Yesterday in the press conference, Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel admitted to the media that his team is the worst team in the A-League.
Some fans are not sure whether he is being sarcastic, serious or just playing mind games.
Well, whichever one it is, you talk to some Western Sydney Wanderers fans and you would find a lot of them not disagreeing with their coach.
But if you look at Babbel’s recent interviews and press conferences, he does not hold back on his thoughts of his squad and he is a straight shooter. In his interview with Simon Hill, he singled out Roly Bonevacia and where he needs to improve as a player and Babbel wasn’t holding back.
However, Western Sydney fans do not have much confidence in their squad this season. Reason being that most Wanderers fans believe that poor recruitment and retention from previous management, lack of quality, imbalanced squad and lack of depth in key positions.
The preseason results against other A-League teams, including the 3-0 drubbing by Sydney FC in the FFA Cup Semi-Final doesn’t instil that belief and confidence amongst the Wanderers fans. For Wanderers fans, losing to Sydney FC is business as usual.
Wanderers fans point out that other teams in the A-League, especially Wellington, have recruited much better than their club and most of this season’s recruitment was done by the previous manager, Josep Gombau. Babbel was only able to bring in Alexander Baumjohann, Patrick Ziegler, Danijel Nizic and Rashid Mahazi. The only positive so far is that Babbel has been able to promote youth players such as Kosta Grozos, Marc Tokich and Keanu Baccus to the first team.
Overall, Western Sydney Wanderers are certainly not the worst team in the A-League, they do have some quality players that can win them games, Babbel has admitted after their FFA Cup semi-final loss that the weakest thing about this team is their mentality once they go down a goal.
Last week Western Sydney showed some courage to fight back from a goal down after Vedran Janjetovic mistake and claim a draw away to Perth.
It’s not really doom and gloom for the Wanderers, Babbel is an experienced manager, he would have learned some lessons from the FFA Cup derby and where his team stood.
Since Babbel was probably playing games with the media, Sydney FC and the Wanderers fans, it is up to the players to prove they are not the worse team in the A-League by trying to get a result, at least a win against Sydney FC tomorrow night.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Popovic probably has a connection with ikonimides I wouldn’t give up on Babbel, but he will need to get some of his type of players in the transfer window.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
On early form WSW must be strong contenders for the wooden spoon. Their back four is about the worst it has ever been in their 6 year history and there is a lack of creativity going forward. It is only the fact that in the A League there is a lack of precise and clinical finishing that may prevent a few cricket scores. I know new coaches are supposed to get a honeymoon period but the owners and board of the club are way beyond theirs and they are responsible for some very ordinary recruitment. How they missed out on Ikonemedis is beyond me. He has more talent than half the team put together. The choice of club captain is way beyond my comprehension. I thought we looked for natural leders nd sources of inspiration even if the individual is not the most talented in the squad. There again, I cannot think of an obvious alternative so that probably highlights the total lack of anything at the club. It is a mess and Babbel isn’t the man to fix it either.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Not sure they are the worst team , but I haven’t seen much of them play . If Riera doesn’t sky that chance, they beat Perth last week.