Coming off the back of Sunday’s clash, and preparing for an away trip to Brisbane this weekend, we caught up with youngster Joel King to see where things are at and discuss training with Milos Ninkovic, linking up with Bobô and what he’s expecting for the rest of this season.
Coming off the back of Sunday’s clash, and preparing for an away trip to Brisbane this weekend, we caught up with youngster Joel King to see where things are at and discuss training with Milos Ninkovic, linking up with Bobô and what he’s expecting for the rest of this season.
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You’ve played nearly every minute of every game this season, is that what you were expecting? How does it feel?
I didn’t expect this at all, similar to last year some tough injuries to Michael Zullo have created opportunities for me get some valuable game time.
It’s your third full season in the A-League now, do you feel like you know what to expect each week?
I’m slowly getting an understanding of how a few individuals around the league play but when the majority of sides around the league have shuffled through a couple of players, changed formations and playing styles it’s quite difficult to know what to expect.
How have you seen your preparations for a game change from your first season with the A-League squad to now?
This season it’s been difficult adapting to the chaotic schedule. From no games in 10 days to three games in eight days it takes a fair bit of adjusting to my preparations. Fortunately, at Sydney FC we have a great strength and conditioning team so they’re a whole lot of help to us.
You’ve spent some time training one on one with Ninko, how much of an influence is he on your game?
He has helped me a lot. He is a very intelligent both in attack and defence. I am beginning to understand what he likes in a game in terms of where to pass, where to run and how to defend. He’s a player with an enormous amount of knowledge and experience so during my time at the club my goal is to learn as much as I can from him.
What have you made of our start to this season?
We haven’t been at our best just yet. We’re working harder than ever before to get back to our winning ways. I believe when we can get on a run of good performances and results we’ll be back to where our supporters want us.
How confident are you that we can string a run of results together and challenge for the title this season?
With the quality and experience we have in our squad I’m convinced we can return to where we should be and were last year.
How much are you looking forward to linking up with Bobô?
I’m very excited to play with Bobô, he gives us something different up top. I think we all know how exceptional he is in the air, so if the squad and myself can provide good service to him game in game out I see no reason why we can’t achieve what we did last year.
Lastly, what are you hoping to achieve this season?
Individually I’d like to improve in the final third. I want to contribute more in attack and provide more assists for the forwards. Collectively I think we need to just focus on the things we can control and that’s taking it one game at a time and securing three points each game.
