Sydney FC are confident Frank Farina’s arrival at the struggling club can bring about a dramatic change in their A-League fortunes.
Farina returns to Sydney for their round nine game against Melbourne Heart on Sunday and walks into a club at the bottom of the competition ladder, on a four-game losing streak and with a goal difference of minus 10.
The Sky Blues have lost both games under caretaker coach Steve Corica since Ian Crook walked out as head coach on November 11. But both Corica and superstar Alessandro Del Piero insist morale at the Sky Blues remains high – fertile ground for former Socceroos mentor Farina to work with.
“We are united, that is the important thing,” Del Piero said on Friday.
“Sometimes it is better to be united in a troubled position than the opposite because for the future you can build … we have that.
“It’s very frustrating for me, I have never lost three in a row in my life before.
“We hope we can do a good job with him. We need to improve, we need to win and we hope we can do that and build something for the rest of the season.
“He will bring great passion and knowledge … he will do everything he can.”
Corica backed his former Socceroos teammate and coach to revitalise the Sky Blues as a premiership force.
“I think Frankie is the man for the job,” he said.
“He has the experience obviously, he has been in the national team so hopefully he will turn it around and we will be on our way again.
“He is coming into a big club and a high profile job and I’m sure he will be prepared for that.
“There is a long way to go in the season. I’m pretty confident we can turn it around. We are all behind Frankie.
“With a new coach coming in everything is fresh again, everyone has a chance again, everyone is fighting for their place.
“Hopefully we can turn it around this week and get back on track. We are not that far away from the top six. I think it is the right time for Frankie to come in.
“We played the Socceroos during the week and it was a big improvement. I think we are heading in the right direction.”
Del Piero knows Farina from the former Australian striker’s time with Bari in Serie A and said he had a good group of players to work with.
“We have had a lot of injuries and been unlucky, but what happened in the last three months doesn’t matter,” Del Piero said.
“We have to think about our situation now. We have a short time to prepare for Sunday. We have a long season again. We have 19 games again, that is why we have the chance to make the playoffs and see what might happen.”
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Just make sure to never say "the season starts next week"! Never ends well!
jbinnie
Guest
James - As a Roar Rookie you could be well advised to let this appointment take it's natural course & follow what is happening.!!! Your headline (don't really know if it is "yours") says "Sydney says" but then goes on to quote an assistant coach & a player who by their very words are starting to build expectancy into readers & this in turn puts pressure on a man who has been "forced" into a no-win situation for the second time in his coaching career. As said elsewhere he was offered the national team coach job & was left with the situation,---if I say "yes" I am open to extreme pressure & criticism, but if I say "no" my coaching career is over before it begins. (He had only coached for 3 seasons as a player-coach!!!!) Now he faces exactly the same quandry,Do I or don't I.?? The answer is actually the same as before. Now if you can start to imagine the pressure this man is already under & he hasn't even started, perhaps it would be better to "forget" Frank Farina for a week or two & let him get his views & philosphies into the dressing room, a much better way to "help". jb
rob
Guest
train 2 times a day and orgnaise extra's for a lot of players- hard work equals success!!!!!!!!!!!!