Was it all really Kossie's fault?

Although the news probably didn’t shock many, I feel John Kosmina’s demise at Sydney FC is a little harsh. It’s fair enough to say that Sydney FC’s A-League campaign has been a shamble and they have greatly under-achieved, however I think criticism best be levelled at the players and not solely at the outgoing manager.

I believe that Kossie is one of the best coaches in Australia and like his departure from Adelaide and subsequent pick-up by Sydney, it’s only going to be a short wait for Kossie in the unemployment line.

The main thing about Kosmina, and it is something I like most about him, is that he does not stroke players’ egos. He has a simple philosophy as coach: if you are playing poorly, he will tell you so, and you will be sitting on your behind with the reserves until your form warrants first-team selection. He does not pick teams on reputation and simply calls a spade a spade.

This philosophy can often get players off-side, and generally once you lose the dressing room respect, your days as manager are numbered. Reports coming out of Sydney FC are that this was exactly what happened.

A coach can, however, survive with the players off-side, but only if the results are good, which they certainly weren’t in Sydney FC’s recent campaign.

Whilst it’s easy to point fingers at the man in charge, I think the main criticism should be aimed at Sydney’s players and recruitment strategy.

Looking at Sydney’s squad for the current season it’s fair to say that Sydney should be sitting top of the A-League. With a squad showing the likes of Aloisi, Bridge, Brosque, Musialik, Colosimo and Corica, they had ample ammunition to score goals; and simply didn’t.

My answer is bad recruitment. You may be scratching your heads at the moment, saying didn’t Sydney FC recruit Aloisi, Bridge, Musialik and Colosimo: all capped Socceroos and some of the best talent in the A-League. Well, yes!

But here lies the problem. This gave Sydney FC three strikers and four central midfielders (three of which are best when played in defensive midfield) and by bringing in such high-priced signings, left Sydney without the ability to secure any depth in the squad.

Sydney played with Alosi as a sole striker, Bridge and Brosque as wide midfielders (who are strikers, and each probably had their worst season of their careers due to being played out of position), the ageing Corica as an attacking midfielder (who no longer has the run in his legs for such a role) and Musialik and Corcia/McFlynn as holding midfielders.

As a result of this formation, Alosi received no service from the wide men (a mountain of Aloisi’s goals are from crosses), as both are not natural wide midfielders. Corcia was marked out of the game, and constantly looked out of puff.

When an injury crisis hit, the lack of depth showed up big time, and Sydney had to promote several youth team players.

The positive to this was the likes of Brendan Gan, Kofi Danning, Rhyan Grant, Anthony Golec and others getting much-needed experience which will put Sydney FC in good stead for the future, as they are a side due for much-needed rejuvenation.

It takes time to build a squad, and I believe Kossie was doing that; bringing in some much-needed depth and instilling plenty of quality youth, but again Sydney grew impatient and showed him the door.

Kosmina’s squads over time at Newcastle (NSL) and Adelaide United (in both NSL and A-League) never had the best players, but players with grit, determination, a “team philosophy”, the right mixture of youth and experience and a mixture of the brilliant and the braun.

It’s fair to say Kossie’s Sydney didn’t have that in season 08/09, but they were looking closer to that in 09/10.

Whether or not Kosmina was behind the push for a lot of high-priced talent or not remains to be seen, as there is some talk that the directors could have been pushing for the signings more so than Kossie in the hope of Sydney playing some brilliant football and live up to the “Bling FC” facade.

It’s weird how similar Sydney FC and Chelsea have now become: both are owned by Russian billionaires, both have adopted bizarre recruitment policies where players are recruited seemingly on marketability rather than what’s needed for the squad (I still wonder why Chelsea signed Deco when they have Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Obi Mikel, Malouda, Cole and Makelele at the time and now they are having depth issues also) and both Sydney and Chelsea have had more coaches than Greyhound buses.

But life rolls on and for Kossie it’s off to the next suitor, whilst his successor Vítězslav Lavička , a coach with some serious pedigree, has like Chelsea in England one of the high pressure jobs in Australian football.

Hopefully for Lavicka, the players show a little bit more bottle and Sydney return to the winner’s circle.

Yours in Football,

Adam Santarossa