Sydney FC are excited rather than fearful of facing Melbourne City superstar David Villa, with coach Graham Arnold warning of the risks involved for the Spanish striker.
Villa is poised to make his A-League debut in Saturday’s opening round A-League clash at Allianz Stadium.
It’s part of a ten-game loan spell before the 32-year-old forward joins New York City FC.
Spain’s all-time leading scorer, Villa has won World and European medals at international level and Spanish and Champions League titles in club football.
“I know the players are excited to play against him, if you talk to any of our players there’s no fear at all,” Arnold said on Friday.
“Nikola Petkovic and Sasa Ognenovski have played a lot of times against big name players so they won’t be overawed at all.”
While Arnold is wary of assigning a specific marker to Villa, the Spaniard could face Sydney right back Seb Ryall, if he plays on the left as he did in the recent World Cup match against Australia.
“It’s a challenge, every player wants to play against the best in the sport and that’s an opportunity I’m going to have tomorrow night and I’m looking forward to it,” Ryall said.
Villa hasn’t played for three and a half months since scoring in Spain’s World Cup win over Australia in Brazil and City coach John van `t Schip says his prize recruit won’t play the whole game.
Arnold said Villa’s lack of match fitness could force City to alter their game plan.
“It’s going to be Melbourne City’s problem fitting him into what they do,” Arnold said.
“The games they’ve played all pre-season, they’ve pressed extremely high, and they’ve pressed a lot.”
Villa only arrived in Melbourne this week and Arnold warned of the risk of pitching him straight into action on the harder Australian grounds.
“I don’t know if I’d be throwing him in that quick because they are hard fields in this country, for European players, it’s very tricky,” Arnold said.
“The amount of money that New York City are spending on him, they will be watching closely, because every European player that I’ve brought out to this country, has taken a good two months to settle on the hard grounds and firm surfaces.
“Last year (Heart import) Orlando Engelaar broke a leg in the first week when he got thrown in, so it’s a risk.”
Arnold was confident Sydney still had plenty of striking options of their own despite losing Bernie Ibini and Mark Janko to international duty.
“We’ve still got Alex Brosque, Corey Gameiro had a fantastic pre-season, Shane Smeltz and George Blackwood, who was in the national under-20 squad,” Arnold said.
City will have between six and eight changes to the side that played their final round game last season.
Villa apart, City’s impressive list of recruits includes Damien Duff, Robert Koren, Aaron Mooy and Erik Paartalu.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
Under-pressure Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan has failed to front up for his post-match press conference after a 7-0 thrashing from Melbourne City, the…
Round 19 was an interesting weekend of football with no draws, 19 goals in six matches, two five-goal games on Sunday and for the…
