Sydney FC's Mark Bridge shows his disappointment after a missed opportunity during their A-League match against the North Queensland Fury at the Sydney Football Stadium, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
“Recent suggestions that Vitezslav (Lavicka) will not be coach for Monday night’s game against the Newcastle Jets are simply untrue,” read a terse media statement from Sydney FC on New Year’s eve. But whether Lavicka survives a dreaded vote of confidence could depend largely on the result at Energy Australia Stadium.
If last season’s championship victory was one of sheer ecstasy for Sydney FC fans, then this season has been akin to a punch in the face.
The A-League ladder makes for sobering reading: just four wins from 22 games have left the defending champions sitting stone cold bottom of the table.
Two wins over Perth and a victory apiece against Newcastle and Wellington Phoenix are the grand sum of Sydney’s title defence.
They’ve lost their last five games in a row, haven’t scored in 450 minutes of football but have conceded nine goals in the same period, and have just signed journeyman Finnish striker Juho Makela in a desperate bid to reinvigorate their attack.
Makela is the second foreign striker signed in the midst of the campaign, after Brazilian front man Bruno Cazarine joined in August.
Yet the Sky Blues were willing to relinquish young striker Chris Payne to North Queensland Fury, and he’s now contributed four goals and four assists for the struggling Townsville side.
Payne has already signed for Newcastle Jets next season, but who’s to say either Cazarine or Makela will stick around for Sydney?
Their arrivals are just one of a number of puzzling decisions made by a club struggling to piece together a long-term plan, and Sydney now face the real prospect of becoming lambs to the slaughter in the Asian Champions League.
Japanese heavyweights Kashima Antlers booked their place in the group stage by winning the Emperor’s Cup last weekend, joining South Korean giants Suwon Bluewings and Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua in Sydney’s group.
And the Sky Blues will be ripped to shreds if they continue playing the kind of one-dimensional, error-strewn football they are right now.
Which brings the future of Lavicka into sharp focus, as it’s under his watch that Sydney have experienced such a dramatic slump in form.
It’s true Sydney have been unlucky with injuries: Nick Carle was signed to replace the retired Steve Corica but has spent much of the season on the sidelines, while the influential Alex Brosque has also been plagued by a series of knocks.
But the Sky Blues should have the calibre of personnel to overcome their absences.
The fact is players like Liam Reddy, Stuart Musialik and Mark Bridge have done little to justify their pay packets, with moribund performances the norm despite the vociferous urgings of The Cove.
It’s a trite cliché to simply call for more passion, yet Sydney fans must nevertheless feel entitled to more determination from a team that has surrendered feebly on numerous occasions.
Even if Lavicka is predominantly paid to pick the team and deliver tactics – and there’s an argument to suggest he’s also struggled with that – the former Sparta Prague coach seems to have failed in the art of player motivation.
Which brings into question whether he’ll be around for much longer, or whether former players Tony Popovic and Steve Corica will come into contention to take over as coach.
“As the club has said all along, we will sit down collectively in January and discuss everything,” Sydney FC vice-chairman Scott Barlow said.
“This is an agreed upon process which has been in place for an extended period of time.”
That may be so, but time’s clearly running out for Lavicka to save his job.
Defeat in Newcastle could ring the death knell… the knives are out, and it could be anything but a happy new year for Vitezslav Lavicka.
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