Ufuk Talay has praised his side’s intensity and effort in the 5-0 victory over Hong Kong side Eastern SC in the AFC Champions League.
All new signings featured for Ufuk Talay’s team and all of them were on form and raring to go and he believes that those who saw what they can do should be pleased with what they saw.
“It was a fantastic turnout and I think they will be happy with what they saw from the whole team.
“Last year we relied heavily on Joe to be our creative outlet so now we have a few more players who can help with that and I think we are very balanced across the team,” Talay said.
“Once we got into rhythm and rectified a few things there was some really good combination play and in the second half we really pinned the opposition back.”
Douglas Costa made his debut in Sydney FC colours and looked ready to play, assisting one goal and being heavily involved in two others with some beautiful interplay and passing.
He took on a flexible role which saw him float across the pitch and the Head Coach revealed that it was part of his plan to give him freedom.
“We like to give our creative players the freedom and Douglas will like to create his own space and with that moments from there.
“Anas [Ouahim] did a great job today and worked hard between the lines and he got two goals as well, plus he gave the penalty to Patryk as well. It would’ve been nice if he put that away and built up his confidence but that’s football sometimes and he’ll get plenty of chances to do that again,” he added.
“I was very happy with how we finished the game and definitely pleased with the result tonight.”
Sydney FC will now have a fortnight before their next game which is an away trip to face FC Kaya Iloilo in the Philippines.
