By the Palm Trees – Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners
It’s been an extended break with the week off for the Mariner’s and for our fans. After going down at our fortress Mossy and the boys have had an extra week to think about how to go about taking on the Sky Blue arch enemy. The excitement is heightened by the prospect of a mate against mate, Arnie v’s Mossy ‘grudge match’, but there’s really no need for any extra. Behind the Jet’s there is no team we’d rather beat than our southern neighbours ‘Bling FC’.
With action this week on the continuation of the development at Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence there is plenty to be proud of for Mariner’s fans. It would be hard to argue that work on the COE doesn’t make for some financial challenges along the way, but equally, it would be hard to argue that completing these facilities won’t place the club in a strong position for a long future. With so many bricks and so much mortar being placed to secure that future, regardless of the pre-season rumours of dread about playing matches in the northern metropolitan, it would also be hard to argue that the club doesn’t see a secure future based in the best region in the state, if not the country – the Central Coast of NSW!
The Sky Blues have been travelling well so far this season and are starting to look like a team with Arnie’s stamp on it. In their last outing in Brisbane, most people were impressed with the spectacular goals they scored to put the Roar to the sword, and they were impressive. But for me, the biggest thing that seems different about Sydney FC is their defence. They played as a tight and compact unit and despite Brisbane placing them under plenty of pressure, they held firm to keep a clean sheet, while taking their chances at the other end to apparently do it easily. To be fair, Brisbane Roar are yet to show they have the scoring power of previous years after the loss of key man Besart Berisha. While all of the Brisbane plaudits seem to go to Thomas Broich, there is little doubt they’ve lost their highest quality finisher to Melbourne Victory, and certainly didn’t help against Sydney.
The Mariner’s have shown glimpses of what I think our relatively newly formed team are capable of but have also shown they need plenty of improvement to be at their competitive best. Defence has mostly been pretty reasonable and games can easily swing on penalties which may or may not be, offside decisions, or opportunities going against the woodwork, as happened against the Phoenix at home. After starting that game reasonably well and taking advantage of Wellington’s own goal the team seemed to allow the Phoenix into the game. When our substitutions begun early in the second half we saw some better play and extra desperation from the boys and that at least provided some encouragement for the fans. I mentioned in my last blog that I felt Glen Trifiro had earned a shot at starting in the attacking midfielder role and with all due respect to our Korean import, it was “Tricky’s” substitution for Kim Seung-Yong which made the greatest impact for our team. First and foremost his hard work helped, but additionally, he added some spark in terms of cutting through the bus Wellington parked once they held the lead. When Anthony Caceres and Fitzgerald also took the park we looked a different side. To me the team that finished the game probably should have started so I hope Mossy is thinking hard about selections. Right now the main thing the boy’s will be looking for is to put away some goals. Who will it be to step up to the plate? I can see plenty of potential for Mitchell Duke switching on and knocking a few in and I can also see combinations involving Trifiro, Malick Mane and Nick Fitzgerald sparking something to get the scoring ball rolling for us.
So with two teams who will pride themselves on defending for clean sheets, I predict this will be a pretty cagey encounter. With Arnie the master tactician taking on protégé Phil Moss there will doubtless be plenty of twists and turns to follow in their game plans. The question is who can take their opportunities when they come? Can Sydney keep up the momentum and continue to find a way to keep those spectacular goals coming? Or will the Mariner’s figure out where their scoring boots are and put it to the Sky Blue’s in their own backyard?
I predict an arm wrestle in this one with both teams valuing not conceding more than taking the attacking initiative. In the end I think this one will be a draw and I’m going to go with 1-1.
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