When you attend your first Sydney derby at Parramatta Stadium, you expect to be blown away. You expect a cracking contest, a match where both clubs are giving everything in order to claim bragging rights over their fierce rivals, both on and off the pitch.
Unfortunately, in the most recent clash between Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC, one competitor failed to deliver. Only one team was proactively gunning for three points, while the other was happy to play the role of underdog.
Somehow, despite rarely breaking outside their own half, the Sky Blues emerged 2-1 victors on Saturday night. It was a pragmatic, clinical display, but it made for a rather dull contest. The noise in the stands, from both sets of supporters, was the main drawcard.
The Wanderers, although probing constantly to find a way through two banks of four, did not help matters with some poor passing, uncharacteristic for a team that in recent weeks has been hailed for their new style under Tony Popovic.
Throughout the opening 20 minutes, however, the home side dominated, with Dario Vidosic, Mitch Nichols and Romeo Castelen (twice) seeing efforts saved, blocked or sent wide.
Sydney’s first meaningful counter-attack resulted in a corner, from which Jacques Faty poked home the opener. It came from nowhere and it rattled the home team.
The Wanderers fell apart for the rest of the first period, their distribution quickly descending to the point where Filip Holosko should have capitalised on an errant misplaced pass across goal from Dimas Delgado just before half-time.
Yet Western Sydney continued their ardent approach following the break and deservedly equalised through a fine finish from Vidosic after neat build-up from Mark Bridge and Castelen.
Substitute Kearyn Baccus was then left to rue a great chance to send Wanderland into raptures and become a club hero, losing a one-on-one with Vedran Janjetovic, before Shane Smeltz knocked home the winner from a late free kick.
Two set pieces, two goals. That pretty much summed up Sydney FC’s performance.
It was disciplined, gritty and effective football from the Sky Blues, who have been impressively transformed into a defensive machine by Graham Arnold this season. They have conceded just 13 goals from 15 games, yet the football has not made a good spectacle.
For a manager who earlier this year complained about teams continually adopting defensive and negative tactics due to a fear of losing, it is astonishing that Arnold so willingly blunts his team’s attacking instincts, which holds talented individuals in Milos Ninkovic, Holosko and Milos Dimitrijevic.
“I think some coaches are setting out not to lose. They don’t want to lose their job. In the past, you’d get five or six coaches every year that would get the sack,” Arnold said back in November.
“Some coaches are setting out to not lose, but I’m not one, because I’m not worried. Some are a big negative at the moment.
“Teams aren’t coming to beat us, they’re coming to stop us. We’ve just got to be that little bit better.”
Sounds exactly how Sydney FC approached their clash with the Wanderers.
When the most well-known defensive system, catenaccio, first emerged into mainstream consciousness in northeastern Italy, coach Nereo Rocco was looking for a way to turn Triestina from relegation fodder into competitors.
The club had only just avoided relegation from Serie A in 1946-47, but in Rocco’s first season they finished joint second. Recognising the team’s limitations, Rocco set his team up to prevent opponents from playing football, frustrating them and hitting on the counter.
It was a tactic that Jonathan Wilson labelled the “right of the weak” in his excellent Inverting the Pyramid, a style adopted by teams with smaller budgets that aimed to suffocate their more illustrious opponents when they attacked.
Of course, Arnold has not implemented traditional catenaccio at Sydney FC, but he has followed a route of defensive football normally adopted by smaller clubs with no other option in their quest to match the clout of bigger rivals.
It may be his style, but it is disappointing for a neutral to see the Sky Blues play such football. Sydney FC are not a small club; Arnold is no longer in charge of the Central Coast Mariners.
Sydney FC supporters likely do not care how their team sets up tactically as long as they keep producing victories, though surely it will not help convince armchair fans to attend matches.
Arnold most certainly is not affected by any such criticism.
And why would he? His methods are beginning to work in Sydney, and he boasts the highest winning percentage of any full-time A-League manager with 51 per cent. Last season he led the Sky Blues to runners-up in both the premiership and championship.
However, Sydney FC are due success. For such a big club, with the advantage of living in one of Australia’s biggest cities and the sponsorship dollars and viewing numbers that comes with that, they have underachieved (for various reasons).
If Arnold delivers a trophy, his defensive style will be vindicated. But if he doesn’t?
