Round 19 - Sydney FC vs CCM - 17/2/19

The Cove
141

Some of those are way too generous. 9 for Milos? He was good, but not that good. Caceres and ALF don’t deserve a 7. Same with Redmayne because he didn’t have to do much all game and still hasn’t got good enough distribution.

142

Yeah not so sure about a fair few of those marks. Those kind of games are tough though.

143

corica is doing exactly the same thing as solskjaer is…imitating his former boss.

144

I watched the second half again and the scores seem harsh on Zullo and generous on Grant, Zullo and Ninkovic were combining really nicely and later they were joined by LeFondre who switched to the left when Reza came off. Having said that, it was probably just a case of the only football being played coming down the shaded grandstand side, I still wouldn’t have a difference between Grant and Zullo though.

And I’ll say again, and I don’t mind Brandon as a player but definitely in the second half he had a shocker, absolutely nothing in attack coming off for him and pretty wasteful with a lot of good ball.

145

I though Milos had a bit of a stinker actually. Dithered on the ball a lot and was frequently dispossessed.

Overall I’m concerned at our team’s lack of ability to get motivated against “lesser” opponents. These last 2 games we should have won easily, 1 point out of a possible 6 is incredibly poor.

146

It was mentioned above…a lack of ambition. It was there for the taking the last two games and we couldn’t step up. Extremely disappointing.

147

Match report is up, with the more interesting parts below:

You can view the match highlights here:

https://www.a-league.com.au/video/full-time-highlights-sydney-fc-v-central-coast-mariners-1

3 things we learned

  • This formation just isn’t working. I’ve said in previous match reports that I think we have played our best football when we have shifted to a 4-2-3-1, as it gets the most out of our creative players while also giving us the extra player in midfield. This game shows the serious deficiencies with our current flat 4-4-2. Reza and Le Fondre just weren’t able to support each other much. Ninkovic was having a good game but could only provide anything on one side of the pitch. Our midfielders had no options going forward and, when they went forward themselves, our midfield was more exposed. Assuming that we want to stick with 2 up front, this squad is much better suited to something like a 4-4-2 diamond where we can play Ninkovic in behind and have one of the midfielders playing a bit higher up the pitch.
  • Shooting is how you score goals. I’m just writing that because it’s important for the players to remember. It seemed like every time we had a decent chance we decided to try to walk it in rather than actually taking the keeper on. This was particularly frustrating towards the end of the game when we had Kennedy looking directly into the sun, making him vulnerable to shots from our left-sided players.
  • Our corners really need work. Throughout most of this season our corners have actually been alright. We have tended to take short crosses, often to O’Neill or Zullo, who will then cross it into the box from a better angle. This game, however, we just kept putting corners into the box and we barely ever beat the first man. On those occasions when we did beat the first man, we tended to lose out in any contest in the air. It was immensely frustrating to watch and, with just a bit more work, we could re-open that particular avenue to goal.

Post-match Statistics

  • If you include his 2 games as caretaker manager, Steve Corica has now managed 21 regular season A-League games, which is equal to Pierre Littbarski and Terry Butcher . Corica has a 52% win rate, while Littbarski had a 48% win rate and Butcher had a 38% win rate in those regular season games.
  • This was Sydney FC ’s first draw since we played Newcastle Jets in Round 4 on 10/11/18.
  • The club’s scoring streak has now reached 25 straight games, going back to the semi-final last season. With 49 goals in those 25 games, that is an average of 1.96 goals per game.

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

1 Like
148

Got two great crosses of the ball in Zullo and Grant having their service wasted with an inability for anyone to finish aerially. Not to mention the corners. We really need to reassess how we are going to break down teams. There is no will to counter and cannot score on set pieces or crosses. That leaves us to move the ball centrally through packed defences which inevitably fails.

149

I still think our team is unbalanced as our right side is very weak. None of our likely RMs (de Jong, Da Silva, Caceres or Retre) make anywhere near the contributions - in attack or defence - that Grant makes. All are tidy passers and a couple can dribble (DDS, Retre)or pass well (SDJ, Retre) but none of them are real ball-winners, none of them race back to cover if Grant is high, none of them really open up games in attack and none of them (apart from SDJ) look likely to score goals. What if we move Grant to RM and bring Tratt in behind him at RB? Not sure what is happening with Tratt’s injury status but he is both strong defensively (ground and air) and loves to bomb forward. And had he played yesterday, we probably would have 2 headed goals from dead balls/crosses. With Bobo gone, he is one of the very few SFC players who attacks the ball in the air with real conviction.

150

was thinking this in the second half. How amazing would it be if Grant was a left wing back? The play between him, Ninko and Alf would just be pure carnage. Grant often struggles to fine someone on that right wing to continue play so he’s forced to either cross it from deep or pass back to the centre, losing our width and penetration down that right side

151

Same problem as last season, the lack of width. While Ninkovic certainly had some good touches, I feel we lose some of his creative passes keeping him stranded out wide. We need to open the game out so our better players can win the 1v1s and penetrate the back line.

152

I wouldn’t move Grant, because we owe him to keep him in his strongest position and help him with his international career. If Corica didn’t recruit well enough or we are weak due to lack of fitness or conditioning, it’s not up to Grant to cover that.

153

I don’t think Paulska is saying we should move Grant.

Grant has played left back before. It did not go well…

154

I’m not sure that Grant being too advanced for De Jong, De Silva or Reza is the problem and I don’t think moving him to LB would result in an improvement over Zullo.

155

3-5-2!

156

Nah wasn’t responding to Paulska, but Pietro

157

We have some excellent players, but are so easy to defend against.
We’ve been a real dirge to watch for most of this season.

158

Really, I think we have played really attractive football - more than I can remember in any season. But these things of footballing taste can be very personal . However, a question to Moller (and others of similar mind):
If we had played exactly the same way but Mitch Austin’s shot had not gone off the post, if hitting the woodwork twice vs MV in Melbourne had meant goals (and we win 3-2), if Ninko’s volley vs Roar had gone in and one other of our shots had not been saved (we win again 3-2) and Ninko’s shot vs CCM had gone in off the post, his late shot not been saved by Kennedy’s foot and then Alf had netted his volley (ie we win 4-1), would it all have still been a real dirge?

3 Likes
159

You know what’s missing this season? David Fuckin’ Carney coming on off the bench, that’s what.
Moments of class, cool finishes, dodgy penalty wins - Super Dave brought it all.

1 Like
160

Yes. We’ve had a similar amount of moments fall in our favour as well - missed penalties, missed sitters and so on. We’ve also had a bit of luck in terms of decisions (other than that bizarre Wellington away game).
We have played some nice stuff at times (the Oz Day game in particular - for no reward), but far more often we’ve had a lot of possession and struggled to break teams down. The rigid 442 we’re playing doesn’t really get the best out of anyone, other than promoting the FBs attacking instincts.
It’s frustrating that we continue to play in the same fashion, despite the limitations being so apparent week after week.
Thankfully there’s plenty of time for adjustments to be made. The plate is probably gone, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t finish 2nd and/or win the GF.

1 Like