Round 16 - Melbourne vs Sydney FC - 26/1/19

The front of site blog isn’t allowing me to post the match preview so I’ll just put it here for now…

Match Preview

This is it. The biggest regular season game of the season, every season. Our old rivals in the traditional public holiday long weekend fixture. Judging by ticket sales there will be several hundred of us going down there and we really have to make this like a home fixture. Not only will it be a game against our traditional rivals, but it is also a crucial game for keeping us in the running for the title race and, just as importantly, keeping Melbourne out of the title race.

We can feel relief that Honda is out for this game, but even without him Melbourne’s attack has been looking in good form, scoring 10 goals in the last 3 games. Toivonen has lit up the league more than some expected and even Troisi has been playing well. Antonis picked up where he left off last season and is looking like one of the best midfielders in the league. If this Victory side has a weakness, however, it is their defence. They shipped 3 goals against Wellington last weekend and have conceded 18 this season. Unfortunately, they didn’t have to play a midweek fixture and so they come into this game with an extra half a week’s rest. Fortunately for us, they have had to spend that time in a heatwave.

Our defence will take comfort from the fact that we have had two straight clean sheets and, even if our back line looks very make-shift, Warland and Wilkinson look like they have been playing together for years. O’Neill has also taken a step-up in the last two games, providing good cover for the defenders as they need it.

With De Jong and Caceres out injured for this game, we are most likely going to revert to the same 4-4-2 which we finished the previous game with. De Silva is the obvious candidate to start on the right and Brosque will certainly be starting next to Le Fondre . Given that we are likely to be under sustained pressure for a decent part of this game, having those three available for counter-attacks could prove valuable for providing us with some scoring opportunities. One of our big problems will be that our bench is going to look very young, with Retre probably the only experienced head there. Still, Devlin and Ivanovic have both shown glimpses of quality this season and this could be a big chance for them to make names for themselves.

I predict that we will line up like this:

Previous Matches

Head-to-Head

Wins: 15 (31.9%)

Draws: 17 (36.2%)

Losses: 15 (31.9%)

Sydney FC record at AAMI Park

Wins: 7 (33.3%)

Draws: 8 (38.1%)

Losses: 6 (28.6%)

Last 5 Matches

25/11/18 – Sydney FC 1 – 2 Melbourne

28/04/18 – Sydney FC 2 – 3 Melbourne

13/04/18 – Sydney FC 1 – 0 Melbourne

26/01/18 – Melbourne 1 – 3 Sydney FC

7/10/17 – Melbourne 0 – 1 Sydney FC

Records

Biggest Win – 5 goals:

26/01/14 – Melbourne 0 – 5 Sydney FC

Biggest Loss – 5 goals:

16/10/05 – Melbourne 5 – 0 Sydney FC

Most Goals in a Game – 6 goals:

7/08/10 – Sydney FC 3 – 3 Melbourne

13/12/14 – Melbourne 3 – 3 Sydney FC

14/02/15 – Sydney FC 3 – 3 Melbourne

14/11/15 – Sydney FC 2 – 4 Melbourne

Most Appearances vs Victory – Alex Brosque (29)*

Most Goals vs Victory – David Carney and Mark Bridge (5)

Key Statistics

  • Sydney FC ’s record in Australia Day fixtures against Victory is 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.
  • Sydney FC are undefeated in their last 4 games in Melbourne against Victory.
  • Victory is the only club that Milos Ninkovic hasn’t scored against in the A-League.
  • Given that Corica will be forced to make changes through injury, this will be the fifth unique starting XI in a row.

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

1 Like

Game day, FIRE UP!

Nervous/excited for this one. I have woken up genuinely feeling like anything can happen but deep down I’m fearing Melbourne’s attack.

Happy FTT day everyone

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Those of you heading down, go large, be safe, and remember always to take fucking liberties.

2 Likes

Expecting a high scoring draw but these games can dish up anything.

It looks like they’ll have a Deng-Broxham CB pairing which we really should be exploiting with Alfie’s runs forward.

If Wellington tore them open here with their front 6 or so, we should be able to create a few opportunities.

2-2 is my guess but will take a 3-2 amazing scenes win.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a bore draw.
Both sides have injuries to key players and have had a disrupted recovery and preparation due to the ongoing heatwave. Lawrence Thomas is the best GK in the league, high on confidence and mistake free, only beaten by something special. Wilko should be able to contain Toivinen (as well as you can expect to) and I expect O’Neill & Brillante will be tasked with containing Antonis and told to stay deep and tight. A loss would pretty much end Melbourne’s title chances and likely see us 5 points off the pace at the end of the weekend as well.
All of that along with tactics as predictable as the sun rising in the east will result in both sides cancelling each other out.

Getting nervous now farken

1 Like

Really missing the Arnie vs Muscat rivalry. While Corica is sensible not making enemies (especially with long time friend in Muscat) it kind of lesssens the occasion.

Tbh I think Arnie overdid rubbing their noses in it when we collected the plate, and it came back to bite us and gave them added motivation in the semi. I’m happy for Corica to keep it on the down-low, we know that inside every one of our players hates those Melbourne cunts as much as we do.

1 Like

Team sheet:

Yeah I think we’re going to lose 2-0 or 3-1

Wow. No Brosque on the bench. I wonder if he’s just being restedor there’s something wrong

LINEUP: Here’s how your Sky Blues shape up for tonight’s massive #AustraliaDay #BigBlue at AAMI Park!

A few changes this evening, with Alex Brosque rested as a precaution among others, what do you make of the squad?

#SydneyIsSkyBlue #ComeWithUs

Someone plz PM me a stream?

What ever happened to the days of Mi1os, Ibini and Carney on the bench? Our depth is limited with our current injuries ect and we don’t really have someone to hold up the ball in the XI. Bit worried now and just praying a moment of magic will gift is the 3 points.

Shit. Tbh I thought Brosque was already “resting” himself inside the cake tin, obviously came on earlier than expected but he barely broke stride.

Hilly is clearly otherwise occupied, so I’ll add this to the thread for him…

La Haine!

1 Like

To be fair, without injuries we could have De Jong, Brosque, Caceres, Jop VDL as a bench.

Whilst I think we’re weaker this year than last, this one is down to injuries.

Brosque isnt rested. Hes injured with plantar fasciitis

So many people still queuing around the ground.