By Eamonn
January 18th 2010 @ 2:59am
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Who will save Sydney FC’s season?
Sydney FC's team coach, Branko Culina faces the media. AAP Image/Ardiles Rante
This was the most important week of the A-League so far. Gold Coast are running hot, signing Charlie Miller and maybe even Adam Griffiths as the season gets serious, and now they beat Sydney in Sydney 1-0.
Sydney have lost Kofi Danning, Mark Bridge may be slower than John Aloisi, reserves in Brendan Gan, Chris Payne and Rhyan Grant have given the team nothing extra - though Payne may come good yet.
And of course Terry McFlynn is wide left crossing with his right. That’s painful.
Andy Harper says Sydney are the fittest team in the comp. That may be, but they are the slowest … by a mile. No pace, no goals or maybe one per game.
Sydney have no chance of reaching the Grand Final, even with their flattering league position. Who will score for them to get them there?
Think Victory with Archie, Kruse and Carlos, think Jason Culina, Joel Porter, Miller, Tahj Minniecon and Shane Smeltz. Think goal threat.
What do Sydney have? Who can score, who will score, who can change a game?
John Aloisi, Mark Bridge, Chris Payne, Terry McFlynn and Stu Musialik, there’s not a real finisher among them. No goals or not enough.
And teams with goal threats usually win games, tight games and finals football. Sydney have lost three times to the A-League’s newest team Gold Coast and it’s no fluke, is it?
Wellington have a chance to fire, Newcastle as well, although both may fail away from home in the new finals format. Neither have a real goal threat in the big games although Wellington, in Ifill and Bertos, may have an edge. Forget Dadi, he won’t go the distance in the fast-paced frenetic finals games.
The pressure’s on now for the first Asian spot with just 4 games left, and Sydney failed their first real test. After the match you could hear it in Corica’s voice.
Sydney have been bluffing all season. Sexy football, Cockerill tells us, and yet the goal scoring sheets see almost a goal a game. For a top of the table side it’s not enough, is it?
Can Alex Brosque save Sydney? Or after yesterday’s substitution, maybe’s Sydney’s very own Jamie Harnwell, Hayden Foxe, can do the job.
And Melbourne, didn’t they return to form this weekend. With the third goal made in heaven by Archie’s touch. The goal of the season, maybe all five seasons.
Chris Coyne was shocking for Perth, but it was Jamie Coyne’s mistake having inherited his brother’s position that had me in stitches. Maybe Jamie had travelled to China with his brother this week as well.
Then there was the coach, Dave Mitchell. One of Fozzie’s overseas coaches, yet he clearly told his team to give Archie and Carlos the freedom of the park.
Were Perth bribed? Is Mitchell on the take? What other explanation could there be? It’s not like we don’t know how Melbourne like to play at home. Perth were pathetic, but the responsibility rests with Mitchell.
North Queensland, Brisbane, and Central Coast may yet make the six, but they won’t last long, will they? Adelaide have a mathematical chance, but that’s the only chance they have.
So Perth will make it I reckon but away from home, which is their likely first finals game, they haven’t a chance have they!
A Melbourne-Gold Coast final? You heard it here first!
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(19)
Both the sydney clubs seem to be pitching for the more committed...
Fisher Price said | January 18th 2010 @ 7:35am | Report comment
I get it: Sydney – bad; Melbourne – heaven-sent.
Football is about attack AND defence.
AndyRoo said | January 18th 2010 @ 8:38am | Report comment
One of Fozzie’s overseas coaches, yet he clearly told his team to give Archie and Carlos the freedom of the park.
I am pretty sure Mitchell doesn’t fit Fosters criteria for being judged an overseas coach. Nor Fergusson, Mckinna and Merrick.
Tom said | January 18th 2010 @ 8:58am | Report comment
(Comment deemed poor by Roar community - click to read)
mahony said | January 18th 2010 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Please explain why this article is “poorly written”. Forget that you may not agree with the author for one moment (as I do) and explain through the language of semiotics (of just plain English if you prefer) why it is “poorly written”.
Tom said | January 18th 2010 @ 3:06pm | Report comment
Jesus where do I start…
Grammar is awful. Sentences are split where they didn’t need to be. Three paragraphs start with ‘And’. The writer asks about fifteen rhetorical questions, which are never good in an opinion piece but particularly bad when you don’t put a question mark on the end of them.
The article just flits from thought to thought, stream of consciousness style. There’s no more structure to it than the ramblings of a drunken hobo. The main point seems to be that Sydney will struggle to make the grand final, but the only substantial argument is made by naming a few players and asserting that they’re not natural finishers. With a rhetorical question, of course.
