Finishing the Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season on a high, Sydney FC put in a dominant attacking shift at Allianz Stadium on Sunday afternoon against Perth Glory.
The shooting boots were on for the Sky Blues as David Carney, Filip Holosko, Ali Abbas and Milos Ninkovic all slotted past Ante Covic in goals, while Sydney FC mustered 11 shots over the course of the 90 minutes.
Nine of those 11 shots were on target, compared to the Glory’s four efforts on target, as Sydney FC finished the match with a 81.8% shooting accuracy in contrast to Perth’s 30.8%.
Sydney FC dominated time on the ball, 52.7% to Perth’s 47.3%, and it was their distribution that stood out as a key feature of the Sky Blues victory over the West Australian side.
The Sky Blues made 461 passes and finished with a passing accuracy of 76.4%, compared to the Glory’s 71.5%. Graham Arnold’s men also finished with 28.5% successful crosses as the Glory made 16 crosses with only 12.5% ending up successful.
“These players have pretty much played together the last three or four weeks in the Champions League. They have rhythm, they have cohesion together and a performance like that was fantastic,” Head Coach Graham Arnold said after the final whistle.
While Sydney FC failed to reach the Finals Series, Arnold said he’d take heart from Sunday’s performance heading in to Wednesday week’s crunch AFC Champions League clash against Urawa Red Diamonds.
“Look at the positives, the positives are we’re performing well at the right time and let’s go for the Asian Champions League.”
Sydney FC take on Urawa Red Diamonds in matchday five of the AFC Champions League 2016 group stage on Wednesday 20 April (kick off 8pm) at Sydney Football Stadium. Catch the match live on Fox Sports 4 or follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for updates.
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