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Most of what comes out of coaches’ mouths in grand final week is usually vanilla, so it is great to see that Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold is prepared to say a few words to stir things up.
He doesn’t need to say it to promote the game, or attract a crowd. Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC is Football Federation Australia’s dream date. It’s a fantastic match-up of two very entertaining teams and also clearly the two best teams.
And because it is being played AAMI Park there will be an extra 25,000 people who would have gone, had the game been at Etihad Stadium, but will have to miss out because they won’t be able to get a ticket to the smaller venue.
Arnold likes to try to get under the skin of the opposition with references that are meant to get them to question themselves.
Last week, ahead of Sydney’s semi-final against Adelaide United, he referred to the most recent clash between the two teams, when Sydney dominated the game but Adelaide won 1-0 due to a combination of great goalkeeping and poor Sydney finishing.
“Afterwards, five or six of their players came and didn’t apologise, but said ‘we had balaclavas on tonight and we robbed you’,” Arnold said.
“But we learned a lesson and I probably have to thank Adelaide for that because we went back to the drawing board and saw that we weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal and we had to get back to our defending basics.
“Since that loss we haven’t been defeated.”
Sydney still hasn’t been defeated since, having whacked Adelaide 4-1.
Now, who knows if it was five or six Adelaide players who said that to Arnold, or one or two, or maybe even none? The fact he said it, when many coaches don’t want to say anything – and don’t want their players to say anything – because they are afraid it will come back to bite the team on the backside, was clever coaching.
It had at least as much potential to lift his own team as it did to make Adelaide a bit edgy.
If I was in the Sydney team, I would have reacted to what Arnold said by saying to myself: ‘He’s right – and now I want to go out and prove he’s right.’
Every little bit helps.
Some of you may recall how Wayne Bennett motivated his Brisbane players for the 1993 rugby league grand final by manufacturing a fake St George Illawarra game plan, including critical comments about Broncos players supposedly made by Dragons coach Brian Smith.
Bennett spread the fake plan among his players, who won the game. Now, they may have won by the same score even without Bennett using that tool, but his using it certainly wasn’t going to hurt their chances.
On Tuesday, Sydney FC had an open media day for their players and Arnold. The coach used the occasion to start working on Melbourne Victory. I interviewed Arnold, who was very open with his insights into Sydney’s season.
He also said that Victory’s results indicated they didn’t like playing at AAMI Park, the venue for Sunday’s grand final, as much as they did at Etihad Stadium, and that Sydney could benefit from that.
“We’re happy to be going to AAMI because, you know, it’s Melbourne City’s home ground, their (Victory’s) cross-town rivals,” Arnold said.
“It would be weird if we were playing the grand final at Pirtek Stadium (the home ground of Sydney’s cross-town rivals, Western Sydney Wanderers).
“Melbourne Victory’s form at Etihad is they’re unbeaten, but at AAMI they’ve lost three, and they’ve only lost four games all year. Our away form has been great. So, you know, I think maybe they don’t like AAMI as much as Etihad.”
Arnold spoke similarly to other media as well.
I’m not sure if Etihad Stadium is set up bigger than AAMI Park for football, but the wide-open ‘feel’ of Etihad, with the rectangular field set inside the much bigger AFL oval, does seem to suit Victory with their attacking style of play.
I think Victory do look better at Etihad than at AAMI.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat will no doubt be asked to respond to Arnold’s comments the next time he faces the media, but while he may say the statistics mean nothing and it’s just a coincidence that his team’s record at Etihad Stadium is better than at AAMI Park, he can’t deny the figures exist.
Arnold hasn’t wasted any time or energy by putting it out there, and even if his words have no effect on Victory they won’t hurt his own team.
The Sydney players will be buying what Arnold is selling. He’ll probably shoot a few more arrows before the end of the week. They may or may not hit the target, but it will certainly add to the build-up to what should be a great game.
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