A-League 2021 Grand Final: All the Sydney FC news
Australian football great Mark Bosnich has analysed where the A-League Grand Final will be decided and the key players for both teams. Check out his preview.
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They wear the same colour and Mark Bosnich is predicting there will be little to separate Sydney FC and Melbourne City in Sunday’s A-League Grand Final.
The Socceroos legend has run the rule over both teams to determine the tactics and players who will decide the outcome.
Check out Bozza’s preview of the A-League decider below.
Melbourne City
As befits a club that’s part of the City Group with its Barcelona influences, Melbourne City have a particular style of play that’s possession-based, attacking and very watchable.
Patrick Kisnorbo, in his first season as head coach, has taken it to another level thanks to his work on the squad’s endurance and mentality. The system is based on winning the ball back as quickly as possible and playing high up the pitch, spreading play when they are attacking and condensing the pitch when they lose the ball.
In both City’s games with Sydney this season their average position for each player shows they’re generally stationed close together and high up the pitch, which allows them to swarm around the ball when they lose it, and break forward at speed when they win it back.
So far City have made light of the absences on Socceroos duty of Jamie Maclaren, Connor Metcalfe and Curtis Good, but this will be their sternest test. The extent to which their youngsters, including attackers Stefan Colakovski and Marco Tilio, seize the occasion will go a long way to deciding the game.
Sydney FC
The Sky Blues are reigning champions for a reason. I know from my own experience in the EPL that retaining a title is much harder than winning it in the first place, so Sydney’s recent success is hard earned. For them to take second place on the table after a season when they haven’t played their usual flowing football speaks volumes for their mental resolve and ability to take chances when they come.
Steve Corica’s side plays deeper than City, and centrebacks Alex Wilkinson and Ben Warland will drop off to create space in front of them. Sydney like to play through the gears, controlling the tempo and going on the front foot when it suits them.
Something that hasn’t been widely noticed is that since Adam Le Fondre returned six games ago – all of which Sydney have won – their system has evolved closer to a 4-3-3, with Kosta Barbarouses pushing out wide on the right.
I’m giving Steve Corica massive credit for this, as he knew Rhyan Grant would miss the finals due to Socceroos selection, and this tweak means Sydney don’t miss Grant’s energy and attacking down the right.
BROSQUE: IT’S EASY TO MAKE A CASE FOR SKY BLUES
Welcome to a game like no other. Nothing compares to a grand final — not a semi-final, not a derby. The knowledge of what’s at stake, the feeling that you have to seize the moment, all weigh heavily on the mind, especially in your first grand final.
When Melbourne City and Sydney FC line up at AAMI Park on Sunday, I can tell you that every player will be nervous. It’s what you do with those nerves that counts, and experience helps you to channel it the right way, especially in the vital first 15-20 minutes.
That experience is one of the things that makes me feel Sydney FC have the edge over Melbourne City on Sunday. That might not surprise you as I captained Sydney, but this is based on logic more than just hope.
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Both teams are missing important players due to the Socceroos’ recent World Cup qualifiers, but the loss of Jamie Maclaren — winner of the Golden Boot and a proven goalscorer — is huge for City. It’s compounded by Curtis Good and Connor Metcalfe also being in the same situation.
Sydney have their own absences, and in Rhyan Grant, Andrew Redmayne and Dylan McGowan they are missing three key men. But I feel that squad has the depth to cover for them in a way that City doesn’t.
The exception to that is Andrew Nabbout, the City player who most alarms me for the ability he has to produce something spectacular. He’s the one player who could cause damage out of nothing, which is why City have been working so hard to get him fit — especially with Craig Noone also struggling with injury.
City will point to the talent of their youngsters Marco Tilio and Stefan Colokovski, and they were good in the semi-final. But I can’t stress enough that the grand final is different. As a young player, if things don’t go your way at the start, it’s easy to go into your shell. The game can pass you by.
If you look at the two sides who started last season’s grand final, Sydney could have eight of that XI start on Sunday if Milos Ninkovic is fit. City, by contrast, are likely to have just four. Admittedly four more came off the bench, but it’s that ingrained big-match experience that makes me favour Sydney.
That, and the return of Adam Le Fondre. I think you can see a clear difference in how Sydney played for the first 21 games of the season, and their form since.
Before “Alfie” came back from his time in India Sydney had won one game in six, and only eight all season. Since then, they’ve won six in a row and he’s scored four goals.
To be fair to the man alongside him, Bobo’s signing in February has also been hugely beneficial for Sydney, with 12 goals in 22 games. He and Alfie have dovetailed really well — the classic, big No. 9 and the smaller man who likes to make runs in behind or pull out wide.
Still, it’s going to be a tight contest on Sunday. Grand finals usually are.
With 50% capacity and COVID-19 restrictions making it almost impossible for Sydneysiders to head for Melbourne, City will have the lift of a noisy home crowd in a fantastic stadium.
But I still sense another Sydney title coming. In a game like no other, theirs is a team that knows how to win.
Alex Brosque was captain of Sydney FC from 2014 until he retired in 2019.
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