Mark Bosnich: How A-League rivals can ruin Sydney FC’s grand final party
When breaking down Sydney FC’s third Premier’s Plate in four seasons, the club’s dominance is laid bare. But MARK BOSNICH reveals how to end their grand final party.
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Sydney FC have established themselves of the Goliaths of the A-League after another truly outstanding season and they deserve a massive congratulations for winning a third Premier’s Plate in four seasons.
It’s a wonderful achievement and I know in Australia we place a greater importance on the grand final, but I’m quite certain if you did a survey of the managers and players, they would rate winning the league over the full season just as satisfying.
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And to get there Sydney have been a model of consistency and balance. They encapsulate the expression that you attack as a team and defend as a team, and Steve Corica has done a tremendous job.
There were a lot of people who thought Steve had an enormous task on his hands taking over from Graham Arnold, after all he’d achieved, but if anything the team has been enhanced over the past two years.
There are definitely ways Sydney can and will be targeted in the finals. Newcastle showed that and Wellington weren’t far off.
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The way to do it is basically to attack, attack, attack. It’s not easy, and you’re going to leave yourself open at the other end as well, but that’s the way to get to great teams.
Courage comes in all types of forms. When we hear about courage we might think about standing up for yourself in a physical sense, and maybe it’s David against Goliath.
But in football there’s other types of courage. How hard you’re willing to work? Are you willing to make those lung-busting runs? Because that’s where you have to be courageous to defeat Sydney.
Let’s take a look at how Sydney’s winning season has unfolded.
ROUNDS 1-5
Points: 9 points from a possible 12
Sydney jumped out to a good start with three wins from their opening four games, obviously punctuated by their defeat to Western Sydney in the derby. But as true champions do, they bounced back straight away with an important 4-1 win over Newcastle.
ROUNDS 6-10
Points: 15 from 15
It’s still early in the season, but Sydney are starting to show their championship form. Stood up tall in an important fixture, coming away with a wonderful 3-1 victory in the grand final rematch against Perth Glory away from home. This is a game where they stamped their mark on the competition, because grand final rematches are always important. The losing grand finalist always wants revenge, but Sydney shut them down.
ROUNDS 11-15
Points: 10 from 12
For me, this was the crucial period of the season with the championship-defining game against Melbourne City at home just after Christmas. City simply had to win this game to have any chance of catching Sydney, and deservedly took the lead through Connor Metcalfe – which was quickly followed by a red card to Sydney’s Rhyan Grant. But quite amazingly, Sydney came back with 10 men in the defining performance of their season to come away with a wonderful 2-1 win. For me, from a psychological point of view it was like basically saying to their closest challengers “we’re the best… and we did it with ten men”. To go 75 minutes with ten men, having lost one of your best players against your nearest challengers, and beat them like that? That was the moment I knew Sydney were going to be Premier’s Plate winners.
ROUND 16-20
Points: 9 from 12
A tough stretch which included another derby loss to Wanderers and a convincing 4-0 Asian Champions League defeat to Yokohama, both of which really stung this great club, but in another showing of their championship quality they took nine points from the league. Championship teams pick up points when things aren’t going to plan and Sydney refused to drop their bundle.
ROUND 21-25
Points: 5 points from 9
At this point, Sydney not only have the distraction of the ACL but also the looming COVID-19 threat, and they respond by punishing their greatest rivals, Melbourne Victory, 4-1 before draws with Perth Glory and Wanderers. But by this point they’ve asserted their dominance over the whole league.
POST-BREAK
Points: 3 from 6
To be fair to Sydney, since the break they haven’t put in their greatest performances of the season, but the best teams find a way to win. And Sydney did that against Wellington, winning 3-1 to all put a hammer blow into the premiership race. They were deservedly beaten by Newcastle but would win the league when Wellington drew against Adelaide.
Originally published as Mark Bosnich: How A-League rivals can ruin Sydney FC’s grand final party