Sydney FC Head Coach Ufuk Talay has lifted the lid on how he’ll tell his charges to approach Saturday’s ‘must-not-lose’ clash with Melbourne City.
The Sky Blues attacking, dynamic, front-foot football has been a feature of their play all season but with only a point required to secure a spot in the Finals, Talay was asked whether they’ll approach it differently.
“We always set up the team to go and win games and we’ve never set up the team not to lose but obviously in the back of our heads we know that one point will get us over the line so we will need to manage the game.
“If we need to slow the game down we will or of we’re on top we need to keep going to continue to create those moments.
“The way we will set up tactically will hopefully allow us to get the desired outcome,” Talay said.
“We need to make sure that we do things right when we have the ball, and make sure we keep things nice and compact and tight when we don’t have the ball.
“This is a massive game and the players need to manage the game and understand where the game is at.”
Sydney FC came close to securing their 8th Finals appearance in nine seasons last weekend when a point would have been good enough against Western United.
However a 1-0 defeat thanks to a controversial winner early in the game meant Talay’s men must wait until this Saturday night.
“I don’t think we had a bad game against Western last week and we had enough chances to equalise and get a point out of that game.
“The reality is, we’re still in control of our own destiny, so the boys will go out there with the right mentality to make sure we get all three points and don’t lose the game too.”
This Isuzu UTE A-League season has been one of the most entertaining on record with teams capable of beating everyone on their day and coming into the final round of the season, the top six is still to be decided along with the positions in there.
And as a fan of the competition, Ufuk Talay loves it.
“This is why our league is the best in the world.
“It’s always close, it’s always unpredictable and that is what makes our competition quite entertaining and it’s great for the fans out there to enjoy the entertainment.
“We would’ve been three points away from Western had we won last weekend so that is what the competition provides is that tension and unpredictability.
For Melbourne City three points will secure them AFC Champions League Elite football for next season and the windfall that goes with it, but the Sky Blues Head Coach believes that could play into Sydney FC’s hands.
“With City needing three points, I think they are going to have to come out and play which will give us opportunities at the other end,” Talay continued.
Unfortunately for Talay, a number of his chargers are under an injury cloud and he provided and update on their fitness heading into this clash.
“The reality is as a coach that you work with what you have when players are injured, then opportunities arise for other players and you work with the players you have at your disposal.
“Joe [Lolley] has had a bit of groin soreness and we took him off earlier than we wanted last week so we have been managing him through the week and he needs to get through things today to be available for Saturday.
“Leo [Sena] is not available. Alex Grant, no. Corey [Hollman] should hopefully tick boxes today and then he will be available.
“Patryk [Klimala] should be available. He trained fully yesterday with the group so he will travel and he has had a couple of injections this week to make himself available which is great for us as I think he’s a very important player for the group.”
