Fans turned on Sydney FC and their million-dollar striker John Aloisi after Sunday’s 4-1 loss to Perth but coach John Kosmina was staying positive as the A-League side’s season hit a new low.
Goals to Adriano Pellegrino, Wayne Srhoj and own goals by Sydney defenders Antony Golec and Robbie Middleby helped Perth secure a vital victory which moved them to within one win of the top four.
Fifth-placed Sydney, whose only goal came from Stuart Musialik, were again booed by their fans and now need a significant form reversal over the last five rounds to reach the finals.
Summing up their performance was a dreadful showing by marquee striker John Aloisi, who produced arguably the worst miss seen in the A-League before being booed off as a 55th-minute substitute.
The Socceroos striker had already missed one great chance in the first half before squandering a glorious opportunity to put Sydney back in the game when they were trailing 2-0 just before halftime.
Aloisi, who has scored only two goals in 14 games this season, looked certain to tap in from one metre out after Perth ‘keeper Tando Velaphi had parried away an Alex Brosque shot.
But a seemingly unbalanced Aloisi failed to even get a touch on the ball with an open goal at his disposal and he was immediately booed by the crowd of just over 12,000.
He was hauled off in the 55th minute and sat slumped in his chair for the rest of the match.
Kosmina said he had not spoken to Aloisi and refused to guarantee him a start next week.
“There’s not much you can say is there,” Kosmina said of Aloisi’s performance.
“That’s how it goes sometimes, when things aren’t falling for you, they’re not falling for you.”
Some of the crowds jeers also appeared to be directed at Kosmina and some fans even chanted former coach Terry Butcher’s name at one stage.
“They pay their money, they’re entitled to have their say aren’t they?” Kosmina said.
“There’s not much you can do about it.”
Sydney did dominate possession and had 10 corners to one in the first half but could not capitalise.
The Glory grabbed the opener against the run of play in the 11th minute when Pellegrino turned in a Nikita Rukavytsya cross and it was 2-0 when the ball went in off Golec’s thigh in the 34th minute.
The nightmare continued three minutes into the second half when Srhoj produced a wonder strike from outside the box to put the Glory up by three before Musialik also produced a stunner in the 60th.
That gave Sydney some hope of a comeback but those were killed off when Middleby fired a header into his own net from a Pellegrino cross in the 69th minute.
Kosmina again stood firm and refused to admit his side had played poorly, believing his side had “battered” the Glory.
“We battered them mainly, I hate to see the stats,” Kosmina said.
“What I put (the loss) down to is we missed two sitters and we scored two own goals.”
“It was good football though, you can’t complain about that.”
Glory coach Dave Mitchell said his side now had the belief it could go on to reach the finals.
The Bear
Guest
Just watched Aloisi's missed goal. He would have been offside, anyway,... surprised the asst ref didn't have her flag up!
Kazama
Roar Guru
Looks like Ross won't be getting an Xmas card from Kossie after this: "I think the biggest problem is Sydney aren't playing good football."
Towser
Guest
Ross Aloisi in todays SMH with the same vein of thought as to what I said yesterday. "Ross Aloisi was also certain that his brother, who has 27 goals in 55 appearances for the Socceroos, would soon bounce back to his best." "It's happened to him before," he said. "I do think he can come through it but unfortunately in the A-League there's only a few games to go." http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/a-league/sydney-fc-are-to-blame-for-aloisis-poor-form-says-aloisi/2008/12/22/1229794326748.html
Towser
Guest
Just another angle on this & maybe a long shot but a possible reason that coaches teams individual players in the A-league are under more pressure with a 21 round season. Its too short. This was taken from an article about the WCC. Therefore the time frame to acheive becomes more like a one off cup match each match rather than a regular league season. "Football is a low-scoring sport where the best side does not always win - this unpredictability adds greatly to the charm of the game. Sao Paulo and Internacional used this characteristic of football with great intelligence and application, defending deep, marking tight, hanging in there and launching one decisive counter-attack. It was a similar approach to the one used by LDU, or Liga of Quito, in Sunday's match against Manchester United - and it kept them on level terms until 12 minutes from the end. It is a style of play that is well suited to a one-off cup match. The stronger side is playing against the clock. As time ticks on with the game scoreless, their anxiety increases and they can leave themselves more open to the counter-attack. Over the course of a league season, though, this approach is way too cautious to have much chance of success. With three points awarded for a win the only way to challenge for titles is to accept the risks of opening up in search of victory." http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2008/12/how_would_the_top_south.html The Roar have shown this "anxiety" as they have raced against the clock to beat their(until recently) dismal home record. Maybe if their was a longer season & the coach/players knew that there was more time to take risks it may reduce the anxiety. So Aloisi has hardly scored . But at round 16 of a 21 round season he knows he has only 5 rounds to rectify this If it was longer say 33 the anxiety would drop. Just a thought.
