A turbulent October in Brisbane has seen the Roar on the brink of the worst losing streak in their history as the club looks to avoid its fifth straight defeat against Newcastle on Friday night.
Date: Friday October 30
Kick-off: 7:30pm AEST (8:30pm AEDT)
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
TV and Radio: Live & exclusive broadcast on Fox Sports 1 and Sky Sports 1. To purchase tickets visit www.ticketek.com.au
Head-to-head
Played 14: Wins: Brisbane Roar 6, Newcastle Jets 2. Draws: 2
Previous meeting
Newcastle Jets 0, Brisbane Roar 3, Round 6, September 2009
Past five matches:
Brisbane Roar:
Round 8: Brisbane Roar 1, Sydney FC 0, Suncorp Stadium,
Round 9: Melbourne Victory 2, Brisbane Roar 1, Etihad Stadium
Round 10: Brisbane Roar 0, Gold Coast United 1, Suncorp Stadium
Round 11: Brisbane Roar 0, Central Coast 3, Suncorp Stadium
Round 12: Sydney FC 2, Brisbane Roar 1, Sydney Football Stadium
Newcastle Jets:
Round 7: Sydney FC 2, Newcastle Jets 1, Sydney Football Stadium
Round 8: Newcastle Jets 0, Perth Glory 1, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 9: Adelaide United 1, Newcastle Jets 1, Hindmarsh Stadium
Round 10: Newcastle Jets 1, Melbourne Victory 3, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Round 12: Newcastle Jets 2, Central Coast Mariners 1, EnergyAustralia Stadium
Analysis:
A turbulent October in Brisbane has seen the Roar on the brink of the worst losing streak in their history as the club looks to avoid its fifth straight defeat against Newcastle on Friday night. The dip in form has seen the Roar slip from a spot among the contenders to eighth, level with both Newcastle and bottom-placed North Queensland.
This match looms as crucial to new coach Ange Postecoglou’s hopes of resurrecting the ailing Brisbane season. A win against Newcastle on Friday would not only boost the club’s confidence, it would put the Roar firmly back in the mix for a finals position. Recent history would indicate Brisbane has the edge, having beaten Newcastle in their past three encounters, including a comprehensive 3-0 win seven weeks ago.
In that match, Henrique, Reinaldo and Charlie Miller all hit the back of the net, but none of those players will line-up in this match with Henrique out for some time with a knee injury, Miller a week to week proposition with his groin and Reinaldo missing with a hamstring complaint. However, Craig Moore is back from suspension and Danny Tiatto and Bob Malcolm have been named along with Matt Acton. Regulars Michael Zullo, Massimo Murdocca and Liam Reddy are all still sidelined.
While four straight losses may not look pretty, to be fair to Brisbane, none of those games they have been completely out of. Even the recent 3-0 loss against Central Coast, Brisbane had 23 shots on goal, but couldn’t convert. Last week against Sydney, the Roar fought hard to get back into the match after trailing 2-0 and dominated the final ten minutes only to come up short.
The key to Postecoglou getting the most out of this side would appear to be the young players. Tommy Oar, awarded the NAB Young Footballer of the Year nomination during the week, Isaka Cernak and Mitch Nichols were all good against Sydney.
Newcastle broke a run of outs of its own last week against Central Coast. Prior to that 2-1 win, the Jets had gone six matches without success, but early goals from strikers Michael Bridges and Labinot Haliti got the job done.
It was an encouragingly consistent performance from a team which has failed to play a strong 90 minutes in recent times. Instead of flitting in and out of the game, Branko Culina’s men took control early and recorded an important derby win.
October was always going to be a stern test of the Jets’ character facing the top four sides from last year and they have performed reasonably well with four points from three games to date. With Wellington looming just five days after this match, the Jets will be keen to carry the momentum on.
The concern for Culina is that the Jets are yet to win on the road this season and have scored just four goals in five games when away from EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Veteran striker Sasho Petrovski has been named to return along with Donny De Groot and Ali Abbas in an extended squad. Ljubo Milicevic still remains 1-2 weeks away with a heel injury.
Brisbane Roar squad: 2. Andrew PACKER, 3. Luke DEVERE, 4. Craig MOORE (c), 5. Josh McCLOUGHAN, 6. David DODD, 9. Sergio VAN DIJK, 12. Matt MUNDY, 14. Adam SAROTA, 15. Matt McKAY, 16. Bob MALCOLM, 17. Mitch NICHOLS, 18. Danny TIATTO, 19. Isaka CERNAK, 20. Griffin McMASTER (gk), 21. Tommy OAR, 23. Tim SMITS, 27. Ivan FRANJIC, 29 Mario KARLOVIC, 30. Matt ACTON (gk)
*five to be omitted*
In: Danny TIATTO (returns from injury), Craig MOORE (returns from suspension), Matt ACTON (promoted), Bob MALCOLM (promoted)
Out: REINALDO (hamstring injury), Vedran JANJETOVIC (illness)
Unavailable: Michael ZULLO (groin – 6 weeks), Massimo MURDOCCA (fractured leg – 8 weeks), HENRIQUE (injured – 6 weeks), Liam REDDY (quadriceps injury – 3 weeks), Charlie MILLER (groin injury – 1 week)
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2. Angelo COSTANZO, 3. Adam D-APUZZO, 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 7. Jin-Hyung SONG, 8. Matt THOMPSON (c), 9. Sasho PETROVSKI, 10. Donny DE GROOT, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 14. Michael BRIDGES, 16. Jason HOFFMAN, 17. Fabio VIGNAROLI, 19. Jason NAIDOVSKI, 20. Neil YOUNG (gk), 22. Kaz PATAFTA, 25. Labinot HALITI, 26. Ali ABBAS
*four to be omitted*
In: Sasho PETROVSKI (return from injury), Donny DE GROOT (promoted), Neil YOUNG (promoted), Ali ABBAS (promoted)
Out: 15. Sean ROONEY (illness – 1 week)
Unavailable: 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC (heel 1-2 weeks), 13. Shaun ONTONG (Achilles – indefinite), 18. Marko JESIC (knee – indefinite)
