Sydney FC's Socceroo-laden side was out-muscled, then out-hustled, and finally out-played on Saturday night. Central Coast were good value for their 3-2 win and Sydney FC must ponder some hard questions if they are to challenge for the title that "Football's Capital" surely deserves.
When Terry McFlynn left the field, perhaps succumbing to injury, perhaps to a tactical decision by Viteslav Lavicka, promising 17-year-old Terry Antonis was left to mind Daniel McBreen and a fierce Mariners outfit. Graham Arnold's side allowed Sydney a measure of harmless possession, then sharked at Mark Bridge whenever he received the ball at his feet.
The Mariners' winning goals were born from textbook transition play and when Arnold subbed McBreen for the wily Musti Amini a tiring Antonis was overwhelmed and eventually hooked. The youngster may have been overworked after Young Socceroos duties. Maybe he just had a shocker. Neither explanation should be surprising at Antonis' age, but Hiro Moriyasu might have been brought on earlier to stem the tide.
Antonis was far from Sydney's worst on a fairly forgettable night. Star marquee Brett Emerton endured a pretty average first half and was unable to shrug off Central Coast's disciplined defensive pattern. Like Antonis, Emerton should improve after a week's rest.
Michael Beauchamp was schooled by Matt Simon. Beauchamp was once selected for the Socceroos for his strength in the air and immovability on the ground. He was unable to win a header in the second half and his list of errors is starting to lengthen. Seb Ryall might start to fancy his chances of a recall at centre back, though that would leave a short Sydney team even more susceptible at set pieces.
Chris Coyne and Terry McFlynn did the dirty work, but Coyne did not take strong options with the ball at his feet and some of the passing from Sydney's "water carriers" was woeful. McFlynn was missed in the second half, particularly when the second goal was clipped in from the spot while Antonis was nowhere to be seen. Sydney will hope their captain can recover quickly - he provides the muscle that an A League competitor seems to need.
Mark Bridge seems to pop up in all the right places and then butcher all the best chances. He has never scored prolifically and is as likely to balloon a simple chance before playing an exquisite pass. Bridge failed at 10 last year and is, so far, failing at no 9. Bruno Cazarine is a man of slow feet and heavy touch but backs himself to score. Bridge fits better with Sydney's aspirations of play, but Bruno has scored 10 goals in 28 games. Bridge has 27 in 116.
Liam Reddy and Scott Jamieson built on their strong campaigns so far. Nicky Carle continues to impress but still seems more comfortable when he has more than one passing option in front of him. How to fit Carle, Emerton, Kisel, McFlynn and Antonis into a midfield diamond remains Lavicka's biggest dilemma. Right now he has decided to play his two marquee men out of position. Such a decision could be described as "courageous".
We need to bring in Juho Makela to replace Mark Bridge. Bridge is out of his depth. His finishing is awful.
ReplyDeleteI would add that Bruno is good, but he can't be our only striker. He plays a good support role. Good in the air and holding up the ball, but I don't trust his ability to shoot.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see more of Makela - apparently he's got a reserve game today...
ReplyDeleteI think Bruno is more of "lead the line" rather than a "support" striker, but he definitely needs a Brosque/Bridge/Petratos type player next to him. Surely history shows that Bruno buries more chances than Bridge.
Makela will need some match fitness. Although he did have a full pre-season and played trial matches, but then has been out injury for almost 2 months. Hopefully he gets on the bench next weeks and can come on in the second half. Would like to see him start, but I don't think his match fitness would allow it yet.
ReplyDeleteI find McFlynn excruciating to watch when Sydney has the ball because his passing is so dangerously imprecise. However after he went off it did make it clear why he keeps being picked; he does give a solidity to the centre of defence that was obviously sadly missing when first Antonis then Hiro replaced him in defensive midfield.
ReplyDeleteSo that is one key problem - in the Busquets position McFlynn is the best in the squad. The other key problem is that instead of David Villa we have Bridge.
To be fair I thought he had a good game in every respect other than shooting; but when you are a striker you have to be able to at least get shots on target. The early hit over the bar had my brother and I sitting with our heads in our hands and a sickening sense of inevitable disaster rising in our gorges.
Do you replace him with Bruno? He is immobile but at least does seem to have a capacity to score. Or Makela [when fit]?
I don't know, but at present it is hard to see how it could be worse with anyone else.
And I still don't understand why so often the ball is just kicked away; surely we want to keep it, work it around, get the opposition off balance.
Anyway; I'll be there again to cringe and hope again on December 4th
Thanks for the comments, everyone. December 4 will be fascinating - but possibly depressing. Hard to see us beating the Roar at present, but I think that by the end of the season we might match them. We are bedding in a new spine, after all...
ReplyDeleteAgree with you re. McFlynn's passing and contributions to the middle. I do miss Musialik as a more refined option, but T Mac is generally in the right spot and seems to play with self-belief, which is more than could be said of Musialik at times last season.
Will be fascinating to see if Bridge and Bruno get time up front together. I see that as the best solution to the problem, but it means dropping Carle back to the point of the diamond, and dropping Kisel or McFlynn all together. Kisel would be the man to miss out so far, despite bringing a lot to the side.