I agree with some of what the writer says, too. But I find this kind of article hard to read. I wish people would take more care before they post something on this website. Maybe get someone else to read through it first, for example.
Australian Football said | January 26th 2010 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Tom,
It you want to enter a gramma contest, Google one up—-no one here is trying to win a Walkley award..
~~~~~~
AF
TheMagnificent11 said | January 18th 2010 @ 9:24am | Report comment
I too think a Melbourne v. Gold Coast final looks likely. However, I don’t think you can write Sydney off because defensively they’re probably the most organised and compact team in the league. So they are always a threat to sneak a 1-0 win.
Phutbol said | January 18th 2010 @ 10:58am | Report comment
Um, I think the picture may be a year or two out of date.
Pretty sure Viteslav Lavicka has been Syd FC coach all year……
jimbo said | January 18th 2010 @ 9:32pm | Report comment
And what makes it even worse is that Culina is the Jets coach now and SFC play them this weekend with Lavicka as their manager.
cab711 said | January 18th 2010 @ 11:35am | Report comment
Sydney cant score. This is there problem. If there backs are to the wall and they are a goal down it takes 50-60 mins to get a goal. You just hope the other team doesnt score again within that time. Sydney should sign a striker with the gap left by Prentice and rescue the season.
jimbo said | January 18th 2010 @ 9:34pm | Report comment
Yep and Aloisi is a failure.
Bridge not consistent.
Brosque is a hard worker and pacy but misses too many chances.
Chris Payne is not quite ready yet.
Luckily they have a good defence, but you need a class striker to score when you are under pressure and really need it, especially when they go behind and don’t score first.
If they score first they protect their one nil lead..
They are better organised, but looks like SFC still can’t handle the pressure.
Eamonn said | January 18th 2010 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
Andyroo…fairpoint about Fozzie…it was (attempted to be) tongue in cheek
Phutbol..I think you are right…but I didn’t choose the photo….maybe Dave Mitchell did!
AndyRoo said | January 18th 2010 @ 2:43pm | Report comment
Eamonn the internet is serious business and there is no room for jokes
Also I don’t so much think they need strikers but more something better from their midfield. Kisel, Mcflyn, Musilak all have a good work rate but often it’s only Corica provides anything in the final 3rd. And the Silver fox can’t do it all by himself.
Thwaite was very good on Sunday, be interesting if he plays as a defensive midfielder throughout the finals.
Punter said | January 19th 2010 @ 6:50am | Report comment
Twaite had Corica’s number all day & without Corica, we had little in the final 3rd. While Kisel & Mcflyn do a reasonable job, McFlyn defensively & Kisel’s workrate, they add little to our attack & neither players are wide midfielders.
Sydney needs to go shopping in the off season.
Gibbo said | January 19th 2010 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
even as a melbourne supporter i’m looking forward to their new marquee once they boot that old dud aloisi! Someone in the Juninio, Yorke, Carbone mould please!
a striker or an attacking mid, surely. But who??
Mxjosh said | January 19th 2010 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
I disagree Kisel adds little to our attack. On form i beleive he adds more than corica. Did you see him against north QLD? he was unplayable, tore them apart. He just needs to be played on the wing more often
Axelv said | January 19th 2010 @ 11:45pm | Report comment
I was thinking for about 20 seconds, what the hell does Branko Culina (of NYJ) have to do with Sydney as of right now???
I’d say that all 3 teams are of even quality, and have even chances of finishing whichever position, it’s all about who has the better day and wakes up on the right side of the bed!
Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne…….. it’s a 3 horse race, Flip some coins and the order of 1,2,3 has 6 possibilities!
Even if Melbourne beat Gold Coast (please God!), there’s a strong chance that the final game in Sydney will decide the premiership. Whether Melbourne and Sydney are within 3 points behind or ahead of each other.
One thing that is in Melbourne’s favour ,is that it has a team with many players(and coach) who have won 2 premierships and 2 championships.
Go Melbourne!
Smokygrayson said | January 22nd 2010 @ 11:15am | Report comment
I like the thrust of this article despite the grammatical problems and the flitting from thought to thought. It puts out there what a lot of us are thinking (how is Dave Mitchell still in a job?). Why don’t Sydney score more?
Are Bridge and Brosque really as great as the Sydney commentators would like us to think? Neither of them figure in the top 5 goal-scorers. Crikey, Matt Thompson of Newcastle has as many goals as the overly-lauded Brosque and he’s a mid fielder or back! Why not try him up front as lone striker against Indonesia? He’d probably deliver.
Horza said | January 26th 2010 @ 10:40am | Report comment
I think some questions have been answered.