Round 1 - Wellington vs Sydney FC - 2/1/21

The Cove
1

Can’t wait to go to Wollongong for this one.

The main thing I’m curious about is what Corica sees as our best midfield pairing. The Hof made a strong case for why he should be there but Retre was solid last season and is undoubtedly more familiar with the rest of the squad. That said Retre as a utility off the bench would be very helpful.

I also wonder what role Caceres will play this season as he made a good case for taking ABJ’s place.

EDIT: Preview is up on the front page:

Key Statistics

  • Sydney FC have only played two competitive fixtures at WIN Stadium , a 3-0 FFA Cup win against Wollongong Wolves in 2016 and a 0-0 draw against Newcastle Jets in 2015, which is memorable for Marc Janko having a superb goal ruled offside. Sydney also played three pre-season cup games in Wollongong, with one win and two losses.
  • Despite the fact that Wellington Phoenix have been one of the teams to most challenge us in recent seasons, Sydney have only lost 1 game in the last 12 against the Phoenix. This was a 3-1 loss in December 2018.
  • Trent Buhagiar scored his 12th goal for Sydney during the ACL campaign (30 games). This draws him equal with John Aloisi (12 goals in 40 games) and Sebastian Ryall (12 goals in 188 games).

Previous Matches

Head-to-Head

Wins: 23 (56.1%)

Draws: 5 (12.2%)

Losses: 13 (31.7%)

Sydney FC record at WIN Stadium

Wins: 1 (50%)

Draws: 1 (50%)

Losses: 0 (0%)

Last 5 Matches

17/07/20 – Sydney FC 3 – 1 Wellington

21/12/19 - Wellington 2 – 2 Sydney FC

20/10/19 – Sydney FC 2 – 1 Wellington

23/02/19 – Wellington 0 – 1 Sydney FC

23/01/19 – Wellington 0 – 1 Sydney FC

Records

Biggest Win – 6 goals:

19/01/13 – Sydney FC 7 – 1 Wellington

Biggest Loss – 2 goals:

5 occasions: 4/1/12, 6/10/12, 20/12/14, 12/03/16, 8/12/18*

*Note: We did lose by 3 goals in a pre-season cup match in 2007-08 but I do not count this as a competitive fixture.

Most Goals in a Game – 8 goals:

19/01/13 – Sydney FC 7 – 1 Wellington

Most Appearances vs Phoenix – Alex Brosque (23)

Most Goals vs Phoenix – Bobo (7)

Note: Appearances and goals only include league games, finals, FFA Cup, OFC and AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.

2

Hoff and Caceres as depth will be the difference for us this year. Rest for his eminence Ninko and pressure on the rest of the midfield. Cap limits mean don’t have huge depth up front but we are really good everywhere else.

Compare that to another side who are looking to Yeboah…

3

The superstitious side of me is happy we are playing our first game in 2021. I’m sure if we were to play in 2020 again 6 or 7 guys would do their ACLs or some shit like that. A last fuck you from the worst year in living memory

1 Like
4

I hope he does but I don’t think Corica will Chuck the hof in to start. He will keep him on the bench.
Unless he has to he tends to hold the kids back a bit.

5

I think we’ll get:

Redmayne
Grant McGowan Wilkinson Zullo
Brattan-Retre
Ninkovic-Baumjohann
Barbarouses-Buhagier

Bench: Heward-Belle, Warland, King, Nieuwenhof, Caceres, Ivanovic, Van der Saag/Swibel/Zuvela

With 5 subs and a long season, I think Corica will build up Hof gradually. Probably get some good bench time maybe miss a few squads early on but get more minutes as the season progresses.

6

Wouldn’t surprise me if Caceres gets picked ahead of Baumjohann - seemed to have secured the first XI spot during the bubble.

We should see plenty of Ninko, ABJ AND Caceres with load management on the older guys (and shit, Ninko is 35 (!!) And ABJ is turning 34 next month).

7

Yeah that would make sense. Caceres will play alot of games as we limit Ninkovic and ABJ game time. Similarly can see alot of King/Zullo left back rotation even if Zullo is fit.

8

Has anyone received the member’s discount email yet?

1 Like
9

Nothing about the Wellington game yet - just the W-League derby

10

Preview is up on the front page:

Key Statistics

  • Sydney FC have only played two competitive fixtures at WIN Stadium , a 3-0 FFA Cup win against Wollongong Wolves in 2016 and a 0-0 draw against Newcastle Jets in 2015, which is memorable for Marc Janko having a superb goal ruled offside. Sydney also played three pre-season cup games in Wollongong, with one win and two losses.
  • Despite the fact that Wellington Phoenix have been one of the teams to most challenge us in recent seasons, Sydney have only lost 1 game in the last 12 against the Phoenix. This was a 3-1 loss in December 2018.
  • Trent Buhagiar scored his 12th goal for Sydney during the ACL campaign (30 games). This draws him equal with John Aloisi (12 goals in 40 games) and Sebastian Ryall (12 goals in 188 games).

Previous Matches

Head-to-Head

Wins: 23 (56.1%)

Draws: 5 (12.2%)

Losses: 13 (31.7%)

Sydney FC record at WIN Stadium

Wins: 1 (50%)

Draws: 1 (50%)

Losses: 0 (0%)

Last 5 Matches

17/07/20 – Sydney FC 3 – 1 Wellington

21/12/19 - Wellington 2 – 2 Sydney FC

20/10/19 – Sydney FC 2 – 1 Wellington

23/02/19 – Wellington 0 – 1 Sydney FC

23/01/19 – Wellington 0 – 1 Sydney FC

Records

Biggest Win – 6 goals:

19/01/13 – Sydney FC 7 – 1 Wellington

Biggest Loss – 2 goals:

5 occasions: 4/1/12, 6/10/12, 20/12/14, 12/03/16, 8/12/18*

*Note: We did lose by 3 goals in a pre-season cup match in 2007-08 but I do not count this as a competitive fixture.

Most Goals in a Game – 8 goals:

19/01/13 – Sydney FC 7 – 1 Wellington

Most Appearances vs Phoenix – Alex Brosque (23)

Most Goals vs Phoenix – Bobo (7)

Note: Appearances and goals only include league games, finals, FFA Cup, OFC and AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.

1 Like
11

Nix should do well (which means theyll do poorly because they always seem to perform best when under rated). Hemed should be a great get at this level

12

I wonder if / when the club will publish the members discount details…?

13

Check your emails. :wink:

14

Just saw it - thanks mate

15

Retre is out injured so probably Hoff or Caceres next to Brattan

16

Gotta be the Hof with Caceres as the other 10 please.

17

Yeah we have a pretty terrible record of games where we started all three of Ninko, Caceres, ABJ…

  • R14 (W 2-1 v Newcastle)
  • R18 (L 0-1 v WSW)
  • R26 (L 1-2 v WU)
  • R27 (D 1-1 v Adelaide)
  • R29 (L 0-2 v City)

We don’t get the best out of Caceres, and don’t have enough running in midfield. I imagine it will only be worse with Ninko+ABJ a year older.

2 Likes
18

Thats an interesting stat!

19

It was pretty manual and I’m somewhat hungover so hopefully it’s an accurate stat!

20

An update with regards to active support.

Due to the current climate of the pandemic, it is with disappointment that we announce there will be no organised active support for tomorrow’s game in Wollongong against Wellington.

Advice from NSW Health saw restrictions placed on behaviour and actions within the ground (e.g., No chanting) which makes it impossible for us to engage and lead any style of active support.

We still encourage people to turn up and give their support to the team during these tough times.

Times are tough, but Sydney is tougher.

1 Like