onside
Guest
Most reports of the Aloisi style of play at CCM, (and the matches I saw on television,)referred to him as a finisher inside the box. His effectiveness outside the box at CCM was limited.Nothing wrong with that but I dont know one A League side that has the depth of personel it can afford to have a player who despite being limited in general play gets a game solely on his ability to convert in the goal mouth.A League playersneed to be more than one trick ponies.Everybody must shoulder the load.Outside of whichever side you support ,I am Queensland Roar,the HAL desperately needs Sydney to finishsecond in the comp ,so they can represent the HAL in Asia. Sydney is the best known international city in Australia,and as such would give the HAL even greater exposure than the splendid efforts by Adelaide. Regarding Aloisi being booed,he can handle that.Aloisi expects nothing less if he lets the club down.And he did.
Towser
Guest
Kb Firstly I only mentioned 1 marquee player of Frank Lampard stature. Second I mentioned An Aussie marquee Socceroo player subsidised by the FFA the other players mentioned were of a similar ilk to the 2 Costa Ricans At MV. Both International players but playing in a country that cannot pay big wages. Not quite good enough for the big leagues of Europe but good enough for the A-League. I also mentioned 2 Asian players. Sydney has not even attempted to find these sort of players. There everywhere just need to have a football manager like Gary Cole in place to look for them. Secondly migrants have children who pass on their love of football. They are no different to their parents in that they recognise quality football because theyve seen it as you say on SBS previously now on Fox. They fit into the age group you mention. They also wont turn up to watch SFC because the football is not exciting. No Exciting players. Aussie born players will never fill the market for this sort of player in Sydney. If youth players are produced & are exciting they will maybe stay one or two years under the youth marquee scheme then disappear. If the new owners dont see the wood for the trees next season I predict the demise of this club because of extreme short sightedness. If it goes belly up because of this & drags the rest down I for one will not be happy. Dont accept your premise that this can not be done. Essentially what I am getting at is that SFC can do an awful lot more about producing an exciting team that will attract upwards of 20,000 regularly. If your prepared to accept mediocrity in Sydney I'm not ,even though I dont support them. Because for the reasons I explained earlier a strong SFC means a strong A-League. It means more money for a proper marquee so what. Sydney is a wealthy city it deserves a top class football team. For me the crowds it now gets insult football when I know they can do so much better.
Sam
Guest
Midfielder You are right in that when Western Sydney comes in things will change. SFC will then cover inner west and eastern suburbs, as well as shire and some Northern beaches areas (although Mariner go into a bit of this territory). The West of Sydney is heartland in terms of they have afootball history and culture in terms of NSL teams and player production. The West is prone to fickleness too. I think if SFC was a West Sydney team they would not turn up either. Reason being that they can see a team that is devoid of tactics like Sydney was yesterday. How many times can you keep pumping hopeful crosses in the box. The advantage of having West Sydney is that Sydney needs more media coverage of a-league than anything else. It needs a rivalry. Sydney loves a turf war and imagine a Sydney v West Sydney derby game at SFS or Parramatta Stadium (even maybe Homebush?). What an atmosphere that would be to advertise the a-league.
