Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold has confirmed his Sky Blues are as mentally prepared as ever ahead of Saturday’s massive #SydneyDerby at ANZ Stadium.
Arnold said his Sky Blues’ squad know how to win at all costs, as he said he’s expecting his players to fulfil their potential and deliver the performance he’s been calling for.
“All I know is that my boys mentally are fantastic,” Arnold said.
“Their minds are so clear and they’re so ready, they’ve got the game plan ready in their heads and they’re ready to go.
“One thing we work a lot on is making sure that we clear the subconscious mind and get the right messages in there and get the players ready to go and teach them how to win.
“Even if the performance isn’t great they know how to win and that’s what we learnt from Adelaide [last week].
“We had a great conversation on Monday at training, it was all about we’re performing nowhere near the best of our ability,” he continued.
“All the players keep saying they’ve got so much more to give and I expect that to happen tomorrow night.
“It will happen tomorrow night that we’ll be in the best shape we’re ever in. We’ve got a healthy squad of players that are fully fit and ready to go and Matt Simon back from suspension.
“I really believe and the players believe this has been our best week at training this week. We only look at what’s forward and what’s forward is we expect a great performance and win tomorrow night.”
Arnold said he’d give Serbian star and Johnny Warren Medallist Milos Ninkovic every chance to feature, while also addressing reports regarding Western Sydney’s rumoured approach for members of his defensive unit.
“Ninkovic is good, we’ll give him up until the final moment to see whether he’s worth taking that risk or not,” Arnold said.
“We have in our mind that there’s 18 games to go and we won’t risk him for one game with another 17 to go but he’ll be fully training today [Friday].
“These boys [mentioned in reports] have won three trophies, and they want another two,” he continued.
“The whole motivation and drive is that that FFA Cup trophy is the first of three in the football season. Yes we won three in three in the yearly calendar, but they want the three in the season that’s never been done before and that’s what we’re chasing.”
Sydney FC face Western Sydney Wanderers at ANZ Stadium in the second #SydneyDerby of the season on Saturday. It’s a derby double header with the Westfield W-League on beforehand. Follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for updates from both games and catch the A-League game live on Fox Sports 501 and Channel One (kick off 7:50pm AEDT).
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