Western Sydney need to win a mind game if they want to put their “Homebush hoodoo” behind them and end another horror streak with an upset result over history-chasing A-League neighbours Sydney FC.
No Wanderers fan needs to be reminded that it’s 10 matches and more than three years since their team’s last win over Sydney FC.
The Sky Blues are still unbeaten this season having picked up four points from the two previous derbies including a 4-0 opening-round shellacking of the Wanderers at ANZ Stadium, the venue for Saturday’s game.
The Wanderers haven’t won any of their eight home matches this season in the Olympic Park precinct -at ANZ Stadium or Spotless Stadium.
They’ve lost three and drawn five, and have dropped to seventh on the ladder.
“Sometimes, it gets into your mind that you can’t win in a place,” recently recruited Wanderers striker Ryan Griffiths said on Wednesday.
“You just automatically think that you can’t, so you just have to overcome those obstacles and the mind games, where everyone says ‘you can’t win at Homebush’.
“It’s something that you just need to overcome individually and as a group and, hopefully, we can put in a really good performance on Saturday.
“Hopefully, we can overcome the Homebush hoodoo and also get (back) into the top six with a win.”
Asked if the Wanderers had spotted any potential weaknesses in the Sky Blues, Grifftihs said: “I’m keeping that close to my chest – I am not going to give away too much.”
Sydney remain unbeaten after 19 games but defender Alex Wilkinson insists the ‘invincibles’ tag bestowed on them earlier in the season by coach Graham Arnold isn’t building pressure on the side as their streak lengthens.
“It’s not so much pressure – I think it’s more opportunity for us,” Wilkinson said.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position now where we can create history and push on to be the best team the A-League has ever seen.
“That’s what motivates us at the moment. It’s not the so-called invincibles tag.
“It’s the ability for the team to be able to go down in history as the team that’s scored the most points in an A-League season.
“I think that’s whats pushing us at the moment.
“You’ve got to worry about the opponent each week and, if you start getting too far ahead of yourself, things can unravel pretty quickly.”
Buddy
Guest
AZ - can't disagree with your synopsis re the players. Generally there is a disconnect this season and the place doesn't feel right. Other clubs cottoned on to what was being generated at WSW in the early days and have worked hard to vreate. Reltionship whereas it seems fractured this season and nobody is interested in fixing it including management hierarchy and TP. You rather suspect the big churn will happen again at the end of the season and things will be back at square one. I was looking forward to the ACL but personally due to work commitments cannot get to Campbelltown and I was considering going to either Japan or Korea again but can't say I feel enthusiastic at this stage.... The malaise is contagious!
AZ_RBB
Guest
On top of all the things you've listed above, the other things that will be keeping people away on Saturday night will be the forecasted heavy rain right around kick off.
AZ_RBB
Guest
It feels like every week we dream about our season turning around and nearly every week we are bitterly disappointing. We have the team to do really well and we see glimpses of what we're capable of. There's still a lot of football left for us to play this season. Even if we don't make the finals we play another 14 matches this season. I also feel like the fans have not felt any of sort affinity to this playing group. We like Nichols, Aspro, Santa and Dimas but a lot of the others feel like guests at the club. That's not how it's been in the past where even players who played a handful of games for us managed to win over the fans in one way or another.
Buddy
Guest
There is no hoodoo or anything similar about Homebush. The majority of the players didn't step onto the field at Parramatta so there is little in the way of a valid comparison between the venues from a player perspective. The short answer is that the team has come up short week in and week out this season. We spend a lot of effort in sport in trying to be consistent and WSW have achieved that especially in home games this season. They consistently try to play possession based football, they look as though they are dominating a game (read possession stats) they consistently give the ball back to the opposition in the final third of the field and the last part is that they consistently make basic errors when defending and give away penalties and scoring opportunities that leave most spectators scratching their heads. Last weekend's game was a classic case in point although having KGJ in the centre didn't help. It is hard to recall a game involving WSW when he hasn't either given a penalty or two or issued red cards to the team, all anecdotal but I am comfident there is more substance to the claim than in talking of hoodoos. However, when you combine the performances of the team with the lack of enthusiasm of the club members and supporters for their chosen temporary home, it makes for some good story telling. Using ANZ for the derby and the gate money has to be good business although it will be interesting to see the numbers this weekend with both teams struggling to pull any sizeable crowds except for the "event" games. Using it for Matches against Perth and MV was highly questionable to say the least, they were never going to draw a crowd that would make any kind of atmosphere, just cross code comparisons when cameras pan across swathes of empty seats. There appears to be a myriad of reasons that fans do not like The Homebush precinct. It appears to apply to all parts of the city and the only exceptions are the big events which Sydneysiders are famous for turning out for. Whether the so called hoodoo is created on or off the pitch, or is real or imagined there is one stunning fact. The team is not gaining results and that creates all kinds of talk amongst journalists and fans alike. Rumours, stories, scandals, whatever seems appropriate at the time but most importantly, does anyone feel that they are good enough to take 3 points from the Sky blues on Saturday night- I doubt it.