Koala Bear
Guest
Towser, yes indeed the top flight European players to be recruited for SFC marvelous idea.. But how are you going to keep them all within the salary cap .?. Let's see a Frank Lampard hmm $160m, no right out of reach .. Maybe another stint for Romario still bloody expensive and what worth..? I don't understand what you are getting at.. I pointed out that Juninho a Brazilian World Cup Player could not put more bums on seats than Dwight Yorke.. The point I am making is that, old soccer is dead.. You will not attracted the old guard to new Football they can't be bothered anymore .. They are like you and me too old to change their old habits and stay at home.. The new market is the young male in his mid 20's - 30's Australian born with European or Anglo heritage with a thirst of new Football, that he or she has been wooed over by watching EPL in the days of SBS before it went totally over to FOX and presumably they have left SBS behind and now subscribed to FOX to watch the Socceroos, EPL and HAL.. The early migrant stereotype is too old to care anymore and would rather stay home in his veggie patch, which is why the NSL died because they grew old, fat and lazy, the effort to travel became too hard.. The future is new football with Aussie kids trying to make a name for themselves and we need to coach the kids properly that is what is being done now, and mix them with some ex Roos coming back to Australia to finish there careers. Whether you call them marquee is irrelevant, but we need to find the finance to woo them back to Australia; the likes of Culina who calls Australia home .. The very top Sth American or European marquee still live in the their past glory days and think nothing of demanding $6m a season at 40yrs of age .. For get it.. We need to entice our current Roos home, nearing the end of their careers, the ones that call Australia home ... and want to finish their careers in Australia .. On the coaching side of the equation we have the same problem you only attract the half baked over priced European types who also want $3m per annum its a hopeless situation .. As soon as everyone can accept this will remain quandary wishing and hoping for a Ronnie Ronaldo will do us a favour and come at a cut price ?.. That will never happen we have to move on and train and coach the kids properly.. But if Ronaldo is gracious enough to accept the same deal SFC made Aloisi that's fine with me .. But can you ever see that really happening ..? ;) ~~~~~~~ KB
Midfielder
Guest
Sydney let go two of the best football brains in the country go or should I say got rid of.and did not heed their warnings ... why these people left says so much about SFC ... Andy Harper and Peter Turnbull..... Peter Turnbull went to the Mariners after Hal 2, and Andy Harper left after a few months because SFC could not make or even attempt to connect to the football family. So SFC got rid of two of the best football brains and replaced them with Bling people ... who attempted to follow three methods NRL, AFL & old NSL.... Funny Anthony from Hollywood the goal keeper another football / park person is also leaving ... its like Bling not football rules Without trying to stir the management of SFC is bad very bad and is holding the A-League back.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Vicentin yeh, I know, SFC is my main source of inspiration at the moment!
Vicentin
Guest
and then I read the Micaleff piece on TWG http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league/sydney-fc-should-face-reality-159574/
Vicentin
Guest
I'm with Luke, I think the best thing for Sydney is just to file this year away as another futile waste of money and opportunities. No good will come from hanging on to Kosmina - dead wood. Sydney's management both on and away from the field is just completely clueless. How on earth did Lowy make his money if this is how he ran a football club? Let's hope the Russian is are bit clueier - or did Frank sell him a pup (dog). ... but Pippinu I can't but note that your beloved was only a goal or two away from an official shellacking!
Towser
Guest
KB "I believe the Sydney Market is no different to the Melbourne, Brisbane, or Adelaide Markets " That is the point it is (different)by what you said later "But because they are Sydney, the biggest populous city in Australia; with the most heritage in Football that everyone hates to admit " The heritage bit is the key. Theirs your heritage,theirs my heritage(lived there for 12 years) theirs the Italian Greek Croatian Turkish heritage etc. When does anybody in Sydney historically who follows football from any of these groups come out of the woodwork to watch a match in numbers. Only when their is either an internationally acclaimed club/country playing or a club from or indeed their country of heritage playing . This in fact goes right back to the days of visiting overseas clubs & countries. You will find that the biggest crowds have always been at these type of matches. Except of course the occassional WC qualifier against a world class opponents. If you want a point of difference between Brisbane & Sydney this is it . Overseas clubs & countries didnt come to Brisbane because their was no market. It was back then predominantly Anglo/Celtic. Changed somewhat today. So to appeal to this market youve got to give them a little bit of that to make them come out of the woodwork.You cant give them an all Aussie born & bred team because even born & bred Aussies who follow football in Sydney historically have followed the overseas stuff. A quality known marquee is a start of an age where his body is not likely to fall to peices like Juninho. John Aloisi is not a marquee. He will not drag people from their lounge chairs to the SFS. And he didn,t. For his WC penalty I am eternally grateful but in the bread & butter of the A-League you need a bit of exotic jam also on the bread to pull in the punters in the Sydney market. The market isnt going to change so SFC have to change to meet its demands. This club has enormous potential I just cant see it reaching that potential unless it sees who its reaching out to. On the subject of Moore(& Aloisi) it has been suggested that they should be in a seperate category ie Socceroo marquee player.