Luke DeVere has put the onus on Brisbane Roar’s defenders to stand up as individuals and stop the haemorrhaging of goals that has undermined the club’s campaign.
Brisbane have conceded 32 times in their 15 matches this season and at least twice in eight of their last 10 outings.
The experienced DeVere’s return to the fold since John Aloisi’s departure has led to a slight improvement at the back, with the Queenslanders keeping Melbourne City and Central Coast to one apiece either side of a disappointing 5-0 home defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory.
BROADCAST: How to tune into Round 16 of the Hyundai A-League
SQUADS: All the ins and outs for this weekend’s matches
WATCH FOR FREE: How to watch the Hyundai A-League LIVE and FREE
Roar have the chance to snap their 10-match winless streak when Western Sydney Wanderers visit Suncorp Stadium on Friday night and the scorer of their equaliser in last weekend’s 1-1 draw against the Mariners believes personal pride must be the basis for improvement at the back.
“There are a lot of factors to that, probably first and foremost individual accountability,” DeVere said of Brisbane’s leakiness.
“We’re making a few too many sloppy errors as individuals and then it’s affecting the confidence of the team as a whole.
“We’re working hard on getting our team structure right and then individuals need to start standing up and being accountable.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5991576653001
“If we can get the right, get that fixed and stop leaking easy goals, we force other teams to start earning the goals and I think it will go a long way to improving the results and improving the performances.”
Capped once at international level, DeVere was surprisingly overlooked for selection until his inclusion for the Round 13 loss at City.
The 29-year-old explained his extended absence was purely a matter of coaching opinion as he looked optimistically towards the second half of the season.
“All I can say really is I haven’t been injured for a while,” he said. “There was no falling out with [the] previous administration, coaches, current coaches.
“Football can sometimes be a game of opinions, everyone has got their opinions and hopefully you can work hard enough to change those.
Both our senior teams prepared for tomorrow's double header with a team lunch thanks to La Dolce Vita ?#BRIvWSW preview ? https://t.co/PFtQlMbUiT #BRIvCBR preview ? https://t.co/VGur05nFrH
Get your tickets ?️ https://t.co/prcgOcVCr7 #RoarAsOne pic.twitter.com/dJP3VLDt6W— Brisbane Roar (@brisbaneroar) January 24, 2019
“I’m enjoying being back involved and back playing at the moment.
“All eyes are on the future and hopefully we can turn this situation we found ourselves in around.
“This club has got a lot of great history and a lot of success in that history.
“Regardless of the situation we’re in each game, first and foremost we’ve got to get the pride back into the club.”