Sydney FC players celebrate during the football match between the Perth Glory and the Sydney FC in Perth Sunday Oct. 24, 2010. (AAP Image/Tony McDonough)
It only took them eleven games, but Sydney FC have finally cracked a win. That it came against a free-falling Perth Glory won’t have been lost on the critics, least of all those questioning whether coach Vitezslav Lavicka is quite the tactical genius he was originally made out to be.
Lavicka finally made changes to his starting eleven for the clash at nib Stadium in Perth, dropping goalkeeper Liam Reddy and under-performing midfielder Stuart Musialik and handing starts to Ivan Necevski and youngster Rhyan Grant respectively.
Crucially for the Sky Blues – at least as far as I’m concerned – he retained two of the players who looked most capable of changing Sydney’s fortunes around, Japanese midfielder Hiro Moriyasu and Brazilian striker Bruno Cazarine.
Cazarine’s two goals are testament to the patience shown by the Sydney staff in their search for a new striker this season, while Moriyasu was his usual tenacious self in a quasi 4-2-3-1 formation.
The win will no doubt come as a relief to Lavicka and his staff, but many Sydney fans long ago started asking why it hadn’t arrived much earlier.
How is it that a coach hailed by some as a revolutionary when he arrived in Australia could suddenly find his team anchored to the bottom of the table?
The long list of players cut adrift in the off-season – Bolton, Colosimo, Kisel, Aloisi, Ramsey and Payne – surely isn’t enough to explain it.
Nor is the retirement of talisman Steve Corica, who was swiftly replaced by the admittedly injury-prone Nick Carle.
Yes, the defending champions have been unlucky – refereeing calls have consistently gone against them, a plethora of youngsters have repeatedly been called up for international duty with various Australian youth teams – but one of the most worrying features of Sydney’s football this season has been Lavicka’s seeming inability to motivate his players.
Yesterday was one of the first times this season Sydney didn’t look flatter than an opponent, but that arguably says more about Perth Glory than it does the visitors.
And the fact some key personnel have been consistently out of form – Musialik and Mark Bridge among them – begs the question of why Lavicka didn’t make changes to his starting eleven sooner.
As it is, the Sky Blues still look ripe for a mauling at the hands of the Thomas Broich-inspired Brisbane Roar next weekend, even if Ange Postecoglu’s free-flowing side tend to save their best performances for Suncorp Stadium.
And perhaps the visit of Postecoglu is telling: last season, the much-maligned coach was fiercely criticised for dismantling the backbone of his Brisbane Roar team, yet Postecoglu has had the last laugh by assembling the most attack-minded and entertaining outfit in the league.
Brisbane are playing the kind of football many Sydney fans dream of, so maybe there’s something to be said for the cyclical nature of football – which can see yesterday’s champions turn into tomorrow’s cellar dwellers.
Nevertheless, I’m not entirely convinced Vitezslav Lavicka is quite the technical and tactical extraordinaire many have made him out to be.
Had Sydney FC lost the Grand Final to Melbourne Victory on penalties, perhaps we’d have a different view of the Czech tactician, even if he has been responsible for plenty of positive changes at the club.
Improbable though it once seemed, he’s also been responsible for their longest ever winless streak, and it remains to be seen whether Lavicka has gone from hero to zero within the space of seven short months.
I hope Sydney FC have turned a corner, and it would be an exciting boon for the A-League to witness the defending champions launch a run from last place into the top six.
Lavicka could once again be hailed a hero, however his team’s poor start to the season has left me wondering if the label hadn’t already been applied too soon.
David V.
Guest
The idea was that foreign coaches would raise the bar and in doing so local coaches would improve too. And we're seeing that.
Realfootball
Guest
Well put. Interesting that arguably the best football the A-League has seen is coming from the Roar, coached by an Australian,albeit one with considerable international exposure through coaching the Australian junior teams.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
You can keep the all, Art. How many of them can carry off a cream jacket with wild fist pumping and pin wheeling arms in the driving rain I ask you? :)
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
What Lavicka brought to the A-League was a focus upon the standard of coaching and qualifications from the broader footballing public. Prior to that the issue, whilst high on the developmental agenda of the FFA, was of lower priority in the general supporter's eyes than the youth development structure. This extra pressure borne of expectation of professional competence, as reflected by qualifications and training, has resulted in the muting of those voices within the coaching fraternity who felt they had nothing left to learn and that the coaching qualification process did not apply to them. Hence Lavicka's main legacy is the contribution (unwitting or otherwise) towards the development of coaching in Australia as a vocation. As a contributor towards the improvement of the game in Australia through improved coaching standards (and hence an improved standard of football) his contribution remains very positive. Hence as a coaching maestro he's whatever you make of him, however as a catalyst for change he remains very much the hero.
Joe FC
Guest
Exactly.
