Sydney FC still the team to beat

Sydney FC remain the team to beat for the A-League championship despite the loss of prolific goalscorer Adam Le Fondre.

Sydney FC veteran Milos Ninkovic remains a key part of the club. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Sydney FC remain the team to beat for the A-League championship despite the loss of prolific goalscorer Adam Le Fondre.

The Sky Blues are aiming to become the first team to win a hat-trick of A-League titles, but must overcome the loss of English marksman Le Fondre, who was loaned to Indian Super League club Mumbai City.

It’s a task easier said than done, with Le Fondre having scored 39 A-League goals in two seasons for the Sky Blues.

But Socceroos legend and Fox Sports football expert Robbie Slater said Sydney would be able to cope without Le Fondre such was the experience, talent and winning culture in the squad.

“Their players have all been there and done it,” said Slater in reflecting on a Sky Blues squad that still includes the likes of Milos Ninkovic, Kosta Barbarouses, Alex Wilkinson, Luke Brattan, Andrew Redmayne, Alex Baumjohann, Rhyan Grant, Ryan McGowan and Michael Zullo.

“They’ve all won championships. It’s makes quite a big difference sometimes.”

Slater expects last season’s beaten grand finalists Melbourne City to again be among Sydney’s main group of challengers, and also predicts a Melbourne Victory resurgence after last season’s awful 10th-place finish.

“A lot of the focus for the Victory will be on Marco Rojas,” Slater said.

“Most of the clubs have got one or two players that they’re going to rely on, and they’re going to need to have good seasons for their clubs to be successful.”

The Victory aren’t the only big A-League club in need of a turnaround, with Slater saying the time had come for Western Sydney Wanderers to reclaim their status as one of the competition’s elite teams.

“They’ve fallen off the cliff. The excuses are over – they’ve just got to get better,” said Slater, who has applauded the Wanderers’ aggressive off-season moves in poaching coach Carl Robinson and attacker Bernie Ibini from Newcastle, and 2015 Asian Cup winner James Troisi from Adelaide United.

“That’s good. That’s the attitude you’ve got to have if you want to be successful. You don’t care what other people say. You’ve got to look after your own turf.”

NCA Newswire