Brisbane Roar coach John Aloisi has savaged Melbourne City for playing "anti-football", claiming incessant fouling is destroying the A-League as a spectacle.
The Roar drew 1-1 with Melbourne City on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium, a result that lifts Aloisi's men back into top position on the A-League ladder.
But Aloisi was fuming in his post-match press conference at what he viewed as a cynical gameplan from the visitors, designed to break up Brisbane's rhythm going forward with regular fouls.
Melbourne City had five players cautioned and conceded 15 fouls to the Roar's 11, although the match ranked 27th out of 31 matches so far this season for total fouls.
Aloisi said it was the only way City were able to stop players like the influential Thomas Broich, and was part of a growing trend that is stunting the A-League's progression.
"It's anti-football. We're trying to grow the game in this country and they go and play anti-football like that," Aloisi said.
"It's disappointing. It really is.
"We're trying to make sure the A-League is watched around the world, getting better crowds, better television views.
"We've been going on about it for a while. It destroys the good football we want to see."
Aloisi went even further, saying his former employers - having coached the team before Manchester City's takeover, when the franchise was known as Melbourne Heart - have enough resources to be playing a more attractive style.
"I didn't have the money they've got to play a certain style of football," he said.
"They've got the money to play it.
"I'm not saying I haven't, because I have got good players here, that's why we play this style of football.
"But (Bruno) Fornaroli, one of the best strikers in the league, if not the best. (Aaron) Mooy, one of the best players in the league, if not the best.
"That's my question - you come here and you play football like that, to stop the game?"
