City have plenty to play for but haven’t played since the restart. We have nothing to play for but haven’t been looking great. So who knows?
I fancy us to do well in this one. The pressure is off in regards to the plate now, so it’s just about preparing for the finals and focusing on playing football rather than just getting results.
Edit: Sorry, way too much optimism on my part. We’re going to get peach-baguetted.
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Hah, when the pressure is off we cruise.
Boring 1 all draw
With the pressure mostly off, it means that VdS can be given a go at redeeming his poor outing at right back rather than our usual option of getting Retre to plug the gap.
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I don’t like teams from Melbourne
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Or Victoria.
Very good more peach baguette chat 
Plenty of space at ANZ, but are they allowing fans to attend?
No, our next three games are classed as away games and are played behind closed doors. Our last game at Bankwest is a home game (at this stage we can attend that - hopefully COVID doesn’t get worse in-between).
Seems a bit strange. You’d get at least a couple of thousand members / casuals this Saturday, I would think. The only thing I can think of is it becomes a loss-making exercise with hiring security, catering staff etc.
the cost increase exponentially, & considering the majority of people would be “away” fans it makes no sense for clubs to open the doors
Yeah, that’s it. They wouldn’t break even so there’s no financial reason to do so, and even if there was they’d have to evaluate whether it’s worth having a disadvantage in terms of it being effectively switched to an away game with all of the opposing fans in the stadium.
So Corica is still tossing up whether to start VDS or Retre:
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Throw in the fact that having to play your home games with a majority of NSW based supporters wouldn’t exactly be the fairest for inter state teams
Preview is up:
https://www.sfcu.com.au/2020/07/31/preview-melbourne-city-vs-sydney-fc-1-08-2020/
Key Statistics
- Sydney FC have won 9 of the last 10 games against Melbourne City, conceding 5 goals in that time.
- Adam Le Fondre has scored 4 times in the last 4 games against Melbourne City.
- These two teams have only played once at ANZ Stadium before this match – a 1-1 draw in the 2016-17 season. Brillante was sent off in that game, but Bobo scored a penalty late in the game to equalise.
Previous Matches
Head-to-Head
Wins: 14 (45.2%)
Draws: 9 (29%)
Losses: 8 (25.8%)
Sydney FC record at ANZ/Stadium Australia
Wins: 5 (62.5%)
Draws: 2 (25%)
Losses: 1 (12.5%)
Last 5 Matches
29/12/19 – Sydney FC 2 – 1 Melbourne City
17/03/19 – Sydney FC 0 – 2 Melbourne City
3/02/19 – Sydney FC 2 – 0 Melbourne City
2/11/18 – Melbourne City 0 – 3 Sydney FC
10/02/18 – Melbourne City 0 – 4 Sydney FC
Records
Biggest Win – 4 goals:
10/02/18 – Melbourne City 0 – 4 Sydney FC
Biggest Loss – 4 goals:
29/12/11 – Sydney FC 0 – 4 Melbourne Heart
Most Goals in a Game – 4 goals:
9 occurrences
Most Appearances vs City – Rhyan Grant* and Sebastian Ryall (17)
Most Goals vs City – Bobo (8)
Note: Appearances and goals only include league games, finals, FFA Cup, OFC and AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.
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Making some positive noises regarding giving him a proper go. Do it Steve, and let Retre keep some stability at DM too.
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It might also be good to give the perception there is competition for the RB place to keep the youngster on his toes, despite the fact that just slotting VDS into RB is probably best for the team’s balance at the moment. I endorse this approach.
There’s also a benefit in giving kids a run where you can for reputation sake. The next Arzani needs to come through our system.
King will start at LB.
Harry or Retre starting at RB will come down to whether Corica wants to start ABJ, who I think he’s lost patience with, or not.
Not only is Caceres seemingly the #1 choice for that RM/W spot he also provides better defensive protection than ABJ. While some of Harry’s mistakes were of his own volition the other night, he was also left exposed by ABJ. When Caceres switched to the right hand side after ABJ was taken off we appeared to be more defensively sound. It will either be:
Caceres (RM/W), Retre (RCM), VdS (RB) or
ABJ (RM/W), Caceres (RCM), Retre (RB).
What makes you think that? Zullo started the most recent game and with the 5 subs rule we can afford to have him on there for the sake of fitness.