In an unfortunate end to Sydney FC’s season, the Sky Blues went down in the A-League Grand Final. They lost to their original rivals, Melbourne Victory, by three goals to nil. While it seems like a heavy defeat, there are still positives for Sky Blues fans to take away from season 2014/15. There are a lot of Sky Blues who were disappointed with the outcome in Melbourne, losing in such convincing fashion will do that. But what those fans need to do is to step back, look at the season and put it into context. The fact is, Sydney FC has made a massive amount of progress over the past year or so.
In the seasons before Arnold took over, Sydney FC had become synonymous with mediocrity. First, the latter part of Viteslav Lavicka’s reign did not end all too well. The rest of the league had worked out how to set up and outplay a side using an outdated 4-4-2 formation. When Lavicka’s reign ended Ian Crook came in, attempting to re-energise and steer the club back in the right direction. Crook’s plans for the season were hijacked by a board that had sealed the signing of Alessandro Del Piero. Del Piero’s signing was one of intent, but it was actually one that backfired. Crook resigned six weeks into the season proper and Frank Farina was brought in to manage the entity known as Alessandro Del Piero.
Farina had managed no better. While Del Piero proved to be a great marketing gimmick off the pitch, he had little impact on the pitch other than furthering his own legacy. Del Piero seemingly beat players at will, but the team around him struggled to become a cohesive and formidable unit. That season ended with the club finishing in seventh, missing the finals altogether and being ridiculed nationwide. The second season under Farina only fared marginally better. The fomrer Socceroos coach clearly could not fit Del Piero into his system, nor could he adjust his system to suit Del Piero. There was an improvement in cohesiveness, albeit slightly as Del Piero became more prone to injury and it seemed the team functioned better without him. The Sky Blues limped into fifth place, but were never a real threat. They were eliminated in the first week, Del Piero chose not to re-sign for a third season and Farina was promptly sacked.
The club then made the smartest decision it had made in years. The club promptly hired an unemployed Graham Arnold, who went about changing the way the club operated the football department and the way the squad played football. Pre-season went well, with a style and structure becoming visually evident. There was passing out from the back four and an attempt to drive attacking phases through the midfield. Fitness became a focal point, with Arnold bringing in his trusty lieutenant, Andrew Clark. Clark set about making sure the squad was fit and ready to play, attempting to minimise any risk of injuries.
The season started and the first few games went well, but after those initial games the club’s form started to dip. Four players suffered anterior cruciate ligament injuries while Sasa Ognenovski was ruled out with a long term hip problem, all events that were not controllable. Arnold himself admitted that he did not know how to arrest the slide but would use the Asian Cup break to reassess things and get the squad back on track. The break came and went and Arnold had helped the squad find its groove. In came Mickael Tavares and Jacques Faty on injury replacement contracts and Marc Janko found his scoring boots. The side played some really good football, a phrase that was rarely used when talking about the Sky Blues in previous years.
Tavares brought calmness to the midfield in Terry Antonis’ absence, while Faty added some steel in the backline. Combining this with Milos Dimitrijevic’s midfield domination, Bernie Ibini and Chris Naumoff hitting form and Janko finding his scoring boots, the squad played an entertaining brand of football. This entertaining brand of football helped the club achieve a second place finish in the regular season. There were a couple of hiccups along the way, namely narrow and against the run of play losses to Melbourne City and Adelaide, but Sydney had not seen the heights of second in years.
In one season, Arnold had turned a club in tatters into a formidable and united squad, something that Farina failed to do in his two years in charge. He implemented a style of play that was structured but allowed freedom for his players. While that resulted in a second place finish, the side effect was a play-off spot in the Asian Champions League preliminary round. Fast forward three weeks later and a Grand Final appearance ensured automatic qualification for the Asian Champions League proper. While there is still much to do to make sure the squad is competitive throughout 27 games and not just half a season, Sydney fans should be happy with how much progress has been made in just over a year. There is still much more to come and no doubt the Sky Blues will secure silverware under Arnold sooner rather than later.
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