Sydney FC are a big cat and big cats have the ability to play exciting football, more so than smaller opponents. They have sacrificed aesthetically pleasing performances for results, yet if silverware does not emerge then the approach will be hard to defend.
Rocco ended up implementing catenaccio at a big club with AC Milan, but at least that version took an attractive form where the libero was the stylish ball-playing Cesare Maldini, rather than the hoof-it-long Ivano Blason (Triestina).
That AC Milan team were experts in shutting out opponents, but they also proactively chased games and scored a lot of goals as they won two European Cups.
Whether Arnold finds similar success at a big club using his own brand of defensive football could define his career. If he does not deliver silverware to Sydney FC then his tenure will not only be marked down as a failure, but as an unnecessarily ugly failure.
As we all know, catenaccio was, eventually, destroyed by Total Football, and there are a number of A-League clubs attempting to play some similarly attractive stuff.
j binnie
Guest
Bob - Catenaccio was a tactic developed in Italy and at it's peak helped Inter Milan & Fiorentina win European Trophies. But never forget those teams had some very very good footballers in their run on sides ,men who could carry out the instructions from Herrerra and Hidegkuti right down to the wire. Now you are right when you say anyone who tries to compare Sydney FC withInter Milan and Fiorentins,not to mention AC Milan or even the Italian national team of that era is just being plain ridiculous but that does not mean the philosophy behind the tactic cannot be copied by people who believe that old adage "it is easier to defend than attack" and build their teams around that thinking, jb
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Comparing SFC to Italian catenaccio is way over the top. I've been to every Sydney derby and SFC v Victory game so far this season and the atmosphere both outside and inside the stadiums has been amazing, the football pulsating end to end action and the quality of play fantastic. I took some English friends out here on holidays to the Victory game and they were blown away by the standard of play and the quality of the goals. There is too much stereotyping of A-League as "sub-standard" and "boring", especially by people who don't support it and have never experienced the match day adventure. . You are sounding very hypocritical and jealous. Grow up and enjoy life a little bit more and appreciate what a fantastic national football competition we have.
Punter
Guest
Then according to you no A-League coaches develops players, they just sign them.
Justin Mahon
Guest
Sydney FC, spending 2m PA less than in the ADP period will still spend double what CCM do. The salary cap has about 5 large holes in it and if you have cash you can exploit it. The biggest club, Melbourne, has this same advantage and the cities themselves act as a subsidy as players want to be in these cities. The salary cap isn't particularly tight - however, football is a funny game and it's not all about the money.
Justin Mahon
Guest
So, I just finished watching Adelaide rip Brisbane to pieces at home...... so in a sense it can happen week in week out.
Justin Mahon
Guest
Arnold didn't develop any of those players. He did however sign them. There is a big difference.
Justin Mahon
Guest
At Punter - There is no 'runners up double', just as there is no 'we won the second half of the season' trophy. At Fadida - Spot on. my CCM supporting brother and I were discussing this last week. Arnie is no big club manager, but he is perfect for regional teams. MaThe differjce between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory is that Melbourne Victory figured this out long ago. They would never make an appointment like this. They'll get coaching decisions wrong in many ways, but it won't be by selecting a coach that seeks to strangle a game and nab one on the counter.
Justin Mahon
Guest
When I saw Victory play their first game under Ange (against Olimpiakos) and it was clear he would play out, hold the ball and turn up the tempo I remember thinking 'oh god I hope we can do this". And the results were a while coming. While Victory had always played attacking football it was often more helps skelta than tiki taka - and helped us mature and we will be forever grateful. Sydney FC need a coach who can do this, however, I suspect it is harder there because the fan base isn't as large and the Boards patience therefore isn't as long,
Justin Mahon
Guest
#NobAlert
md
Guest
I think SFC's fans expectations are pretty clear: having made good progress last year, GA must now proceed to win the league (certainly the dunny seat, but preferably the plate as well) roughly once a year.
