Carl Robinson says the blame for Western Sydney’s stuttering start to the A-League Men season lays at his door after his side were booed off following a 2-0 defeat to Macarthur FC.
A second-half finish from defender Tomislav Uskok broke the deadlock after an hour of play before substitute Jake Hollman netted in the 74th minute to seal victory for Ante Milicic’s table-topping side.
Robinson lost in the FFA Cup to NPL side APIA Leichhardt on Tuesday with a rotated team, but the nature of the defeat to Macarthur will have done nothing to silence his detractors.
The Wanderers were shorn of creativity and despite having 65 per cent of the ball, did little to excite the crowd of 8910 at Commbank Stadium.
“Don’t blame the players, if you want to blame anyone blame me,” said Robinson, who was without Jack Rodwell and Tomer Hemed after they picked up knocks in the Wanderers’ unconvincing win over Wellington last week.
“I’m thick skinned enough and I know football is a results-driven business.
“The one thing people can’t criticise is my work ethic or my will to win. I will try and do that as much as I can.
“I will continue to work with the players and they have my backing and they will drown out the noise.”
The Bulls sat deep and invited Western Sydney to attack for much of the opening hour, but the home side were unable to engineer a breakthrough with Bernie Ibini leading the line in Hemed’s absence.
They snatched at chances and they would come to rue their missed opportunities when Daniel de Silva was found in space on the Macarthur left in the 64th minute.
His cross was flicked on by Lachlan Rose and, after his first attempt was parried by Wanderers goalkeeper Tomas Mejias, Uskok hammered home on the second time of asking to put the Bulls ahead.
It was a smash and grab effort from Macarthur, but they extended their lead when Rose again linked with De Silva on the counter.
A backheel from the striker found De Silva who played Hollman in on goal, with the substitute cooly finishing past Mejias to ensure Macarthur’s unbeaten start to the season remains intact.
“It’s very important for us especially with the change of personnel we’ve had through pre-season,” said Milicic, whose side still haven’t conceded from open play.
“We defended well when we needed to and that laid a good solid foundation for us.
“We go home delighted and the clean sheet was a major focus for the playing group.
“Tonight was always going to be a difficult game for us. We had three games in six days and (a group of) players up in the grandstand.
“It’s a good start for us, but the desire has been excellent from the boys with the amount of games we had in a short space of time.”
josh
Guest
One team markets themselves as not being part of Western Sydney, that's the difference.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
But i thought you said Campbelltown was part of Western Sydney?
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Milicic, is definitely earning a reputation being a quality coach. This is great for Australian Football; the ALM comp is on a knife edge and the teams are very closely match. This is what we want!
Marcel
Guest
Players win matches....Coaches lose them...Who in their right mind would subject themselves to that sort of gig. I take it as a given that all coaches are motived by an unfulfilled ego.
Mark
Guest
Speaking of dying?? Haha! Last season’s champions were wound up. A number of other teams going in the same direction. The CSL bubble has well and truly burst.
Waz
Roar Rookie
They’re not a good team on paper. That’s just a kind the media have been feeding you.
Josh
Guest
It's not a derby. The name you gave it implies there are 2 Western Sydney teams, there isn't.
Nick Symonds
Guest
A crowd of under 9,000 for a Western Sydney Derby? The A-League is dying. Let's all watch the Chinese Super League on SBS On Demand instead. - https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/socceroo-mooy-and-chinese-super-league-now-on-sbs-573891
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Macarthur are solid when they park the bus and their keeper is in form. The first three matches WSW have Hemed and cant press well because he is there, ironically they come up against a team they didnt need to press and Hemed is missing, and Hemed would have been the man they wanted in the box in this game. Ibini is a counter attacking player as a striker while he got one good header they had a lot of crosses in. The suprising thing was Troisi despite playing mid week looked one of the more energetic players and did well in the first half, much better than some of the lame performances he had last season. Ogawa is energetic but really for a player with so much J-league experience he lacks quality , compare him to Danzaki who was one of best players in the A-league last season and cant get a game in the J-league. Petratos he is well down on his Jets performances and showing no sign of improvement, they needed him shooting in this match , his crosses while very good they lacked the players in the box.. Antonis he looks out of touch, he is not the player to rely on to defend counter attack either. Ugarkovic has gone downhill at WSW. Traore why would you get a player from MV last season. Aquilina should have gone to help Troisi defend to prevent the first goal, why he though leaving Troisi one on one with De Silva on the edge of the area escapes me. The only player who has really performed has been Rhys Williams but not in the way you would want, making a lot of desperate last ditch tackles. Macarthur with parking the bus, and counter attacking are onto an effective way of playing. Lachie Rose his work rate coming back and shoring up the defence is great. De Silva is their standout so far.
Grem
Roar Rookie
That's good to hear. On paper The Wanderers are a good side and will hopefully have a good season. I want to see the team regularly pulling in over 10000 each game.
Dennis
Guest
I was at Apia and parra tonight. We need a concerted effort by the membership (like the cove five years ago to get rid of Farina) to be rid of CR. After that there has to be a consideration of JT who has repeatedly recruited poorly. The more feedback we can get the quicker this can be fixed. Unless we all do something nothing will change. The management of this great club holds the membership in contempt with their arrogance.
Josh
Guest
CR has to go now, he was the one being booed tonight not the team.