8 points on Sydney 2-0 Brisbane

It's almost like the sky is falling. After a record-setting unbeaten streak, the reigning champions tasted defeat for the first time in 3,240+ minutes of football, bending the knee to none other than...Sydney FC? How in blazes did Lavicka manage that? With clever use of pressing, a dawn sacrifice to the weather gods and more than a dollop of good fortune. 

Sydney 2-3 Central Coast: Match Analysis

Bling FC against the Little Club That Could; that would be the expected narrative in any derby involving the Harbour City and their more modest cousins. Except in recent times, it's the Sky Blues who have been in the doldrums and the Mariners in the ascendant. Central Coast triumphed at the SFS for the first time in four years, but it was Lavicka's confusing tactics and overly aggressive substitutions that largely decided the contest. 

Heart 1-1 Sydney: Match Analysis

A vintage Arsenal Heart performance. Control of possession, impatience in constructing attacks, lack of a clear final ball and defensive frailty. A classic North London Red and White recipe. Sydney showed a measure of resilience, and could certainly take encouragement away from the improved performance by Brett Emerton, and the continued excellent form of Nick Carle in concert with Karol Kisel. In truth, Heart controlled the second half; it was theirs to win or lose, and a failure to kill the game after their late goal cost them dearly. Fate is exacting a heavy toll on Heart's mistakes so far this season; all they can do is hope that Karma will shine on them in the weeks to come.

Adelaide 1-2 Sydney: Match Analysis

Sydney turned in a much improved and more fluent performance to clinch a confidence boosting three points at Hindmarsh Stadium, a venue they had gone three whole years without winning at. Adelaide were effective in patches, but still seem to miss the fluency of the squad Coolen inherited from Vidmar.

THIS ANALYSIS SHOULD BE REGARDED AS INCOMPLETE, but PM thought there was merit in posting the tactical diagram.

Sydney 0-2 Brisbane: Match Analysis

Saturdays's match between the Sky Blues and the Roar was initially a close fought contest. Lavicka altered his tactics and his starting XI from last week's City Classico against the Victory, trying to implement a more energetic and positive style. Initially, it seemed to work, but the fast tempo necessitated by the high press tired Sydney, and Brisbane were able to seize the advantage later on.

Would Brett Emerton be more effective for Sydney as a fullback than as a winger?

Last night's City Derby between Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC was a fitting spectacle for the A-League debuts of Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton. While Kewell was effective playing as a trequartista, drifting from flank to flank in search of space and serving as the main conduit of the Navy Blues attack, Emerton's performance on the right wing was much more muted, and Brett did not feature as prominently during the game as his national team colleague.

Australia's 2nd most capped player

It wasn’t that Brett played particularly badly; it was just that Sydney never really strung together fluent attacking phases and Emerton’s performance suffered from the helter-skelter rhythm. This might be remedied by affording Emerton time to settle-in and build a rapport with his team-mates; but perhaps there is another, tactical reason Emerton was so subdued last night.

Victory 0-0 Sydney: Match Analysis

Tonight’s city derby was a scrappy and aggressive, end-to-end affair. Both sides eschewed any semblance of build-up play in favour of exchanging attacks down the flanks. Debutants Brett Emerton and Harry Kewell were obviously the focus pre-game, but after the 90 mins, it was Kewell who had acquitted himself better.

 

Sydney FC 2011-12 Season Preview

How the mighty have fallen. Fresh from a debut season where he guided Sydney to an impressive Championship/Premiership Double, in 2010-11 Lavicka was unable to reproduce the disciplined performances which garnered so much success for the Sky Blues. Sydney's championship hangover can be directly retraced to poor recruitment and the depature of key players; Steve Corica retired, Aloisi, Colosimo and Bolton transferred to Heart while Kisel returned to Prague. These five players constituted the spine of Lavicka's Double winning team, and none were adequately replaced.

A-League Pre-Season Form Guide

FourFourTwo AU put together a useful guide to the club's results in offseason. These results should probably be taken with a grain of salt; obviously clubs were still making signings, players were still coming back from injury, and managers were giving some youngsters experience - so it's unlikely that clubs consistently sent out their strongest available line-up, or even played in their preferred style.

Nevertheless, there's still utility in seeing how many games clubs lost, how many goals were conceded, and who has scoring form going into the regular season. It should be noted how notoriously unrealiable pre-season results are as predicators of regular season success; in the 4 seasons in which the A-League held a Pre-Season Cup, only one of the Cup winners went on to become Premiers or Champions. Quick summary below.