This Saturday, Ufuk Talay will take his side north to take on the Central Coast Mariners who haven’t tasted defeat in 12 matches and the Head Coach knows that he is in for a tough challenge.
Last week, his side lacked the usual enthusiasm that an Ufuk Talay team normally presents and they were pegged back from 2 goals up against Western United. This time around, he will be wanting to see the intensity lift in Gosford.
“We weren’t happy as a group with the performance last weekend but we also put ourselves in a position to win. However, I am disappointed that we allowed the opponent back into the game.
“I believe that we have missed two great opportunities these last two weeks to push ourselves further up the table and now we get an opportunity to do that this weekend,” Talay said.
His side will take on the Central Coast Mariners who are coming off the back of a 0-0 draw in Wellington on Tuesday afternoon where either side failed to create any concrete chances.
This 90 minutes ahead at Industree Group Stadium could be a very end to end affair with both teams playing an attacking brand of football and deadly on the counter attack.
“The Mariners are a good side and they are creating chances and scoring goals.
“For us, it is about how we nullify them and stop them from creating those moments and creating moments and chances for us to win the game,” Talay said.
“We always set up to win the game, we never set up for a draw and hopefully things go our way this weekend and the boys perform as they usually do.”
Finally, Ufuk Talay commented on the decision he has in choosing his attackers this weekend with Pat Wood returning from suspension and Fabio finding form but only one spot up for grabs.
“For me it is very important what we do with the ball and how we influence the opponent when we have the ball and what we do with our high press.
“I don’t want to punish Pat [Wood] for challenging for the ball and at the same time Fabio has done a great job in the last game by scoring the penalty and assisting Jake.
“It’s a great headache to have even though we don’t have an abundance of players at the moment with the number of injuries that we have,” he concluded.
Catch Talay’s side in action on Saturday night in Gosford.
Match Details
Central Coast Mariners v Sydney FC
Isuzu UTE A-League Round 16
Saturday 10th February 2024
Industree Group Stadium, Gosford, NSW
Kick Off: 7:45pm AEDT
Gates Open: 4:00pm AEDT
Broadcast Live: Paramount+ & 10Bold
Tickets: Click Here