The Tackle: Brisbane Roar coach under pressure to keep his job while red card looks set to stand
Under pressure coaches, a rival left with egg on their face and a red card looks set to stand. Socceroos great ROBBIE SLATER and MARCO MONTEVERDE dive in to The Tackle.
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Under pressure coaches, rival left with egg on their face and a red card looks set to stand. Socceroos great ROBBIE SLATER and MARCO MONTEVERDE dive in to The Tackle.
Huge month awaits Roar boss
Ruben Zadkovich’s future as Brisbane coach is likely to be decided by the Roar’s results in the next month.
Brisbane’s miserable season continued on Friday night with a 4-1 loss to Melbourne City in front of only 6125 fans at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar are rock bottom on the A-League ladder with just one point from six games.
Brisbane’s best effort has been a 4-4 draw with Macarthur FC, a game in which the Queenslanders needed an own goal from Bulls defender Tomislav Uskok to avoid another loss.
The Roar’s defending has been horrible, with Zadkovich’s team conceding an average of three goals a game.
Perhaps the only thing that is working in Zadkovich’s favour at the moment in his bid to keep his job has been Brisbane’s tough schedule to start its season.
The Roar’s five losses have been against Auckland FC, Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United and Melbourne City – all of who are in the top six, with at least three genuine title contenders.
However, their next five opponents – Western Sydney, Perth Glory, Western United, Central Coast and Newcastle – have hardly set the world on fire this season.
There is a real chance for the Roar to lift themselves off the bottom of the ladder, but if they can’t beat at least a few of those teams, Zadkovich is likely to pay the price.
Of course, Brisbane’s current plight is not all Zadkovich’s fault.
There are many of the belief that unless the Roar find some new owners, nothing will change, regardless of who is in charge.
Current owners, Indonesian conglomerate the Bakrie Group, have enough resources to help turn the Roar again into an A-League powerhouse.
However, their reluctance to spend any more than necessary to keep the club afloat means the football department has to continually work on a shoestring budget, limiting potential signings and its ability to properly develop its own players.
Still, some of the Roar’s recruiting decisions have been baffling, and that falls on Zadkovich and Brisbane’s head of football, Zac Anderson.
Zadkovich’s record since taking charge of the Roar in February is also working against him, with Brisbane having won just three of its 19 matches in all competitions under the former Socceroos midfielder.
Interestingly, former Roar defender Karl Dodd, widely regarded as an A-League coach-in-waiting, has recently taken charge of Brisbane’s NPL team.
And then there’s club legend Besart Berisha, who has returned to live in Brisbane and has made no secret of his desire to coach an A-League club, with the Roar seemingly his preference.
There is no doubt Zadkovich needs some wins to silence his doubters, and he has a great chance to kick-start Brisbane’s season in the next month.
Coach’s gaffe
Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano probably should have known better than to publicly question Auckland FC’s fantastic start to the A-League season in the build-up to Saturday’s New Zealand derby.
Not that the Black Knights needed any extra motivation to beat the Phoenix, but Italiano provided it by declaring that Auckland had been “very lucky” with a favourable draw and to have won all their games, and were “there for the taking” and “very vulnerable”.
It’s little wonder that Auckland coach Steve Corica pinned Italiano’s comments – which were a promoter’s dream – up on his side’s dressing-room walls before the match, which was won 2-1 by the A-League newcomers.
“I’m a little bit disappointed, to be honest with ‘Chief’ (Italiano),” Corica said after his side’s latest win.
“He said things in the media that were a little bit disrespectful to our team.
“(The comments weren’t) necessary or needed. They are a good football team, we respect them – he needs to show a little bit more respect for us.”
One thing is for sure when it comes to these two teams., and that’s their rivalry is well and truly genuine and spicy, with Italiano’s comments certain to be remembered for an extremely long time.
Hopefully, Italiano doesn’t totally go into his shell ahead of the next meeting between the teams because we all want coaches to speak their minds.
However, he just might need to be a little bit wiser by not giving any Auckland any extra reason to want to win.
Red mist
Adelaide United’s intention to have Ben Folami’s red card rescinded is unlikely to succeed despite there seemingly being little in the incident that took place in the Reds’ 1-0 weekend win over Newcastle.
Reds coach Carl Veart was probably right when he said that the decision to send Folami off was “soft” but the video footage clearly shows that the Adelaide attacker’s hand collected the head of Newcastle defender Phillip Cancar when the pair became entangled on the ground.
While the act didn’t fit the charge of “violent conduct”, the fact that Folami clipped Cancar on the head will work against the Reds if they do decide to challenge the awarding of the red card or the length of the potential suspension.
A week’s ban should be sufficient.
Team of the week: (4-2-2-2) Filip Kurto (Macarthur FC); Hiroki Sakai (Auckland FC), Dylan Leonard (Western United), Nando Pinjaker (Auckland FC), Adama Traore (Melbourne Victory); Steven Ugarkovic (Melbourne City), Stefan Mauk (Adelaide United); Zinedine Machach (Melbourne Victory), Andreas Kuen (Melbourne City); Yonatan Cohen (Melbourne City), Alou Kuol (Central Coast Mariners). Coach: Steve Corica (Auckland FC). Player of the week: Yonatan Cohen (Melbourne City)
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Originally published as The Tackle: Brisbane Roar coach under pressure to keep his job while red card looks set to stand
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