A-League: Sydney FC destroy Western Sydney Wanderers in derby clash

SYDNEY FC handed out the biggest derby thumping of them all at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, putting five unanswered goals past a hapless Western Sydney side.

Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque celebrates scoring against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday night.

IF the Wanderers didn’t know the power of this Sydney FC side, they do now.

Graham Arnold’s side handed out the biggest derby thumping of them all at ANZ Stadium, putting five unanswered goals past a hapless Western Sydney side. It was their biggest loss in any game, and the fact it came in the derby simply added to their pain.

Seventeen points behind the Sky Blues on the table, with just one win all season, the Wanderers are in a dark place.

Sydney FC, by contrast, are sweeping all before them, led by the majesterial Adrian Mierzejewski. No wonder Arnold can afford to let Milos Ninkovic recover from injury at his leisure.

Adrian Mierzejewski celebrates his goal against Wanderers.

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“I could see that was coming in the faces of the players this week,” said Arnold.

“It was close to our best performance but if there was one negative, we could have scored twice that many. There’s still a lot of improvement in the team but there’s a lot of belief there in what we’re doing.”

In truth Mierzejewski was aided by the radical changes Josep Gombau made, dropping four first-teamers to the bench in a formation full of gaps to exploit.

To say Gombau’s line up looked high risk was an understatement, and Wanderers fans might have had a bad feeling about what was to unfold.

“It sounds crazy but as I just said to the players, they are trying to do what I am asking them to, and I take full responsibility for such a big loss,” Gombau said.

“I am watching things that are improvements. They are trying to play the football I ask of them, they are following instructions.”

Sydney are sitting pretty at the top of the A-League table.

One would hope he didn’t mean literally for this performance was as ripped apart as used Christmas wrapping.

Sydney by contrast understood their roles to perfection. They scored early and never let up. Though Western Sydney hit the woodwork twice, they were never in the contest.

Mierzejewski opened the scoring, driving low into the net from 10m after Vedran Janjetovic had palmed away David Carney’s low cross, then Alex Brosque got his first of the season. It has been a fruitless campaign for the Sydney skipper so far, and he had missed two presentable chances before the breakthrough came on 41 minutes.

Brosque had Bobo to thank. With his back to goal the striker turned adroitly and lifted a delicate pass that sliced between the Wanderers centrebacks. Brosque touched it away from Janjetovic and rolled the ball into the net.

The Wanderers were on the ropes, and in the final seconds of the first half Mierzejewski was bundled over just outside the box by Jack Clisby, and arose to curl the freekick into the top corner.

The Sky Blues were rampant. Janjetovic made a series of fine saves to deny Bobo and Brosque, but was left stranded when Lachlan Scott headed Mierzejewski’s cross into his own net.

It was a tough night at the office for Lachlan Scott.

Moments later Sydney thought they had five after Michael Zullo drove home from Mierzejewski’s cross, only for the video assistant referee to spot a handball in the build-up.

Western Sydney were dishevelled, and with 14 minutes left Zullo ran towards the Wanderers box — though he was fouled, Brandon O’Neill picked up the loose ball and curled home the fifth.

SYDNEY FC 5 (Adrian Mierzejewski 14m, 45m, Alex Brosque 41m, Lachlan Scott 53m og, Brandon O’Neill 76m) WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 0 at ANZ Stadium. Crowd: 36,433. Referee: Jonathon Barreiro.

Originally published as A-League: Sydney FC destroy Western Sydney Wanderers in derby clash