Sydney vs Central Coast - Post Game

The EPL starting a few weeks ago wet my appetite for football again but the A-League is what I have been waiting for. There is nothing like going to the ground and being a part of it all. I live for this and boy is it great to be back!

Sydney started with the back four that I was dreading. We somehow forgot to buy fullbacks and if we are to play a back 4 then we have to use a defensive midfielder at right fullback or an attacking midfielder or centre back at left fullback. Mcflynn is a ball winning extrordinaire but along with the general hack that is Ian Fyfe, was caught out time and time again. All up, the first half formation looked as follows with Biddle pushing further forward down the flank and Corica and Juninho both taking a much more central role in midfield:

------------Bolton
McFlynn--Rudan--Poppa--Fyfe
--------Talay--Milligan
----Corica--Juninho--Biddle
------------Brosque

New signing Biddle looked a little out of his depth. He showed there is a lot of potential there, especially on one occasion when he cut inside, making a fool of his defender and then putting a good cross in. Just at other times he failed to find feet with his passes and was dispossessed a few times. He just needs a little more time I think but the future looks bright for the kid.

Corica and Juninho showed that they can work in the middle of the park together, however at times in a messy midfield Juninho seemed to be pushed wide, with Corica filling his role. During the second half after a formation change which allowed them a lot more space let them both move and get on the ball a lot more centrally where they are naturally class.

Central Coast went 1-0 up early after Sydney tried to play it out of the back and lost possession in an unforgivable area. I don’t think the goal was down to the defensive formation but as I mentioned before, we were caught out on the flanks time and time again.

I was happy that Branko saw it was not working and changed things up at half time. There is nothing worse than a manager who refuses to tinker with anything. We went to a back 3 with wingbacks, taking off Biddle for Zadkovich and pushing Mcflynn up into midfield. It was something like as follows:

-----------Bolton
----Rudan-Milligan-Poppa
Zadkovich-Mcflynn-Talay-Fyfe
-------Corica---Juninho
-----------Brosque

The second half saw Sydney dominate for basically the whole 45 minutes but the same old same old was evident where we have no one to put the ball into the back of the net. Could Patrick, the unknown, mystery Brazilian be the answer to this problem? God I hope so…. Central Coast sat back and did the job asked of them in defense. Didn’t make for the prettiest game to watch but a strong tactical performance from the Coasties none the less. Well done to them.

DANE