Sydney vs Perth

A Thursday night game against struggling Perth was never going to bring in the hoards but if I had have been offered the 11 000 crowd that was there, I would have jumped on it. (Sounds like my new hobby of bet trading but that’s another story…..) For the 11 000 that did bother to show up they sure saw some action and excitement which I have to say has been a regular fixture at Aussie Stadium over the last few weeks.

Of course I gave referee, Simon Przydacz an earful when he pulled the red card out of his pocket for Rudan’s tackle on Bertos but deep down I knew I had nothing to complain about. Obvious goal scoring opportunity, man heading towards goal with the ball, brought down from behind by the last defender. Take your pick at what you think he chose to write on the report he had to fill out saying what he was sent for.

From that moment it was looking bleak for Sydney and I was waiting for us to sit back and try to take a point. If Perth were to give themselves even the slightest chance of still making the finals they had to win and I thought they would go much more ‘all out’ for the win than what they did. I want to give credit to Bolton who made some amazing saves from breakaways but other than that Perth never kept possession and tried to stretch the 10 man Sydney.

Sydney on the other hand were able to keep attacking and I want to finally give Terry Butcher a pat on the back for his tactical set up both before and after the red card. Although he did not really have a defensive option on the bench, the substitution of Carney for Zadkovich was definitely not a defensive move. Carney was noticeably not on song, holding the ball when he should be laying it off to an overlapping player and passing when he should have been shooting on numerous occasions throughout the first half. Sydney kept their attacking wide play with Middleby and Zadkovich playing alongside the still very attackingly positioned Brosque.

Sydney started with Brosque as the lone striker, an experiment which we as fans have been crying out to be tested. Now yes Brosque was the goal scorer tonight but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it quite worked. I think it is fairly accepted now that Bosque’s ideal position is sitting just behind the striker in the 4-2-3-1 that Butcher loves to play or playing just off the striker in the alternative 4-4-2.

There was always a perception that Brosque was fast. The man has a full box of tricks and even though he is low on confidence and out of form I still defiantly rate the bloke but in absolute no way is he fast. Being outpaced to the ball by David Tarka last night certainly proves this point. The whole game we were saying how Brosque needs the ball at his feet and he is not a scrapper for goals… Isn’t it ironic that he scored with a leaping header after a cross to the back post?

After the goal you could see that when Brosque got the ball at his feet he wanted it and wanted to take players on again. Hopefully the goal gives him some confidence and we FINALLY see Brosque’s real potential realised.

DANE