( Moore also great player that he is has not put more bums on seats at the Roar). I thought that the FFA were going to assist clubs in this by making up the difference to say a 300,000 wage. Nothing has come of it ?. THis would leave the way for an Overseas marquee player. Nobodys doubting that money is an issue but the new owner is not short of a quid. If SFC had a proven overseas coach & recognised overseas player plus FFA assisted Socceroo player & say a couple of quality Asian players(Thailand Indonesia have some decent players I saw them at the Asian Cup) plus 3 mid range exciting quality players from countries that are football countries but wages are not high because they are third world or poor economies(Africa Central & South America Eastern Europe plenty of them) MV spotted a couple even now why didnt Sydney. KB I havent lived in all states of Australia but I have lived in WA NSW & Qld the latter for a nunber of years. Each one is very different. Where the A-League has gone wrong in my opinion is to be too generic. Some say that is why Perth has suffered. Everybody is not the same in Australia all markets are different. Look at CCM they have worked out their market & are taking measures to extravct the most mileage out of it. Melbourne is the same if you also want a point of difference.You probably dont want to hear it but its fact. Its played to the AFL nature of that market via the members system. Personally given that out of all the cities in Australia it was the most "Ethnic"in terms of Football clubs I thought it would be difficult to bring fans from these monocultural clubs to follow MV. Some maybe but overall a success by placing an AFL man at the helm that understood the market ,but cleverly employing football people Gary Cole & Ernie Merrick to see to the Football side of things. What have Sydney done in this respect except muddle along from CEO to CEO.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Nothing would make me happier than to meet a vulnerable Sydney, their confidence completely shot, management clutching at straws for solutions, and to inflict the sort of loss that not only consigns them to the also-rans of the current season, but has them questioning their very right to exist as a club. This is not a time to sympathise with Sydney, this is a time to strangle every last bit of breath out of their dying body, deny them a proper burial, and humiliate them so that future generations will shun them for ever more and delete them from their family tree.
Luke W
Guest
I think a losing streak and missing out on the finals is exactly what Sydney FC needs for the future. It will be a clear sign of their poor season, and hopefully the right people will be held accountable. As much as I hate the manager merry-go-round that some clubs have been on (Sydney being one of the worst), one of those people should be John Kosmina. Kosmina is a very poor coach. His teams have always played a negative brand of football, but worst of all he has a terrible mix of ignorance and arrogance. Arguably his team has been outplayed in most matches this season, yet week after week we are subject to Kosmina telling us that his team is playing "some good football". He lives in his own little world where Sydney FC are stringing passes together like Arsenal but just aren't getting any luck (and some bad refereeing decisions thrown in). Well I have had enough of it after this week. Sydney FC were outplayed by Perth Glory at their home ground this weekend. Just because Perth played a counter attacking game (which is not that shocking considering they were playing away) and allowed Sydney to have a majority of possession did not mean that Sydney were the better team. Sydney did not conjure a lot of great chances (Aloisi's two missed chances were the best, other than that they were reduced to long shots) and were outplayed tactically on the field, for which Kosmina is completely accountable. Sorry for a bit of a rant, but I am sick of this fool telling us every week that his team is playing good football when everyone, including the fans, know it is the exact opposite. Get rid of him now, please.
Midfielder
Guest
Tow Your comments about the A-League needing a successful Sydney team are very true. What is obvious to many is SFC are close to the worst managed team in the league. TBH I cannot see much changing .. instead what is needed is the awful truth has to be faced .. again its repeating what many have said before SFC are an Eastern / Inner city Sydney team and will draw maybe 15, 000 per match a local derby match 25, 000 and in the finals 30, 000 +, grand final a full house. IMO the second Sydney team in WS will learn from SFC mistakes and will become the football team Sydney wants. Way back pre Hal JON said it was a choice between Aussie Stadium & Parrmatta Stadium... JON went for Aussie stadium to get the A-League away from the old soccer state teams in WS. ... As my old grand mother used to say ..."for the love of Jesus will ya" ... and I will say using grannies old saying ... for the love of Jesus a football team based in the Eastern Suburbs will never get the football heartland to support it in Sydney. If anything the appointment of Kossie shows how poor is SFC management is ... SFC will pay a big price for this mismanagement in that the second Sydney team and the Gong will but become bigger clubs than SFC in the future... But that is not to say SFC should move as they have established themselves a nice little corner of Sydney they are just not the Sydney team and never will be.
