SYDNEY FC captain Alex Brosque has moved quickly to put pressure on semi-final opponents Perth Glory, predicting that Kenny Lowe’s side will carry a mental burden from three heavy defeats to the Sky Blues already this season.
Glory will travel to Allianz Stadium on Saturday night after a 2-0 win at Melbourne City in the elimination final, and while Brosque admitted that was a result to give them confidence, he warned that “parking the bus” could have dangerous consequences against the Sky Blues.
Sydney have scored 11 times in three games against Perth this year, conceding only two in reply, and Brosque suggested Glory face a balancing act in how attacking they dare to be.
Alex Brosque and Bobo with the Hyundai A-League trophy. Picture: Brett CostelloSource:News Limited
“They’ll come here and know it will be a tough match,” he said. “If they draw on all three games this year, they were all very tough for them. It’s got to be on their mind.
“I don’t think it’s in their style of play (to sit back), they have to focus on their strengths which are going forward and scoring goals. If they park the bus against us, they sort of tried against us in the last game down there and held out for a certain amount of time but we fed on that.
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“We saw they were sitting back on us and started to put more pressure on them and scored a few goals. You could see the confidence drain out of them and I don’t think it’s in their nature to sit back.
“But it’s a tricky one for them because if they go forward and leave themselves open, and we can get in between the lines, it starts to become an open game and we have the players to really hurt them. We’ve been going forward really well against them and scored a lot of goals, for us it will be doing the same.
“In saying that, the game against Melbourne City should give them confidence that they can achieve another upset.”
Brosque suggested that the biggest danger to Sydney lies in the distraction of playing a finals game, after a regular season where they have dominated more than any team previously. Having collected the Premier’s Plate with a record number of points, Brosque said his team’s approach to Saturday’s semi-final could not be even fractionally different.
“If we treat it like just another match, which can be hard to do, and do as we have in the last 27 rounds, then nothing will change,” he said. “We’re expecting to win and expecting to have the same outcome as the past three games.
“If we start thinking about other things then we can quickly find ourselves in the same position as Melbourne City, where passes start going astray and your structure’s not there. All of a sudden you’re one or two down and you’re thinking about the end of your season rather than the grand final. “
Originally published as Sydney opens Glory’s mental scars
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