Well one of the hallmarks of the Arnie era was that when we were beaten we tended to rebound pretty quickly. Let’s hope we can continue that (I’m less optimistic).
I’m really hoping we make just the one change for this one, with DDS for Brosque. I’m much less keen on playing SDJ up front than some others here so I would also like to see that change in personell tied to a formation change. I’m definitely not expecting that however.
Yeah. He’s not very mobile, so he’s not going to harass defenders and make a lot of space for Alf. Nor does he seem like he’s devistating in the air or going to hold up the ball well…
What do people think he’s going to add by being on the front line, as opposed to finding space on the edge of the area?
Crucial not to lose this one…AD are in form and from what Ive seen can beat any team.They have deficiencies of course,I hope SC can exploit them.
Retre cant start at RB against Goodwins speed.
I’m not sure who we have that’s quicker?
Hows Tratts speed?..
He doesn’t strike me as speedy…
OK, even a touch more pace helps.
I think Retre has done best in MF and was substituted when it wasnt necessary.
Anyway,it’ll be interesting who starts and what formation.
3 in one half (Perth/Welly) is unacceptable to all fans.SC has to recognise where the weak points are.
I mean to say I think he’s slower.
It will be Retre there until Grant is back.
I’m going to guess it’s something like:
Redmayne,
Retre, Calver, Wilko, Zullo
O’Neill, Brillante
DeJong, Ninko
Brosque, LeFondre
Agree with all of that, except I do think he’ll be able to hold the ball up well.
Heh, one from way out left field 
I could see him playing more of a centre-forward type role, or even, traditional second striker role (a bit deeper again) with ALF playing more of the traditional striker role up front. In other words, De Jong holding up the ball and playing ALF into a scoring position. As he’d be sitting back a bit deeper, he’d also have a chance at a longer drive shot on goal for which he’s had a few attempts this season that have rocketed off his foot (but been off target).
I’m not necessarily convinced, but I’m interested to see how it may pan out. The speculation of De Jong playing alongside ALF was purley based off Corica’s comments last week about Brosque needing a rest, and De Jong therefore playing more centrally to replace Brosque during that time.
Our main task now is to fix a terribly leaky defence. I am pretty sure Tratt is faster than Retre and is also much stronger in the air and mobile. Losing Grant has many times compounded the already terrible weakening on our right due to losing Adrian for SDJ/Retre. Tratt to RB.
Zullo will have to cope with Bill’s cousin who is super pacy too. And our CBs will have trouble with Halloran (again). So, we need to stop AU mids hitting those long balls over the top of our defence. We have not been able to deal with these all season. This means more defending from the front where SDJ, for all his technical qualities, gives us almost nothing - so if Siem is to play he should be second striker (instead of Brosque). Hopefully if DDS starts - and has all that energy waiting to release, he will help cover that RMF hole. We will need a lot more from Ninko too to assist Zullo and also the 2 CMs. It’s going to be a very tough game to win. Without Grant now, we are a shadow of what we were last year.
I said this on my blog, but I reckon we need to switch Brilliante out and put Retre in CM. Tratt at RB until Grant returns so at least we have a RB who’s more comfortable defending.
Swap Brosque for SDJ up front, and get Ivanovic or DDS to start on the wing. A bit of pace everywhere could really help. As for Wilko/Calver… it’ll have to do. I’m wondering if we give Redders the armband if he’d start being more commanding with his back four. From memory Bolton often took captaincy when players went off and really was solid.
Here are the squad by the way:
Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.Aaron CALVER, 4.Alex WILKINSON, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7.Michael ZULLO, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11. Daniel DE SILVA, 13.Brandon O’NEILL, 14.Alex BROSQUE ©, 17. Anthony CACERES, 18.Jacob TRATT, 20.Alex CISAK (gk), 21.Charles LOKOLI-NGOY, 22.Siem DE JONG, 24.Cam DEVLIN, 31.Luke IVANOVIC.
two to be omitted
Ins: 21.Charles LOKOLI-NGOY (promoted), 24.Cam DEVLIN (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 3.Ben WARLAND (foot – 1 weeks), 5.Jop van der LINDEN (hamstring – 2 weeks), 12.Trent BUHAGIAR (ACL – indefinite), 19.Chris ZUVELA (knee – indefinite), 23. Rhyan GRANT (International Duty)
Adelaide United squad: 1.Daniel MARGUŠ (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.Ryan STRAIN, 6.Vince LIA, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.Isaías SÁNCHEZ ©, 10.Ken ILSØ, 11.Craig GOODWIN, 14.George BLACKWOOD, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Nikola MILEUSNIĆ, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 27.Louis D’ARRIGO, 31.Mirko BOLAND
two to be omitted
Ins: 6.Vince LIA (returns from suspension), 31.Mirko BOLAND (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 9.Baba DIAWARA (knee), 18.Lachlan BROOK (knee), 33.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS (quad)
Will Milos be playing after the birth of our future captain?
He’s in the squad and club Twitter said to come celebrate with him at Kogarah, so assume so.
If we’re going to continue with two up front (and we shouldn’t), we can’t really continue with two deep CMs. Hoping we change things up a bit, but expecting the same XI.
After watching Adelaide’s performance last week I reckon they’re going to press the hell out of Joshy and O’Neill then try and expose Retre at right back through Mileusnic using his pace
Score predictions? I’m feeling like we might bounce back a bit with a 2-1. ALF and De Jong.