There’s been talk of Sydney FC going unbeaten this season, but such notions were always premature, and their last three performances including last night’s will leave Graham Arnold with plenty to ponder.
Sydney’s six-game winning streak to start the season will be largely irrelevant by season’s end – the A-League is such a long slog that anyone can win from anywhere as Adelaide proved last time around.
It will be of serious concern how many big players didn’t show up for the FFA Cup’s showpiece event – and is also a concern to see Sydney reject their passing game in favour of an aerial bombardment for the last half an hour as they tried to find a way back into the game.
First to the players.
Filip Holosko and Milos Ninkovic, so good in the six game winning streak, were in the background, the former withdrawn after only an hour.
Brandon O’Neill and Josh Brillante lost the metronomic consistency which has been their hallmark this season, eschewing their short passing to spray Hollywood passes to the flanks which inevitably turned over possession.
And tactically – Arnold, unflappable as his team cruised to their six wins in a row, panicked in the dugout, sending on one of his favourites Matt Simon with half an hour to go, pairing him with Bobo in attack and proceeding to watch his side play a procession of long balls in their direction.
You could count Simon’s touches in that last half an hour on one hand, for all his heart and persistence he is a plan C player for the last ten minutes, not plan B for the last half an hour.
Arnold made life difficult for himself with the change of shape, too. With Ninkovic and Alex Brosque in the wide positions of the 4-4-2 they were as far away from their most effective areas as possible and with the ball flying over the heads of Brillante and O’Neill, there was no control whatsoever.
It meant Arnold’s only other option in pursuit of an equaliser was to withdraw O’Neill and replace him with David Carney. It was a move that smacked of desperation and with the side already committed to playing long in the direction of Simon and Bobo, the influences of Brosque, Ninkovic and Carney in the final part of the game were minimal.
The simple solution would have been to replace the misfiring Holosko with Carney instead of Simon and continue to back the side to rediscover the panache that took them on their winning streak.
Carney was hugely effective as a substitute on the right hand side (where he made his name all those years ago) as Sydney chased the game against Melbourne Victory a few weeks ago – it was the obvious thing to do.
Instead, they were too clever by half – and it really ruined their chances of getting back into the game.
City meanwhile, did what they had to do, and they leant on a proven match winner.
Tim Cahill is obviously a player who knows how to win big games, it’s a skill Sydney and Arnold are still to discover.
Waz
Guest
lol. Brosque even says he wasn't fouled - does he need glasses?
Waz
Guest
That sums up the lack of analysis by our primary broadcaster who, this season, seem intent on amplifying or even creating "controversy"
Midfielder
Guest
N & MF We have all read the rumours, next year 12 teams and within three years 14 teams. At 12 teams the A-League will have roughly the same number of games as the AFL ... I have never shifted from the per game analysis ..also if you assume the next two teams will come from either Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne where ratings should also approach the 100k ... then is an interesting gamble from a network.. Lets assume, two separate results.... the A-League rates over 200 games with two more teams from Bri, Syd, Mel the ratings are close to 110K on Fox and 350K on FTA TV.... what is that worth .... Lets the next result, the subscription rating is 70K with a FTA of 150K... both are possible .. So lets say you pay 100 million and its the first result you are laughing, however if the second comes true you cry... So whats the risk you take... maybe a third example Football booms and 125K on Fox and 400K on FTA and you could have got it for 100 million.... Big game of poker going on my guess .. as for the amount I am not decided aside from I think it will be more than the 35 mil in cash of the old one.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Based on these figures, one could argue that Fox should pay $100 million per annum for the A-League rights. There was a poster, Fußball ist unser Leben, who used to say with a fair bit of conviction that the A-League rights were worth $100 million per annum. Maybe Fußball ist unser Leben was right? Hopefully when that day comes when he is proven correct, he will return to the Roar, he is much missed.