Art Sapphire
Guest
CupWinnersCup - given a level playing field Mourinho, Ferguson and Ancelotti would eat the A-League managers for breakfast. Your doubts and arguments are misplaced. Why did Hiddink get the same bunch of players that Farina managed to a World Cup against the odds. Because these managers operate at a different level.
David V.
Guest
The wild fluctuations are to be expected perhaps in an even league. But while this can happen anywhere, it can't be helping in a young league like the A-League, unlike more mature sports competitions where teams are well-established.
CupWinnersCup
Guest
I'm talking about the A-league. I doubt they'd have as much success steering an A-League team to glory year in year out given they can't spend big on superstars.
Art Sapphire
Guest
CupwinnersCup - These guys will still be tops in a salary capped league. Mourinho won the Champions league with Porto in 2004. Mourinho knocked out SAF's Man U in the Round of 16 on the way to winning the biggest trophy European club football. Ferguson won the Cup WiinnerCup with little Aberdeen back in 83. They knocked over Bayern Munich in the Quarters and Real Madrid in the final. These managers won big trophies against the odds.
Realfootball
Guest
The issue at Sydney is a very ordinary playing list. What is less clear is how much of that playing list is Lavicka's doing. Look at Moriyasu, for example. He is not an A-League player, wouldn't make any other A-League match day squad, and yet starts for Sydney. What an indictment of their recruiting. And Jamieson when they already had arguably the best left back in the comp? If the coach doesn't make this kind of decision, who does? The fact is that Sydney played dull, slow football for the majority of last season. They were about as exciting to watch as the suds cycle of a front loading washing machine. I honestly don't think they are playing much differently this season - its just that several of the other teams are, and in a very positive way. This season's Brisbane and Adelaide would have carved up last season's Sydney. The slowness of Sydney's transition is excruciating to watch, and that is the coaching, no question. The real test will come this weekend against Brisbane. My tip is that Brisbane will win comfortably. Sydney won against a Perth side gutted of morale or purpose. I simply cannot understand why Sage would spend that much on a team, and hand it over to an unproven rookie coach and serial assistant like Ferguson.
CupWinnersCup
Guest
Welcome to the world of a salary capped league. Doubt Ancelotti, Mourinho or SAF would do much better if they were not allowed to spend big on superstars.
Stevo
Guest
Genius is relative. VL got SFC to play "good" football, on the carpet stroking the ball around watching the opposition chase like headless chooks. Now that they've lost a few key players SFC looks only a shadow of last years team. I don't think VL was a brilliant coach but but you didn't have to be compared to what else was around. However VL has raised the bar a little higher and that's a good thing and it shows itself in this years comp.
The Link
Guest
Vitja raised the bar for coaching in the A-League last season, existing guys have caught up and the new guys are at a higher level. All things are a positive for the development of Australian players, which is what the A-League is all about.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
As and expat from Sydney I was delighted that they won. But I am also feeling for Tony Sage. Everything he tries turns to crap and the Perth Glory have a fine bunch of supporters out there. I hope they can keep the faith.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Foster never said any such thing. No one has called VL a genius.
cookie
Guest
mmm. let's just say that the players need to have a good hard look in the mirror... Perhaps a few weeks out working a boring, repetitive, menial, hard labour job may do the trick?
tony yeboah
Guest
I think poor old tony thought that you could replace one clueless chump for another. They seriously need to get a real coach and clean out some of that flotsam and jetsam. How Jamie Coyne still gets a game is beyond me, and a team that cannot score with Fowler, Sterjovski, Jelic and Baird is beyond me, or seemingly beyond the ideas of what Ferguson or Mitchell could come up with. In reality they only need defenders and strikers because they midfield spends the whole time watching the ball sailing over there heads. Maybe that is why Jacob Burns is such an angry little man!!
tony yeboah
Guest
Sydney FC are just another example of the A-League effect. Quite simply, if you look at the first season of the A-League, the standards, of everything, right across the board were pretty woeful, especially coaching and the playing technique of the players, recruitment etc etc. Each season it has increased and increased. The best team this year may be the chumps next year just because all the other teams are catching up. Sydney lost many key players and recruited badly, i am sorry but Nicky Carle was a mistake from the start. Imagine if Sydney had of got a Thomas Broich. It will take a few more years yet for it to even out, and who knows, Brisbane or Adelaide might blitz it this year and be at the bottom next.
Moonface
Roar Guru
One win doesn't make the Summer. Sydney FC and LaVicker have a long way to go yet.
Art Sapphire
Guest
What Lavicka did do was find a way to stop Melbourne Victory last season and outsmart Merrick. There was no other serious opposition. The bar has been raised this season. After watching a bit of the Perth game, I reckon I could have managed Sydney FC to a win over Glory. What did Tony Sage expect?