Graham Arnold needs a media coach

In the penultimate round of the best A-League season in history, three different teams held the premiership lead at different times.

The top five sides are separated by only four points, and four teams could still finish top with a game to go.

Breathtaking.

Something else took the breath away this weekend as well.

Sydney FC’s mathematical top-six chances were ended just before they took to the Sydney Football Stadium against Adelaide United, and it was clear they were playing with an eye on Tuesday night’s Asian Champions League match against Pohang Steelers. Understandable, both from a playing and coaching point of view.

After the match, Sydney coach Graham Arnold fielded questions from the Fox Sports studio panel of Mark Rudan, Adam Peacock and Mark Bosnich. He talked openly about the struggles of the last winless 11 games, admitted that it was a new position for him to be in, and said he was “loving it”, in regard to learning from the experience.

When asked what the biggest factor was in Sydney FC’s failed domestic season, he highlighted the long-term injury to Alex Brosque, who he was relying on for the goals he got from Marc Janko in the previous campaign.

And then it all fell apart.

The panel went to wind the interview up when Arnold demanded an apology for Peacock, for suggesting that the coach had avoided talking to the panel for the last three weeks as Sydney FC’s run of bad results continued. This led to an unseemly exchange, as the genial Fox Sports presenter attempted to clarify a situation that should never have been discussed in front of the cameras.

It had, in fact, been Bosnich who a week ago suggested Arnold was “ducking” the panel.

Whether true or not, Peacock was caught in the crossfire and following an ad break explained the situation to those who might have been puzzled by the whole surly exchange.

Arnold has form when it comes to being sharp-tongued during interviews. Sometimes it comes off as monumentally foolish, such as when he publicly declared that some of his players “didn’t want to be there” in a post-match interview during the 2007 Asian Cup, when he had the Socceroos job on a trial basis. The fact his captain Mark Viduka was next to be interviewed and refuted the claim pretty much torpedoed Arnold’s claims to the top job on a permanent basis.

At other times, Arnold is refreshingly candid and won’t be boxed into normal coach-speak. He’s a master of mind games and isn’t too bothered if he upsets the hierarchical paymasters, such as earlier this season when he ripped apart the FFA’s plans for a third Sydney team in the A-League. When Kevin Muscat’s claimed that Arnold’s public words had got a Melbourne Victory player cited and suspended post-match, Arnold’s response was priceless: “The only time the FFA listen to me they fine me.”

However, his demand for an apology on Saturday came off as churlish. The fact it came at the end of an interesting interview, where he held court and answered all questions, somehow made it worse. Someone with media savvy needed to advise him to take the moral high ground. If he felt he’d been slighted, he’d responded perfectly by doing the interview. He could have then sought an apology off-camera if he felt so strongly about it.

By going the route he did, he made the interview redundant, and once again made it all about him. The odd thing is that the only thing Arnold gains from such an action is a black mark against his reputation.

It hasn’t been a good season for the Sky Blues, but there is no suggestion that Arnold’s job is under threat. His side have a realistic chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the ACL for the first time in their history, and this from the tournament’s ‘Group of Death’.

When one of the glamour clubs of the league goes 11 games without a win, and tumbles from the top to outside finals contention, the coach is going to have to field uncomfortable questions. Bosnich felt Arnold had been absent in doing so for the last month. Given they are former Socceroos teammates, I’m pretty sure that could have been cleared up with a phone call. Or even better, Arnold could have given the interview and answered all the questions. Oh, wait. He did that.

And that’s why Arnold’s post-interview demand for an apology – from the wrong guy – was so unnecessary. Sometimes, letting your actions speak for you is action enough. Even when they’re words.