^ That’s so plausible I can’t believe it!
Or as anyone else would call it, a penalty.
4 Likes
This man has been to the future and just come back…
Andrew Redmayne and Rhyan Grant are absent on Socceroos duty, while Patrick Flottmann and Ryan Teague are absent with the Olyroos and Joeys respectively.
Trent Buhagiar, Ben Warland and Chris Zuvela continue their rehab following ACL injuries while the remainder of the squad are fit and available.
Sydney FC squad: 4.Alex WILKINSON, 5. Alex BAUMJOHANN, 6. Ryan McGOWAN, 7. Michael ZULLO, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 13.Brandon O’NEILL, 16. Joel KING, 17.Anthony CACERES, 18. Luke IVANOVIC, 20. Tom HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 21. Harry VAN DER SAAG, 24. Marco TILIO, 26. Luke BRATTAN, 27. Jordi SWIBEL, 40. Tristan PRENDERGAST (GK).
two to be omitted
Unavailable: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk) (Socceroos duty), 2. Patrick FLOTTMANN (Olyroos u23’s Duty), 3.Ben WARLAND (ACL - indefinite), 12. Trent BUHAGIAR (ACL – indefinite), 19. Chris ZUVELA (ACL – indefinite), 23.Rhyan GRANT (Socceroos Duty), 25. Ryan TEAGUE (Joey’s u17’s World Cup Duty).
When that front 4 clicks we will be unplayable. The only question is when it will be. Proper ballers with pace in front of them and Trent and Tomic on the bench is going to be porn at some point. We may struggle against Adelaide but in a month these pre-season concerns will seem stupid.
In Bimbi we Trust.
1 Like
What will our bench be? Prendergast, King, Caceres, Ivanovic and who? Swibel maybe because Tilio and Ivanovic perform similar roles? That would leave us pretty light on for replacements if something goes wrong at the back.
Retre and Brannerz can cover the entire back 4. It gives us more options to load the bench with game changers. If we go to 7 man benches 100% get Simon back.
I’m not even sure what my starting xi is.
TWB
Retre, McGowan, Wilko, Zullo
O’Neill
Kosta, Brattan, Ninko
Ivanovic, LeFondre
Prendergast, Flottmann?, ???, Caceres, ??? (Do we have another striker?)
?
This squad is kind of a mess imo.
He’s on Olyroos duty.
And no we don’t have a backup striker beyond Ivanovic who is really more of a wide forward.
We’re playing 4-2-2-2 again, and Le Fondre, Kosta, Buhagiar, Ivanović are all forwards more than wide playmakers in that shape.
TWB
Retre Wilkinson McGowan Zullo
Brillante Branners
Baumjohann Ninkovic
Barbarouses ALF
Bench: new keeper, Van der saag, caceres, tilio, swibel
Buddy. I got some bad news…
8 Likes
But Kosta is really more of a winger, yeah? And does Buhagiar have an ETA?
And where is Brattan meant to play? He’s not really a pure DM like Brillante. To my mind he like Caceres - that CM type player that we don’t really have in our 4222… Can probably put Baumjohan in that bracket? I’m not really sure how we’re meant to fit all of them plus Ninko in?
The sooner Corica asks these questions and works out the answer is 4-2-3-1 the better. 
6 Likes
Ok but then who’s your lone striker there? LeFondre?
Habit. Obviously Brattan
Yep. ALF up top, Kosta wide, Milos at 10. Pick anyone of Baum, Caceres, Ivanovic and Retre for the other wide spot. The other three make up a shit hot bench (when Rhyan is back).
Bare in mind it’s a narrow 3, all the width has come from our FB’s since the dawn of time.
2 Likes
He’s not really ideal, is he?
I don’t see Kosta staying very central, whatever position he plays. And I don’t see ABJ staying very wide…
It may be a de facto 4231, regardless of what it says on the team sheet…
You mean ALF? I reckon he’s a pretty complete 9 at this level. Can score all types of goals and is rather underrated in his buildup play and ability to bring others into it. Our biggest issue last year was when he pulled wide early and then we had no one supporting him in the box… Kosta can hopefully help with this, either by being the one to pull wide early or by hauling ass to support ALFie.
You’re probably right that we’ll see a bit of both at times. The biggest issue as I see it is still transition (is that still a buzzword?). When teams sit deep and both our FB’s push we end up with a very defined 2-2-4-2 and that “box” of central DM’s and CB’s are ripe for the picking. I wanna see us defend deeper in that 4-2-3-1, lay the trap and then be the ones causing carnage going the other way.
Its a 4-2-2-2. Alfie and Kosta interchanging up top and Ninko leftish and ABJ rightish and Zullo and Grant overlapping. Ive only seen the WU preseason game but it was the same system as the Roar game.
The only annoyance is when we play off the floor. Crosses or balls down the middle that are in the air are a waaaaaaste. Very frustrating.
I’ll bet Santalab’s white hood that we get 5 4x this year.