We played the shittest piece of football for a while that first half. They kept getting in behind or full backs (mostly Zullo) and we couldn’t win a header. Going forward we provided nothing in a disjointed attack. However second half saw much better play down our left side between ninko and Zullo. And that hit was pure class. I’m really happy with the win seeing that we played so bad first half and got away with it. That was a massive 3 points
My big fear at this point is that De Jong will take a couple of weeks to be back to starting and it will take us at least until the end of the month and then into January to really figure out if he provides the missing piece in the puzzle. Obviously he provides some missing creativity, but I’m not sure he provides the ability to link our midfield to attack. We’re having real trouble transitioning at the moment, with both O’Neill and Brillante tending to sit a bit deeper and not really driving our play forward. By the time we figure out if De Jong fills that need, it may be too late to get cover.
Hard to disagree with O’Neill here:
It was a worse performance than we had against MV.
Take 3 points and move on - awful stuff. Credit to CCM, deserved more from the game.
The system just isn’t working with this personnel, thankfully reinforcements are on deck next week.
Don’t think the opposition fear us as much as they used to. While I feel Steve isn’t far off Arnie from a tactical perspective, in the Big Blue, I felt as if he gave way too much respect to Muscat. Then today, after a few hard challenges, we seemed scared to play or usual game. I hope Steve can find away to motivate the boys as well as find the missing piece to the puzzle.
Branners must be one of the best blokes ever to pull on our shirt. Would be gutted to lose him but made up for him at the same time.
Otherwise… yeah, trash performance and we stole 3 points. But Ivanovic did well. Was surprised he got on before Devlin so he must be impressing out at Mac Uni.
Corica needs more credit for turning things around at half time
Or Western Suburbs
Anyone who feels a great need can view the official highlights here:
Waking up this morning I didn’t know whether to jump in glee from snatching three points or worry about that alarming performance
All teams can have sub par performances, the good ones manage to win.
FC are going thru a Arnie to Corica phase…its early days,2 injuries probably cost the FFA cup and the Big Blue…there are better days to come.
The hierachy aint dumb by any means…it will take a fit marquee(i hope he lasts the season) and another classy foreigner.
Thinking back to when Clank McClankyface took over Victory from Postecoglu, it wasn’t exactly smooth right away. This will take time, and I’m willing to give Corica a lot of it.
I’m confident Siem will really fix our game, him and ALF could be a brilliant combo up front. Retre as RW is doing well, so ideally the line-up in the 4-2-2-2 is
De Jong - ALF
Ninkovic - O'Neill - Brilliante (?) - Retre (DDS?)
Zullo - van der Linden - Wilkinson - Grant
ReddersOn Monday morning the team should all gather around and spend a double session viewing the tape of yesterday’s game and figuring out what went wrong (hint; Zullo needs to learn how to track back in defence when the CBs have had to track wide).
Then, based on the lessons of the tape, they should lay out a team training plan to improve the team’s positional structure in defence.
Then they need to burn that tape on a large bonfire and never speak of it again.
Here’s the match report for the front of the site:
https://www.sfcu.com.au/2018/12/02/central-coast-1-2-sydney-fc-match-report-and-statistics/
In Summary
Well, sometimes you have to win ugly, and that’s certainly what we did on Saturday. Yet, really, the manner of the victory makes it feel like a loss. This was not a vintage Sydney FC performance and, in fact, the whole performance was completely unrecognisable from anything we have seen over the last two seasons.
Sydney FC almost conceded in the first minute, with the Mariners streaming forward from the kick-off and having two shots on target in the first thirty seconds, with only a great sliding block from Rhyan Grant and a save from Andrew Redmayne preventing absolute humiliation. The chance was created by Mariners’ Matt Millar, who was playing on the home side’s right wing. It would be a familiar attacking movement throughout the game; the ball would go to Millar who would take on Michael Zullo and, more often than not, beat him for pace and then whip in a cross.
CCM took the lead, with the chance coming from our left side once again. Michael Zullo lost Matt Millar, forcing Jop van der Linden to come wide to cut off the cross, which in turn left Matt Simon unmarked in the box. The cross evaded Jop and the Wizard of Woy Woy put it in the back of the net. The defending on this one was abject and shows what we already knew after last week’s game against Melbourne: this team really needs to work on its defensive shape. To be honest, we should already have that sorted out in pre-season, but it is clear that something is just not right at the back.
Alex Brosque was pressing well, getting onto some loose passes in backplay, but we weren’t breaking with the same verve and fierceness which we did when Arnie was coaching us. None of the chances we created from these positions were particularly great. Hopefully with Daniel De Silva and Siem De Jong coming back next week, we will have some extra creativity.
To be honest, Sydney deserved to go into the break down 1-0, but we were saved by Jack Clisby taking down Rhyan Grant in the box. As much as Mike Mulvey has complained post-game that it was outside the box, it was very clear that contact was made inside the box and the penalty was correctly given. Adam Le Fondre stepped up to take the penalty and, having missed last week, he did not have any trouble this time. He belted the penalty straight down the middle and no keeper was going to save that. This isn’t the first time he’s demonstrated the ability to do this and it is always great to see someone just wallop the ball.
Steve Corica clearly had some words with the players at half time because Sydney came out of the blocks much more confident and keeping hold of the ball much better. However, we still weren’t manufacturing any good chances to score. Jop van der Linden hit the bar about mid-way through the half, but we weren’t creating anything from open play. Mariners were pressing us well and we just weren’t getting to loose balls in midfield as we have been throughout the rest of the start to this season.
It took a momentary lapse in the Mariners’ pressing to create the chance we needed, however. Brandon O’Neill received the ball in midfield, completely unmarked and with space ahead of him. He took a couple of touches to steady himself and then fired an absolute rocket into the far side of the net. It was an absolutely stunning strike, made all the more amazing by the fact that he struck it so forcefully with his left leg. While it was an amazing goal, there’s a risk that scoring that might paper over the cracks in an otherwise lacklustre performance.
Late in the game, Luke Ivanovic came on for Paulo Retre to make his professional debut. Ivanovic played really well for the NPL team last season and scored twice for the youth team last weekend, likely earning his call-up in place of De Silva, who was ineligible to play. He seized his opportunity with both hands, constantly running and looking to create opportunities.
You can view the match highlights here:
https://www.a-league.com.au/video/full-time-highlights-central-coast-mariners-v-sydney-fc-2
3 things we learned
Post-match Statistics
Note: Statistics only include league games, finals, FFA Cup, OFC and AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.
Ivanovic had some youthful enthusiasm and did well but I think saying he was a game changer is massively overselling his contribution.
I don’t think he was a game changer, but I think our attack operated better with him there. That’s all I’m trying to say.
Yeah fair enough then. If Retre is fit, itll be interesting to see how we line up next week. Will be harsh to drop Retre but we definitely need more creativity form midfield and you feel like De Silva comes in for either Retre or Brosque
Yeah an attacking 4 something like this is what I’m imagining:
------------ALF
Ninko—De Silva—Retre
Then De Jong coming off the bench, probably for De Silva (I assume Danny isn’t ready for a full 90) and the option to have Brosque off the bench too. It sounds much more solid to me and has some great potential impact we have been asking for.
Uhh. I think missing DeJong and DeSilva might have more to do with it.
Buhagiar is just the cherry on top.