Sydney have been the A-League men’s benchmark,winning the A-League championship three times in four years between 2017 and 2020 and losing two grand finals,in 2015 and 2021.
But this season they lack the fluency,style and killer instinct of the past.
On Saturday night the Sky Blues crashed to the itinerants of Perth Glory and head south for the latest “Big Blue” in a more fragile state than they have for several years.
The contrast with high-flying Victory could not be greater. Tony Popovic’s side sits atop the A-League ladder and is into the semi-finals of the FFA Cup.
It has been a breathtaking turnaround for a club that plumbed depths it had never sunk to in the past two years.
If Victory can win this game the lights will be flashing for these adjacent lifts,with the navy blue signal ascending while the light blue bulb will be heading further down to the ground floor.
CLUBS HAUNTED BY FORMER FAVOURITES
Whenever a player – especially one who has been successful or popular with fans – leaves one club to join another it seems inevitable he will inflict maximum damage on his former employers when he comes up against them.
Step forward Perth Glory’s Brandon O’Neill,who won two grand finals,two premierships and an FFA Cup during his time at Sydney.
So it was no surprise that Wilson would be the one to break Sydney hearts when Glory faced the former champions on Saturday night.
He had clearly read the script,and when Andrew Redmayne,the Sydney goalkeeper,pushed out Jack Clisby’s drive it was O’Neill who was on hand to steer home the rebound.
It was a similar story up in Brisbane earlier in the week when Henry Hore,the Brisbane Roar midfielder,scored the only goal of the game to down Glory.
Hore,of course,had been a key member of Glory’s NPL side in WA but never managed to get his A-League career going in the west. They will certainly remember him now.
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Or,in the case of several A-League Men’s clubs,the matches they actually don’t play. The table has a lopsided look because of myriad COVID cancellations,with Sydney and Adelaide having played eight games and Newcastle,down at the bottom of the table,having had only five fixtures.
The A-League Women’s competition has fared better,with the majority of its teams – bar Newcastle – having played six or seven matches and one,bottom of the table Wellington,turning out eight times so far.
All of which means there will be a horrendous fixture pile-up at some point of the season as neither the broadcaster Ten nor the league’s managers want either competition to go beyond its scheduled finishing date.
Plenty of ideas have been floated,with speculation growing that there will be many midweek double headers with men’s and women’s teams playing on the same day as the competition seeks to clear its backlog.
GOAL OF THE WEEK: Take a bow the Mariners’ Costa Rican attacker Marcos Urena,who turned Melbourne City’s defence before curling an excellent shot wide of Tom Glover to get his team back in the game.
SAVE OF THE WEEK: Give it up for Wellington goalkeeper Alex Paulsen,whose quick reflexes allowed him to make a point-blank stop to preserve Wellington’s lead in Friday night’s 2-1 win over Western United.
QUOTE: Former Sydney skipper Alex Brosque didn’t mince his words after watching his old club crash to Perth Glory on Saturday night. “They used to have an aura ... you knew when you were playing Sydney FC,you were playing a big club and team,you knew it would be difficult. At the moment,they don’t have that. They’ve lost it … and I don’t know how you fix it.”
A-LEAGUE
Wellington Phoenix d Western United 2-1
Perth Glory d Sydney FC 2-1
Melbourne City d Central Coast Mariners 3-1
Adelaide d Brisbane Roar 3-1