Nemesis
Guest
Very interesting figures, Midfielder. Those ratings are averaging about 50% of the AFL ratings on Foxsports. Foxsports just paid $217m/ year for 206 AFL matches - non-exclusive rights. They share the rights with Telstra and 7 Network. So, we can do some back-of-envelope and start to get a feel for what FoxSports may value 140 ALeague matches.
Midfielder
Guest
Bob Whats interesting is both the two Sydney sides and Melbourne sides plus Brisbane often draw over 100K now... With PG improving and AU also there ratings are up also. If we add another two sides from either Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne they should also be over to rate above 100 K ... meaning we have a very very very decent product to sell in the A-League... those FFA Cup ratings are quite big. Just to compare, the ARU kicked off their National Rugby Competition NRC at the same time FFA kicked off the FFA cup... the biggest rating of any NRC match was this years grand final which was 39 K...
striker
Guest
Cameron from TV Tonight-Ratings
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Great stuff. How much of the $4M over 3 years has Timmy Cahill paid back to the A-League so far, after just 8 rounds? Great to see such fantastic positives coming out of the FFA Cup, compared to the usual comments on this site from the AFL Harbingers of the Doomsday.
Midfielder
Guest
From 442 on A-League ratings... looks impressive ===========14/15 = 15/16 =16/17 Sydney =====113 === 68 === 96 Wanderers === 91 === 64 === 95 Victory ====== 84 === 71 === 102 Adelaide ===== 85 === 65 === 83 City ========= 79 === 70 === 90 Brisbane ===== 72 === 62 === 94 Perth ======== 67 === 54 === 68 Newcastle ==== 58 === 51 === 63 Mariners ===== 56 === 53 === 63 Wellington ==== 50 === 49 === 64
Midfielder
Guest
Just as an aside .... from the Wookie's site 2015 / 16 FFA Cup matches broadcast and their ratings... 2015 / 16 66 44 37 41 82 Final 2016/17 53 64 41 46 85 153 final Amazing increase actually
Cameron
Roar Guru
I'm surprised not many are mentioning this either, Nemesis.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Where did you get ahold of those ratings, striker?
Cameron
Roar Guru
Brosque was offside anyway.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I wish people would stop calling it "clever" and start calling it for what it really is.
Waz
Guest
lol. I Know you would ?
punter
Guest
Thank you!!!! I agree watching back on TV, not so blatant, but calling it not a foul, well still debatable.
pete4
Guest
I thought both sides played within themselves. You could see pressure was on both clubs not to lose City will obviously be happy with their 1st trophy though CFG have reportedly invested $60m plus into the club so far and it's beginning to bear fruit
punter
Guest
Waz as you said Arnie has had media training, do you really think he would put so much pressure on his team or himself. I'm a SFC fan & would be happy to lose 3-4 games & win the premiership by a pt & suffer all your barbs about 'invincibles' .
Midfielder
Guest
Watched the match last night from a BT stream out of England and was amazed at how many people from all over the world were watching... I tried to copy a part of the comments bar as the match was being played below ...bTW it was flying... shows how far our lttle league has come. • ก 2 นาที ก็เฮฮาปาร์ตี้แระ • พงศ์ ศักดิ์ ต่ำตอนนี้ ราคาอย่างเหี้ย • Michael F i cant stop laughing • MultiRubenvargas hola • พงศ์ ศักดิ์ คล น่ะ • Luiz velazquez ¿De qué país es este partido? • Brayan Ruiz Garciq hpt • Daniel Estévez Fernández australia • Carlos Acosta australia • dom btw i wasnt watching but did they do any commemoration for the victims of the plane crash in south america ? • Ruth Neverdie ลูกควบลูกครึ่งใส่ๆไปก่อนได้นะ
Waz
Guest
At the ground, live on tv, Roar going forward, I'd be screaming for a penalty and red card. No doubt. On watching it back on tv the first foul (maybe even the only foul) is Brosque and it's outside the box. Correct call. It's where fox are jetting us all down - they live the controversy so when refs get it wrong they show it over and over again; but when they're right they don't analyse the incident and instead talk up the controversy. It wasn't a foul unless you want to penalise Brosque, even he's saying that.