Master beats apprentice as Sydney FC strike late to overcome resilient Nix thanks to Gomes' star turn

Have been working so only just seen the game. I thought Faghani let a lot go for both sides, but was consistent carding the SFC players who grabbed shirts and so on to stop Phoenix players getting through midfield. Who did you specifically think should have been given a red and why?

A friend of mine is receiving radiation at the moment for breast cancer and her tumour has shrunk significantly in a short amount of time. After the radiation is finished they will remove the smaller tumour. It looks to be a really good solution.

No chance at all!

It’s interesting that Tilio is trying to come home again to Sydney or City. And I liked Segecic a lot.

Interesting considerations for Talay. I do believe the False 9 setup we saw the other night is a blueprint of how SFC can pull back results. Kurcharski looks a little unpolished but I'm putting that down to the young man just needing a bit more time on the pitch. I do really hope to see Girdwood Reich and Bratten play together in that holding role also - they looked strong together and Girdwood Reich is an infinitely better CDM than CB for me. His physically to break up the Phoenix transition and muscle players off the ball was amazing - for a 19 year-old! As I aluded to in my separate comment, I want to see Segecic brought into this team post-season. For me, he is Caceres' natural replacement.

thanks Grem, radiation starts this week

I hope you’re there as well. Hoping the next plan of attack for your health is working nicely or soon will. I think Sydney are coming good, but who knows? Three wins in a row might be a bit much to ask for so a 2-2 draw would be good. That ticket deal is excellent and those sorts of initiatives need to be looked at by all clubs.

But kids need proud mums and dads to bring them and then they bring grandma and grandpa as well because everyone wants to see their kids. If you want adult entertainment then that’s not far from the Paddington end!

The $9 tickets were/are a package deal, 4 games for $36 they released a couple of weeks back. No idea how they went but it was/is an excellent deal. Not real sure if they're still available. No injury update yet but if Hore and Scott Neville are still out, and Burke-Gilroy and Brown are out as expected, with Bereunger still being eased back, I think Roar will struggle again. No update on Waddingham. Brisbane crowd is on permanent protest but hope the Den turn out like they have for recent matches. Hope I can make it.

I hate the small kids games at the mens halftime..they need to get more adult inventive entertainment

Hawkesby was great as well. And really look forward to the rise of the Dos Santos girls. It was enjoyable and a great way to “KeepUp” with the women’s competition. I also think it would lead to bigger numbers for both games in terms of spectators, especially if each game has small sided kids games at half time. And we need more spectators.

I think thats unfair on Burgess. He's been out for a while but when he comes on he adds zip to the side. He's a very dangerous player and has lost none of his speed. He'll be a handful once he gets some game time under him.

Agree Grem. There would have been around 8k in for the women's game which was really good to see. Every time Vine got the ball the noise levels went up.

I quite fancy this will be a spicy game - Roar are the competitions wounded animal right now, and the A League is good at putting the boot in when you’re down. I’d expect SFC to start like they did against Nix: 15 shots in the first 30 minutes, press hard, flying tackles, cards … see if Roar buckle under the pressure. I wouldn’t be surprised with a couple of red cards either. As for the boycotts - I highly doubt they’ll have an impact, crowds are made up of the loyal last few now so unlikely to walk right now (anyway, what are they protesting - the only person that’s done anything wrong is Ross not honouring his contract and the emerging picture is not looking favourable on Ross)

I like the idea of protests, but not ones that hurt the team. I hope as many spectators as possible are there and they find another way to let Kaz, Zac, the Backries, etc that they want more done for their club. I also hope the Roar shrug off this bad result and are back to their best. A 2-2 draw with Brisbane getting the equaliser in the 94th minute would be a good result for football and supporters of both clubs.

Roar need some luck with the weather, they’ve not had any luck these past two games. Hopefully the pitch has had time to recover but has had rain on it pretty much every day for a week. Crowd wise will be interesting, especially with it being on FTA but SFC is one of our two top drawing opponents so hopefully the cheap tickets and favourable weather get a good showing. It should be said that some elements are trying to organise a match boycott to protest the 1-8 result and Bakrie ownership (the joke being “who would notice” lol) but hopefully it doesn’t put significant numbers off.

That will add to the atmosphere. This could be a cracking game if both teams bring a strong press and attacking football to the game.

The good thing is Talay will give youth and players a go, so the rest of this season will be interesting. For all that great work last night in the first half they should have had at least two goals, so they left the game open and could have gone down. I really like Kurchaski. I’m not sure what his best position is, but he’s not scared to have a shot and can finish. He could become a decent 9 and he can rotate with Mac (who can play 9) and Lolley, who can score. Working Kurcharski with Caceras last night was really effective. That’s the most involved I’ve seen Caceras for a long time and he’s so classy with the ball at his feet. Both those players should score goals. Wood is quick and has the ability to do well, but he’s had a reasonable amount of chances to establish himself and hasn’t. He is a good bench player to bring on late as players tire. Hopefully he can get more confidence and add some late goals like Smeltz used to do years ago when we had Janko. Last night’s team from midfield to attack was pretty impressive. I thought Girdwood Reich was great and worked well with Brattan as well and having a fit Rodwell behind them is a real benefit for attack and defence. I’d like to play Kurcharski with Gomes, but I couldn’t drop Lolley, Mac, Caceras, Brattan or Girdwood Reich for that to happen, so I’d stick with last night’s team with Kurchaski as a false 9 and get ready to bring Gomes on if things aren’t working. I also think Glasson could be a good 9 and I want to see a lot more of Aminitides- he looks really classy.

Phoenix were foolish enough to play out from the back. Maybe they thought they could tire out Lolley and Mak that way. Sydney just did the common sense thing with Faghani press and hack. How does anyone get protected with Faghani there, as long as you dont back chat forget the reds and hack away.

Interested to hear your thoughts Grem, but who do you play at 9? Gomes comes away with the best numbers, but how do you find Kucharski and Wood?