thirds possession and took 15 shots to the Jets’ 11 but finished the match on the wrong end of the most important statistic – the score.
Aloisi was very disappointed by Roar’s display – Brisbane’s defending was to blame for all four of Newcastle’s goals – and declared his team will be better against Central Coast.
The Mariners also lost 4-0 last week away to Sydney FC.
“We have to have a reaction. I said it after the game last week – that wasn’t good enough,” Brisbane’s boss told reporters on Friday.
“That wasn’t a performance that we expect of Brisbane Roar, especially in the year and a bit that I’ve been here.
“That wasn’t good enough from us, we need to do better and I expect a reaction tomorrow against the Mariners.
“And there will be because these boys are proud.
“They have won in the past, they want to win again and it wasn’t acceptable, the performance that we put out [against Newcastle].”
Aloisi added that from what he has seen at training this week, his players were stung by the Newcastle loss.
Brisbane welcome back captain Matt McKay, who returns from suspension, while former Melbourne Victory youth striker Joey Katebian has also been added to Roar’s squad.
Dimi Petratos remains sidelined with an ankle injury.
While Aloisi was frustrated by last week’s defeat, which leaves Roar with just one point from two games in 2016-17, he insisted that there was enough evidence that Brisbane can create enough chances to win games.
