QLD Roar Strikers – YOU MEANT TO SCORE!!!!!!!!

By: Ahmed | October 5th, 2008

Firstly, I know i’ve been off for some time, its due to a culmination of end of our fasting month and celebrations…. really good though, but now back to the football.

Queensland Roar played Sydney FC in what is meant to be a typical feisty NSW-QLD rivalry. It was in someway, but not really too feisty as the crowd was a bit dour. The football on show was not of the highest standard but made for good watching. The first half ended at 0-0 with both teams creating chances unable to put them away. Charlie Miller opened the scoring shortly after the break with a shot from outside the box flying past the diving Clint Bolton. The Roar was one nil up and there defence was looking solid to hold out for the win until, Stu Musialik appeared from nowhere to knock home the equaliser with the last kick of the game. Sydney had salvaged a draw, the Roar was dejected again, and my hate for blue kept growing.

I looked back on that game and thought, I can’t blame everything else. The Roar plays decent football and get into good opportunities, but they just don’t finish off their chances. We just have to look at our 2 strikers to realise how poor we doing. With seven rounds gone, Sergio Van Dijk has only found the net once, and it was a penalty, and Reinaldo is yet to score. Our goals have come from our midfield and defence. It’s quite a sad stat to have and pretty much outlines the Roars problem.

We create chance after chance after chance, but our 2 key strikers share 1 penalty goal between them. There is the old saying, that once they get going, the confidence will build (wait this isn’t a saying, but ill carry on) and they will then be banging them in. As a Roar fan I can only hope so. It worries me to think that Frank Farina has not done anything to address the drought in goals from our strikers. They are the match winners, goal scorers and the players who I put in my fantasy team as they most likely to score the goal. The likes of Miller, Zullo, Kruse, Minniecon and McKay have had a decent season so far, Kruse hasn’t featured too much though, but they have been good when they on.

The moment the strikers start to dry up on the goals side, the pressure goes on to these midfield men. This is not the kind of thing any team wants. Midfielders have enough pressure as it is. They have to control the game try and create the chances for the strikers. If they not creating, strikers become upset, teams play badly, and ultimately you lose. You often hear, “the midfield is where the game is won.” This is true in many ways, however, the moment the strikers can’t do their job and midfielders are expected to score goals, things become more complicated.

The midfielders will start moving forward and leaving gaps for the opposition to utilise. Now it’s not rocket science, but this is a bad thing for any team. Basically the Qld Roar strikers need to start putting in the goals. Once they start doing this, then the rest of the team can focus on their jobs and hopefully start playing better. The wins can then flow and the team will build a good rhythm. Reinaldo and SVD are the strikers in the squad and need to show that quality and skill on the field. Farina needs to start working on these lads and making sure they producing the goods on the field.

It may sound like a small thing to worry about, but its results are big. Qld Roar needs to start getting goals from their strikers, instead of relying on the midfielders. With such a young squad, these two players are seniors. They need to carry more on their shoulders and produce the goods. Reinaldo has played in this league before and knows what is required. SVD has played at higher level in Holland, albeit Div 2, but still much better competition. These players need to start taking the initiative and doing their job, it is what they payed for after all.