Season Preview – Sydney FC (Part A)
Season 10 of the A-league is back, and bigger than ever. After a long pre-season we’re finally a week away from kick-off and times couldn’t be more exciting for an Australian football fan, but how will the team in sky blue from Sydney fair this season?
Season Outlook: Sydney FC has made many key improvements over the winter. Hiring one of the most proven, experienced coaches in Australia, in Graham Arnold certainly caused a lot of buzz and excitement amongst Sydney FC fans who knew of his pedigree and achievements from his time at the Central Coast Mariners. From day 1 he seemed to be the right man for the right job and despite a 4-0 loss to English Premier League side Newcastle United, hasn’t lost a pre-season game since, including 2 FFA cup victories against Melbourne City and Sydney United and a Townsville cup win in North Queensland. But as Arnie always says, the pre-season games weren’t about the results, but rather performance and progress, and getting equal game time for all players, and the steady improvements on all fronts on the pitch, from performance to fitness, has been evident.
Improvements on the pitch in terms of player personnel include Bernie Ibini, Shane Smeltz an Alex Brosque with a huge emphasis on attack as players like Mitch Malia, Joel Chianese and Alec Uresevski left the club or weren’t given a contract and it was a good chance for Sydney FC to bring in a quality strike force, rather than what we did last season and rely on one player in Alessandro Del Piero. There is a great balance between youth and experience throughout the whole squad from defense to attack and this will be vital if Sydney want to have a successful season. The defense was mainly untouched, but 17-year old fullback Alex Gersbach has been promoted and seems to be fitting in well with the main set-up, at least judging from his pre-season performances so far. This shows that Arnold believes we have the right players from last season despite leaking a lot of goals. Time will tell if Arnold is right and it was the system that was flawed Frank Farina had last season and not the quality of the players.
Off the pitch, some key changes have been made as well, the appointment of Andrew Clark – Arnold’s Strength and conditioning coach at the Mariners. Someone who is known for getting the best out of the older players like Daniel Mcbreen, whilst keeping everyone else fit and healthy. This is something that will be important to Sydney FC who had an injury ravaged season last season missing the likes of Rhyan Grant and Pedj Bojic for most of the season and having players like Del Piero and Milos Dimitrijivic out multiple times throughout the season. Clark might be vital to a successful season. Throughout the off-season, the board has been busy implementing the foundations of what will become a youth academy for Sydney FC appointing ex-FFA technical director Han Berger, as well as Kelly Cross who was his assistant. As well as appointing Erica Berchtold, the first woman to be on Sydney FC’s board of directors, who has actually been a Sydney FC member for many seasons. This wealth of experience brought in shows the club has high ambitions not for only this season but for many seasons to come.
In terms of Marquees, Arnold has brought in Austrian captain Marc Janko as the main marquee, and Sydney FC fan favourite Alex Brosque back to the club as the Australian marquee. Janko is a tall figure at 196cm and trouble most centre-backs, known for being a poacher but he’s good with his feet as well as his head. Brosque comes back from the Middle East and with a wealth of experience and quality. His versatility will be a huge boost to Sydney FC, being able to play at Left-wing, striker and attacking midfielder.
Head coach: There is no doubt Graham Arnold is a quality manager in football, judging from his achievements, his reputation and his management style. He managed the Central Coast Mariners between 2010 and 2013, winning 2 premierships and 1 championship. He moved to Japan mid-season only for the journey to end due to unfortunate circumstances. He’s also had a stint at National level coaching the Socceroos after the 2006 world cup campaign. On the pitch Graham is known for using a structure that has an emphasis on balance and working together as a team. The strikers are the first line of defense whilst the goalkeeper is the first line of attack. The current squad he has built has a lot of depth as he has point out he likes 2 players for every position and there’s a good balance between youth and experience. During the preseason Arnold has employed the usual back 4 of Ryall/Bojic – Ognenovski – Petkovic and Gesbach/Jurman but the beauty about the squad is the depth and versatility as Ryall and Jurman can also play centre-back. As for the front 6 it will either be a diamond midfield with 2 up front or a 4-3-3 as Arnold has to accommodate his strikers and get the best out of all his players. Expect Vedran Janjetovic to be the number 1 this season.
Season 2013/14: Overall, this was a season to forget for Sydney FC fans, racking up a total of 3 away wins, and strangely only 3 draws in a rollercoaster season. From the highs of the Sydney derby and beating Western Sydney 3-1 and the Big Blue on Australia day beating Melbourne Victory 5-0 , to the lows of losing to Brisbane Roar 4-0 and getting knocked out in the finals by Victory at the death. In a strange way, finishing 5th and getting knocked out of the first week of the finals was a fair result for the club in a season which resulted in much disappointment and anxiety, to the point ex-coach Frank Farina got sacked at the end of the season.
Arrivals: Alex Brosque, Alex Gersbach, (youth) Bernie Ibini, Mark Janko, Shane Smeltz
Having fan favourite and club record goalscorer Alex Brosque will be a massive boost to Sydney FC as his experience and versatility will provide us with many options this season. Mark Janko and Shane Smeltz are 2 tall goal poachers who can grab a goal at any time. Expect these players to fill the big shows of ex-Sydney FC marquee Alessandro Del Piero in the goalscoring department.
Departures: Terry McFlynn (retired), Brett Emerton (retired), Tiago Calvano, Joel Chianese, Ranko Despotovic, Alessandro Del Piero, Richard Garcia, Mitchell Mallia, Blake Powell, Matt Thompson and Marc Warren
Key Player: Either than the players already talked about above a key player this season will be speedster Bernie Ibini. The man just oozes pace and has a decent shot and dribbling skills as well, will be a nightmare for defenders this season and create a lot of space and opportunities for other players as well as create many of his own, expect the ex-Central Coast Mariners man to score a bagful of goals this season for the Sky Blues. Other notable mentions include Corey Gamiero who has been in incredible form during the pre-season scoring more goals than he has played games (hopefully he can keep fit this season) and also Ali Abbas who is a fan favourite after his performance in the Sydney derby last season as well as his great goal scoring form at the moment.
What’s he still doing here?? It’s hard to pick out a player from such a talented squad full of depth, balance and experience, but one has to question why Ivan Necevski is still a Sydney FC player for all these years as I don’t think he’s a serious contention for the main goalkeeping job. However, he can be a great asset to the club as a back-up keeper just in case Vedran is unavailable and there aren’t many players who would be happy to be on the bench week in, week out. Being a 2nd goalkeeper is probably not so fun. In truth the squad is near perfect, lacking just an experienced left back as Gersbach would be too young and inexperienced to start every game and Jurman is a much better CB.
Extra time: In Summary, Season 10 should hopefully be a fruitful one for Sydney FC, judging from the pre-season results and performance, the squad on paper, the acquirement of key personnel in the backroom and the retainment of key players as well as getting new ones. If the pre-season is anything to go by, they should be challenging Melbourne Victory for the title and hopefully some silverware in the form of the FFA cup in which they are currently awaiting to do battle with Adelaide United in the quarter final. But as we all know the pre-season often means very little to how a season pans out in football…
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