I missed the first half of Sydney FC's best game of the year thanks to a weekend stint in gaol. We arrived five minutes before halftime. The crowd was as I feared - restless, angry and smaller than it should be.
Sydneysiders sense their team's collective lack of belief. Last season the club scrapped and grappled for draws, in stark contrast to the team of two years ago who scored first and strangled teams into submission.
Viteslav Lavicka - surely the manager with the most to prove this season - identified the problem of a lack of leadership and re-recruited Karol Kisel before the close of a lost season. He beefed up Sydney's spine with Pascal Bosschaart and Michael Beauchamp, and the shock signing of Brett Emerton left Lavicka with as good a squad on paper as one could ask for: three Socceroos, three Young Socceroos, two former internationals and a host of home-grown footballers with lots to prove.
The opening arm wrestle against Melbourne was rich with promise - Sydney dominated much of the play until Mark Bridge's brain snap. The home fans endured a spanking from the Roar, but results against Adelaide and the Heart were encouraging.
What a shame it was that only 11 051 fans turned up on a gloomy Sunday afternoon to see Sydney wilt, straighten and run over Gold Coast United. It was the performance that proved Lavicka's point: he has more leaders. He can let the team off the leash because their capacity to entertain springs from mental strength.
I've previously called for Karol Kisel to be benched for Dimi Petratos and Terry Antonis. Kisel showed on Sunday exactly why he was the first player Lavicka wanted for this season. Kisel possesses belief, technique, nous and a competitive fire that spreads throughout the side.
It was Kisel, Carle and Emerton that forced Sydney FC back into the match after the calamitous second Gold Coast goal. They kicked the club into fifth gear. Passes previously delivered at a pedestrian pace skidded off the turf. Fullbacks were thrust forward while Terry McFlynn mopped up with venom.
I had figured that Kisel's inclusion would damage Sydney by forcing the messiah himself, Brett Emerton, out onto the left - a role which proved difficult against the Victory and the Roar. But Emerton proved his worth to Sydney on Sunday. His backheels, lay offs, flicks and driving runs inside and outside Gold Coast's defence pulled defenders away from Scott Jamieson, who has lifted his game this season. Perhaps Jamieson has been energized by some of the leadership that Lavicka was after. More could come from a raw, young talent.
The backline of Coyne, Bosschaart, Beauchamp and Jamieson seems settled but work is clearly required - Gold Coast's second goal would not have been out of place in an early edition of FIFA. United's forward movement often threatened to pinch a third goal - can a triangle of McFlynn, Bosschaart and Beauchamp keep up with a mobile threat?
Sydney's midfield is certainly mobile enough and technically adroit. Emerton, Nicky Carle, Karol Kisel and Terry McFlynn will take some replacing - though it was interesting that Lavicka did not decide to replace McFlynn with Rhyan Grant as the clock wore down. Instead Beauchamp galloped forward and won the crucial penalty after Gold Coast wrapped their legs around him.
Lavicka's biggest dilemma remains how to get the most out of Mark Bridge. The eternal enigma could have scored a hat trick and won a penalty, but took home nothing but the rage of the crowd after he blinked when Emerton bounced a cross towards his hip.
Some say that Bridge is the club's best natural finisher. It's time he proved it. With Bruno and Petratos nipping at his heels, to say nothing of the phantom Surgeon, Bridge will have to start taking opportunities.
Sydney's next home game is against their closest rivals - Central Coast, another side with a lot to prove. It will be a heated match but Sydney have the most cause to look forward to it. They know they can win tight matches by playing positive, ball on the ground football. They know Brett Emerton and Nicky Carle will only get better - Carle must be getting close to a Socceroos recall.
And Terry Antonis, one of the A League's brightest prospects, wasn't even playing on Sunday. This could be a great season.
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