Head Coach John van’t Schip is fully aware of the attacking prowess of Brisbane’s final third as his side prepares to take face the Roar on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane boast some of the league’s best local talent in their forward line with the likes of Brett Holman, Tommy Oar and Jamie Maclaren all expected to front up for John Aloisi’s side.
Although City are focused on their own game for the contest, van’t Schip made it clear that the Roar’s new style this season is something his side have done their homework on this week.
“I’ve seen them change a bit, their approach of how they play, it’s playing a bit more defensively and on the counter attack,” van’t Schip said.
“The last four games have been a bit up and down so they are also looking for a bit of consistency but they have quality in their team with Broich, Maclaren, Holman, Oar, so they are players that can do something with the ball.
“We’re focused on our own game plan, we want to get a good result up in Brisbane and it’s going to be a tough game. The conditions are always different but we’re in a good shape and in a good period and I expect that the boys will do well going up there.”
Wary of the tactics used by Perth in Round 3, van’t Schip felt Brisbane would not administer a similar game plan but felt their style can pose a threat with the talent they have up front.
“I don’t think Brisbane compares with Perth, they want to attack more and have different kinds of players but they also drop in and want to make use of the speed of Maclaren and Holman with Bordello and Oar,” he said.
“They play different than they used to. (They were) a more possession based team playing in the opposition half so that’s not the case in the four games that we have seen so they are looking for balls behind the defence and that’s something Perth were doing as well. We learned from that so hopefully we can show that up in Brisbane.”
City will see the return of rested duo Tim Cahill and Michael Jakobsen for the match with the two sitting out Friday night’s contest against Adelaide from the FFA Cup Semi Final’s short turn-around.
Jakobsen is back in the squad after recovering from soreness while Cahill is still nursing an Achilles injury that was sustained in the early stages of the Semi Final. van’t Schip also confirmed that Ivan Franjic is getting close to being available for full selection while Argentine Nicolas Colazo has been positive about his successful ear surgery and may be back in the upcoming fortnight.
City will look to make it back-to-back win on Friday night as they take on Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium, kick-off 7.50pm. See the match on Fox Sports 505 and SBS2.
