Former Sydney FC captain and now Adelaide United centre-half Mark Rudan believes the A-League of 2009-10 is “boring” and needs an injection of character.

Rudan’s Reds face top-of-the-table Sydney FC at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night in an atmosphere he believes will lack much of the edge present in early encounters between the two clubs.

“I wish it hadn’t (lost some edge) because it was always good for the game,” Rudan said on Thursday.

“It was always good when I was wearing the blue shirt playing against Adelaide and Melbourne and some of the comments that used to come out of both camps I thought was brilliant.

“It’s really been timid and a little bit boring (since), there’s not enough characters in the game.

“I’ve been away (overseas) for a couple of years and this season there haven’t been any outrageous comments or anything like that to give you a good laugh.”

Pressed to add his own “outrageous comment” to the mix, Rudan demurred, preferring to lavish praise on his former club for their stylish 3-0 dismissal of Melbourne Victory last weekend.

“They’re leading the competition for a reason, they’re playing fantastic football, well-drilled, well-coached, a lot of discipline in that side this year, and they’re a joy to watch I must admit.

“I really do enjoy watching Sydney play, and it’s a big test for us tomorrow night.”

United coach Aurelio Vidmar has been juggling an injury-affected squad for much of the year, desperately missing the central midfield presence of Paul Reid and Fabien Barbiero in particular.

He admitted the back-up pairing of Adam Hughes and Kristian Sarkies had achieved mixed results – Hughes especially has faced howls of derision from United supporters.

“Hughesy’s had a tough time, but I thought last week (against Perth) he had quite a good game,” Vidmar said.

“He was turning the ball over in the early part of the season, but certainly over the last couple of weeks he’s really improved in that, what we need now from him is to get into some better positions to score some goals.

“I think Sarkies has done a fantastic job since he’s come in.

“He’s got a lot of talent, but talent’s one thing, going out and producing is another thing.”

In the absence of captain Travis Dodd (thigh strain), Vidmar said there was some chance he would start both strikers Lloyd Owusu and Cristiano.

© AAP 2012

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