There’s something hugely satisfying about watching the Brisbane Roar play under Warren Moon — something that was clearly on show in Saturday night’s emphatic 3-1 victory over Adelaide United at Dolphin stadium.
If anything was to be a tonic for the delayed kick off for the 8,747-strong crowd — a storm in Sydney pushing this match back, resulting in it ending at the unsociable hour of 10:30pm local time — it was the way Brisbane played in the first half.
The Roar were very impressive, dominating to the extent that Moon described it as the best 45 minutes of his tenure so far.
The 2-0 lead at the break was the least that the Roar deserved.
The first was a wonderfully worked goal from Dylan Wenzel-Halls in the 37th minute, described by Moon as “a beautiful goal”, finally breaking Adelaide’s resistance.
Riku Danzaki released the ball to Jack Hingert down the right, with the fullback swinging an inch-perfect cross from the goal line onto the head of Wenzel-Halls in the middle.
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“I loved [the first goal],” Moon said. “The way we played … it was something that we’ve been working on all week in the way we want to get in behind them and it’s always pleasing when that happens.”
Man of the match Jay O’Shea compounded Adelaide’s woes before the break by curling a beauty past James Delianov on the stroke of half time.
Adelaide were better after the break, but Wenzel-Halls doubled his tally with a speculative effort that the 21-year-old Delianov let through his legs, before Nathan Konstandopoulos netted a consolation late on.
“I think [the first half] was our best half,” a clearly thrilled Moon said after the game.
“We weren’t bad in the second half, we did what we needed to do.
“Adelaide, to their credit, obviously made changes and adapted to what happened in the first half … but we sorted it out professionally.”
Tactical flexibility a hallmark of the Roar under Moon
One of the most pleasing aspects of the way Brisbane has started this season will doubtless be the tactical acuity of their play.
On Saturday Brisbane played out from the back with imperious levels of confidence, crisply linking passes to retain possession with an effortlessness that belied the hard running off the ball that created that space in the first place, leaving Adelaide’s forwards chasing at shadows.
At no stage did the Roar seem harried in defence. There was always an option open, be it though short passes or a longer outlet ball to spring open the fragile Adelaide flanks.
Last week against Newcastle, Moon switched to three as the Jets began to gain ascendancy in the game, a tactical shift that resulted almost immediately in the Roar scoring the winning goal.
This week, Moon started with a back three featuring the experienced Tom Aldred and Macaulay Gillesphey alongside 19-year-old Trewin, with full backs Corey Brown and Hingert pressing forwards at every opportunity.
“We obviously had to make a change last week because we weren’t playing to well against Newcastle — we needed to change something to effect the game for the positive for us.
“Tonight, we were comfortable playing a back three — we looked at what they do defensively and how they set up in their shape and we felt we could play with a back three and cause them some problems.
“We knew the areas where we could hurt them.”
For Adelaide, it seemed they knew too, only were unable to deal with it.
“We knew they were going to play for a back three, we set up for it,” Adelaide coach Carl Veart said.
“We just gave them far too much time and space in the first half.”
Faith in youth
Performances like Saturday’s are enough to warm the most sceptical of fans hearts.
That they are performing in such a way with a local youngster in Wenzel-Halls, front and centre, makes it all the better.
Wenzel-Halls, often ignored or at least underutilised under Robbie Fowler is now leading the line, marrying his exceptional work rate with a scoring record that now stands at four goals in his last three games.
“He’s good,” Moon understatedly said of the 23-year-old, who started his eighth-straight A-League game since Moon took charge at the end of last year.
“We talk all the time about things he can work on and improve on … he’s really hungry to improve as a player. I’m sure as he gets more and more confidence, we’ll see an even better Dylan.”
The other side of the coin is the inconsistency of younger players.
Just last week Veart and others were rightly singing the praises of 16-year-old sensation Mohamed Toure.
Both he and 22-year-old Kusini Yengi showed flashes of their ability in the first half, particularly when Ben Halloran came in off the right and played them in on the edge of the area, but could not quite make their mark on the contest.
“But its important that the rest of the squad, the experienced players, step up.
“They have to provide balance for the younger players and maybe be a bit harder on them when they see things that was happening like there was in the first half.”
In the Roar side, this is shown by Scott MacDonald’s waspish tutoring of Wenzel-Halls and Danzaki in the first half, something that
Young players to the fore this season
With expansion to a 12-team comp and global events means that teams are having to look towards local, younger players, who are being given an opportunity in A-League squads more than ever — and excelling as a result.
In the earlier game on Saturday, two of Sydney’s goals in their 3-0 win over Macarthur were scored by 18-year-old academy product Patrick Wood, who said after the game that playing in the NPL with Sydney’s academy “was perfect for the step up into the A-League”.
His goals followed hot on the heels of fellow academy product Calem Nieuwenhof, whose stunning strike against Wellington on January 2 was the perfect announcement onto the big stage for the soon-to-be 20-year-old.
Moments after watching the Roar beat Melbourne Victory 3-1 on the same day, Moon made a statement that left fans of Australian football sitting up a little straighter in their chairs.
“There are two schools of thought,” Moon said. “There are people that think players can step up from the next level and there are people that think they can’t.
“I’m certainly one who thinks they can.
Leaving the parochial Queenslander-plug aside, Moon hit on an issue that has bubbled away since the formation of the league — the role A-League clubs play in developing young players and credits those players with helping develop his strong squad.
“I give [young players] my faith because I think they’re good enough,” Moon said on Saturday while praising his other young stars like Trewin, Rahmat Akbari and substitute Jesse Daley.
“Everyone will now be aware that it’s not just a free ride to get your spot, you’re going to need to keep performing. And that’s a good place as a coach to be in, Not always to pick the side, but it’s nice to have those headaches.”
