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Round 11 Preview: Sydney v Mariners

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The Central Coast Mariners travel to Jubilee Oval to face Sydney FC for the second time this season. After Thursday’s training session, Mike Mulvey spoke with media.

In the Mariners first encounter with Sydney FC at Central Coast Stadium this season, they found the back of the net first through Matt Simon. Ultimately, Simon’s opener wasn’t enough with Sydney striking through Adam Le Fondre & Brandon O’Neill to claim three points.

With three consecutive wins to their names, Sydney FC will be hoping to make it four on Friday night, whilst the Mariners will be looking to kick their 2019 off in fashion with a win to celebrate their first game of the year.

Mulvey in the media

Our opponents, Sydney FC…
“They are a very proud club, I think that everyone likes to try and knock off Sydney FC because they are one of the glamour clubs of the competition.

“They have some very good players, the likes of Le Fondre, De Jong but at the end of the day it’s 11 v 11, we played very well against them at Central Coast Stadium a few weeks ago which was a very close call, we should have taken something from that game.  Hopefully we’ve learned from that.

“Sydney go in as favourites tomorrow, but we’re going to go on the front foot and have a go. We want to go their with a good plan, a great attitude and get in their face. If you stand off Sydney, they will make you look like fools.

Movement in January…
“We’ve had some positive talks with management about bringing players in during January. We do need to strengthen, there’s no doubt about that. Everybody is on notice right now, in terms of putting in big performances.

Where we need to improve…
“We will get there, we will climb the table. We do need a win to kick start things, but first of all let’s start with a clean sheet, let’s concentrate on the process. Every second of every the game. That’s what we’ve been guilty of and that’s what’s cost us. Switching off at key moments in the game.

Team changes…  
“Tom Hiariej has been battling a calf injury for a number of weeks. He’s trained since last week, he’s not ready for a full game yet but we will have him on the bench tomorrow which is good news, we have missed him. Tommy Oar is not at full fitness yet, but he will be on the bench tomorrow which is much needed for the team and also the fans as well. He showed us a glimpse of what we can do when he came on against Perth the other night and once we get them both back to full fitness it brings more quality to our squad, which is probably what we’ve been missing.

Opta Stat Attack

  • Sydney FC have lost just once in their last 13 meetings with the Central Coast Mariners (W10, D2), but have held their opponents goalless just three times in this span.

  • Sydney FC will be searching for back-to-back wins at Jubilee Stadium for the first time, after breaking a two-match losing run with a win over Brisbane last round.
  • Central Coast Mariners are winless in their last 16 A-League games (D2, L14) – this is their longest ever run without tasting victory in the A-League.

  • The Mariners have lost their last four games on the road and will be out to avoid losing a fifth away from home for the first time since April 1 2016.
  • No team has scored more goals from headers this season than Sydney FC (three), while no team has conceded more goals from headers this season than the Mariners (four).

  • No team has scored more second half goals this term than Sydney FC (10); Central Coast Mariners (three) have bagged the fewest in that time period.
  • No player has successfully completed more passes this season than Sydney FC’s Josh Brillante (587), over 200 more than the Mariners’ best (Aiden O’Neill – 373).

  • Adam Le Fondre (Sydney FC) has scored nine goals this season; two more than any other player.

Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.Aaron CALVER, 4.Alex WILKINSON, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7.Michael ZULLO, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Daniel DE SILVA, 13.Brandon O’NEILL, 14.Alex BROSQUE (c), 17. Anthony CACERES, 18.Jacob TRATT, 20.Alex CISAK (gk), 21.Charles LOKOLI-NGOY, 22.Siem DE JONG, 24.Cam DEVLIN, 31.Luke IVANOVIC.
**two to be omitted**

Ins: 17. Anthony CACERES (new signing), 21.Charles LOKOLI-NGOY (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 3.Ben WARLAND (foot – 2 weeks), 5.Jop van der LINDEN (hamstring – 2 weeks), 12.Trent BUHAGIAR (ACL – indefinite), 19.Chris ZUVELA (knee – indefinite), 23. Rhyan GRANT (International Duty)

Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITS, 4.Jake McGING, 6.Tom HIARIEJ, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Michael McGLINCHEY, 10.Tommy OAR, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Adam PEARCE (gk), 13.Aiden O’NEILL, 15.Kye ROWLES,18.Matt MILLAR, 19.Matt SIMON (c), 20.Kalifa CISSE, 22.Jacob MELLING, 23.Mario SHABOW, 25.Jordan MURRAY
**one to be omitted**

Ins: 2.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITS (return from injury), 6.Tom HIARIEJ (return from injury), 20.Kalifa CISSE (promoted)
Outs: 3.Jack CLISBY (not selected), 5.Antony GOLEC (not selected)
Unavailable: 21.Corey GAMEIRO (calf), 44.Ross McCORMACK (knee)

Match Details
Friday, 4 January 2019
Hyundai A-League Round 11
Match: Sydney FC vs. Central Coast Mariners
Venue: Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah
Kick-off: 7:50pm (AEDT)
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA
Hash-tag: Join the match conversation using #SYDvCCM & #CCMFC

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