Eden
Guest
Thanks jb. I admit calling out tic tac football as a standard is hyperbole, but it seems the author wants some form of positive attacking football embraced. So whatever the HAL equivalent is - Adeaide United? Or Brisbane roar? Ultimately the SFC fans will decide the coaches fate as the club has a rough culture of coach sacking recently. In Farinas case it was justified. As an Everton fan in the EPL I know the struggles that come with an attack obsessed coach and you quickly see fans call for results over philosophy, and have little patience for the transformation in a squad to see the philosophy pay off.
albatross
Roar Pro
Or Sydney F*C*
Zacman
Guest
Big club in a salary capped comp garbage concept .... The teams are matched more evenly than you think. WSW on paper are as good or even better than Syd FC are to be honest. In regards to Finkler, Yes you are correct, it would be a harder task to crack the Brazillian team over the Serbian team, but for someone who has failed in Europe like Finklers time at Wolverhampton where he had as many as Umm let me count ... zero appearances LOL and then further more his spectacular career which was mainly in the Brazilian leagues where he made a hand full of appearances mostly off the bench mind you ... we are seriously looking at a master class here ... I guess the coaches in Europe and South America see what I see ... average player!! Ninkovic is a class maybe even 2 above in my opinion... HA HA HA HA ... yes I will laugh because your concept of football is closer to rugby league then it is actually football ...
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
At the sake of repeating myself following the Sydney Derby. Shots on target were the same, 4 each and blocked shots 2 each, so it was pretty even and no bus parking. The telling stats were: Defensive duels won: WSW – 42%, SFC – 58% Passing accuracy; WSW – 65% SFC – 80% Shooting Accuracy WSW – 25%, SFC – 50% So it was a case of the better passing, attacking and defending team won. In fact, the better team won. I love the way Sydney FC play, especially when you look at the scoreboard and the points table. Arnold is a master at getting results and SFC will be in the grand final once again this year.
JonJax
Guest
Which makes Popovic's evolution at the Wanderers all the more interesting!
j binnie
Guest
Eden - This is a well put together discussion but it is in the last paragraph you really spark my interest. One line in particular "he isn't about to build a long term tic tac team strategy,instead a results driven defensive set-up". Have you ever posed yourself the question as to where a coach in Australia can get the players skilled sufficiently in all facets of the game to "build a long term tic tac team strategy" for, from experiences gained from the masters of the strategy it requires players such as Messi ,Ronaldo,Neymar,Bale,Muller,Levandowski not to mention attacking mids like Robben,Iniesta and Gotze who are all adept at scoring out of midfield. Now to procure players of that standing in the game would probably meet the budget of the HAL ,or even the FFA, for a year and then this poses another question,can any team in the HAL really come up with a " long term tic tac team strategy"? for it has long been known that it is easier to defend than attack in football and so we get back to your original point as to why a coach in the HAL would perhaps favour building a "results driven defensive set up" as a means of securing long term his employment. Good debating material. Cheers jb
j binnie
Guest
Just as a matter of interest can the question be posed------What is a coach hired to do,plan games to get results,or to entertain???? Let's try to get inside Graham Arnold's head & work out his thoughts. If we go back to his 2011 Grand Final team & examine his run on squad which to use modern jargon played 4-4-2 with a diamond. Then have a look at his run on teams with his Sydney FC if all players were available. Goalkeepers - Ryan & Janjetovic - Bothlocal lads who have come through the local system. Full backs - Bodjic & Rose: Ryall & Gersbach - Again all local "product",all loving to go forward at pace.Grant in reserve. Centrebacks -Wilkinson & Zwaanswijk; Jurman & Faty. One very experienced import, one emerging local. Defensive mid.- Griffiths & Tavares,both big ,strong and mobile. Attack mids - Mc Glinchy & Bozanic, Nincovic & Hoole. One import ,one local. Backup for strikers - Amini & Brosque. Both local. Strikers - Simon and Kwasnik (or McBreen). Simon (same one) & Holosko (marquee import) When one examines these players and their skills and talents side by side is there not a strange similarity emerges into how these teams were put together and how they played the game?. Maybe GA is not the "game destroyer" that everyone seems to be acclaiming, but a coach ,who having had success on the field with a system manned to his liking, simply carries on believing in what he has previously proved does work.?????? Thoughts?? jb.
Midfielder
Guest
Eden I think you are closer to the truth than some others..
Midfielder
Guest
Ian Don't read or comment on a couple of posters I have stopped even reading what they post ... one I am positive is in paid employment to post another seems to stir no matter were he posts maybe its how he gets his jollies off... Believe me don't react ... they only come on to get a reaction their purpose is to abuse, divide, criticize and confuse...
Midfielder
Guest
Agree F and we get hit for six if we suggest same.