Koala Bear
Guest
Towser, I believe the Sydney Market is no different to the Melbourne, Brisbane, or Adelaide Markets .. All should and are embracing the new football markets .. Why are you saying Melbourne etc is different to Sydney.. ? The marquee player is still alive and we have an Aussie that has proven himself in the top European leagues .. Melbourne has Archie as their Marquee, Roar have Moore, all proven European players that were affordable .. Sure we would all like to have a Ronaldo but he wouldn't be interested.. And yeah Sir Alex would be wonderful, the real "Scottish One" I would love to see them here but again this quality is not interested.. So we have to settle for the best we can muster on the local scene and produce our own from our ex Roos stock... Okon, GVE, Ned Zelic, Aurelio Vidmar, .. These guys are slowly coming through to coach... SFC are the key to the HAL success, but the key should be and is that SFC are the biggest market that is hated for that reason alone and that's good .. A healthy hatred .. When Sydney regain top spot that hatred will enhance, not because they have a foreign coach or a foreign marquee player .. But because they are Sydney, the biggest populous city in Australia; with the most heritage in Football that everyone hates to admit .. SFC winning is the key to much bigger future crowds across the HAL not the composition of the SFC team .. If we had some positive results from here on end, ie winning at home .. That would be the turning point.. It's a fickle market in Sydney, we don't like to support a losing team .. Juninho was a bigger name player than Dwight Yorke and did not attract the same attention .. Aloisi is not a crap player.. His performance yesterday was crap but the player was a proven striker in Europe.. His touch had deserted him yesterday but he will bounce back next week .. It seems to me the Club at present is afraid of playing at home in front of the Cove who are very unforgiving .. If we manage to string a few wins on the road, the mood will change .. In saying that, It will be a problem for the home team's fans to remain faithful to their team .. But for now its desperate times for SFC and I am hoping we will spank MV ass next week (sorry Dave) but we need some success ... for the good of the league.. ~~~~~~~~ KB
Towser
Guest
Dave John Aloisi is symptomatic of the mistakes AFC have made throughout their existence. Kossie is another. Frank Lowy majority ownership another (the only point in football for him I can pick fault). The amount of changes of key personnel indicates the confusion at this club in the direction they should take. Its not rocket science. The path I stated above is the right one for the Sydney market. I can only hope that the new owners get the right advice from the right people & spend a bit of cash on the right players & the right coach. Kossie was a dill at the Strikers. He continues to be "a blame the other bloke"dill who lost a grand final by 6 goals. Hardly a statistic on which to hire him to steer an ocean liner into port.
Dave
Guest
Towser Agreed the chances he missed yesterday were sitters...but he aint the first and wont be the last striker to miss open goals. l have watched van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo and Giggs (sure there are others) miss from similar positions for ManU. With JA it was an issue of fitness but now it is an issue of confidence...l dont buy the argument that he is all of a sudden crap. Agreed he gets paid handsomely and no doubt he is required to score goals but at the moment he aint so what do you do? Say he is crap and get rid of him and complain that oh in hindsight he shouldn't have been bought? IMO no...he is capable of scoring plenty of goals as his track record suggests...therefore he needs to be started and given the opportunity to redeem. Nothing gives a clearer message to a player that others believe in him when he is picked whilst struggling for form. JK should play JA from the start v MV but make some changes to the team style of play to suit their biggest investment. If he doesnt then JA's and quite possibly Jk's time at SFC is finished and they will be even more than now, the basket case of the league. SFC have consecutive away games v MV and AU, the pressure of home fans booing will be off JA and this may well be the break he needs at the moment.
Towser
Guest
Continued To be more than a 12-15000 crowd club when it should be up their with MV. So find the dough or go with the flow. Down the drain.