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If the knives weren’t already out for Frank Farina, then Sydney FC’s listless performance in the derby on Saturday has, at the very least, opened the cutlery draw.
With club barometer Alessandro Del Piero looking moribund in full kit along the sidelines, the Sky Blues were exposed as the malfunctioning unit they are by a rampant Western Sydney.
If the Wanderers are an army of Poppa’s disciplined little soldiers, consider Sydney FC the A-League’s equivalent of a Saturday night on Cavill Avenue during Schoolies.
Everyone’s off doing their own thing, trying to pick up, but nobody’s on the same page. And everyone looks in far worse shape than they did 12 months ago.
Farina comes after a long line of coaches who, in retrospect, don’t exactly feel like the smartest appointments.
Ian Crook. Whose idea was that? Branko Culina. Yeah, good one. John Kosmina? That was only ever going to end one way.
Many have had the same kind of feeling about Farina since the moment his name was brought up as a potential candidate. Was he really the man to build what has been missing at Moore Park?
Perhaps inspired by Ange Postecoglou’s rise from oblivion to glory, Sydney FC’s board decided he was, and rolled the dice on him.
Three rounds into the new season and it’s snake eyes.
There have been calls for Farina to be given more time and for the fans to pop a couple chill pills in the name of stability, which has long proven the enemy of the Sky Blues.
Sure, things are bad, but sack him now and you’ll just spin the revolving door, trigger the resignation or termination of someone in front office and start all over again. So the argument goes.
Stability has also been the buzzword in Newcastle in pre-season. At least, it was.
Unlike last year, there have been few comings or goings for the Jets.
With how reliant Gary van Egmond’s fortunes are on the young players he has hoarded over the years, that was a good thing. They’ve all had time to gel.
Have they gelled? Have they improved? Nope. Same as it ever was. No lovely attacking football, just a portable 90-minute soul vacuum.
Newcastle haven’t scored an A-League goal in 406 minutes and don’t appear to be in any danger of breaking that run anytime soon. That’s good news for Central Coast, who will be licking their lips at the prospect of adding to their torment in this weekend’s F3 Derby.
The pressure is mounting. Rumours persist that Nathan Tinkler’s leg men have been off canvassing alternative coaching options in the event van Egmond’s revolution fizzles out.
How long should Jets fans have to wait for this masterplan to come together? Why should they when there has been no evidence yet that it will?
The Jets should not be a holding bay for junior internationals – you can’t ignore reality because there’s kids in the team.
Newcastle is a professional football club in a senior competition and that means if you’re not winning things, or looking like a chance to, you’re failing.
Fortunately, like Farina, van Egmond can breathe easy – it is only round three and anything can happen. Just look at Western Sydney’s rise last season.
That’s one thing Sydney FC would rather not do, given how good their rivals are going on all fronts.
In a blog post earlier this year, Farina gave forewarning he couldn’t assemble the squad he truly wanted because of contracts and the salary cap and whatnot.
It’s a convenient excuse, but the simple fact is this squad should be doing better. Aside from the obvious genius of Del Piero, there are plenty of players batting well below their average, and for that the coach must take some flak.
Richard Garcia didn’t look lost for the Heart last season. Nor did Nick Carle’s spell in the Middle East reflect a career on the wane.
The jury is out on Marc Warren, but Pedj Bojic is a good player, Seb Ryall is solid and Matt Jurman used to go alright, back in the day. OK, maybe it’s a little thin at the minute.
Will injuries work as an excuse, in that case? Not when fitness coach Anthony Crea was brought in on Farina’s orders.
Again, anything can happen from here. But unless something good happens very quickly, the Sky Blues will keep scraping along until it’s too hard to justify why Farina should still be in the job.
Nobody wants to see him or van Egmond fail – they just want the club to come first and for those employed by it to be held accountable for the end product.
It’s about results, I guess, but not really – most fans would be stoked just to be competitive, as long as there’s a roadmap to follow and a bit of progress.
What both these teams need far more than stability is clarity. Get that, and everything else falls into place.
But that’s easier said than done. Sometimes, the only way you can get clarity is to take everything apart and put it back together again.
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