Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold has thanked Newcastle Jets Head Coach Scott Miller for his advice offered ahead of the two team’s clash on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium (kick off 5:15pm).
Arnold said he’d take on board the advice offered from “the most successful coach” in the history of the competition as he said it’s a rarity to receive such comments from an opposition head coach prior to a game.
“It’s good to see a young coach coming in, and we have to respect what Scott’s doing, he’s the most successful coach in A-League history at the moment,” Arnold said.
“I have to say it’s a nice gesture from Scott to give me some advice. I’ve been coaching now for 15-20 years and it’s the first time an opposition coach has given me advice before a game and we’ll definitely have a look at what he’s talking about.”
Miller was clear this week on what he’d do with the Sky Blues structure if he had the same personnel available.
“To be honest with the talent he’s got, I’m surprised he [Arnold] doesn’t play with a higher press, with higher intensity further up the pitch,” Miller said
“They’ll play that low press, and be similar to us in terms of their organisation and be hard to break down.”
Arnold admitted he had thought over what the Jets’ coach had to say about his tactics.
“We’re listening and we’ve been here for a long time. Scotty’s coming in and he’s doing a fantastic job up in Newcastle, you can see by how they played last week that they’re on target to potentially be the dark horse of the competition,” continued Arnold.
“It’s great advice. As I said, before a game you don’t normally get advice from opposition coaches. It’s fantastic and we’ll take it on board.”
Following the round one clash against Melbourne City, Arnold said the Sky Blues are well ahead of where they were at this stage last year as he confirmed he has almost a full squad to choose from ahead of the trip north.
“Alex Gersbach is back in contention but he still has a bit of a hip flexor problem that he had with the Young Socceroos. Other than that everyone else is available,” he said.
“Filip is a 50-50 chance as to whether I risk him this week and potentially push him out on the field. It’s one of those situations with the hamstring where it’s better to be safe than sorry. Filip wants to play and we’ll see how he goes at training today.
“I felt that for 75 minutes of the 90 last week we were very good,” he continued.
“I can only compare what we did to last year and this time last year we couldn’t control a game the way we controlled the game last week.
“I thought we were very good last week and it took a great effort from the goalkeeper that we didn’t get the three points.
“I thought the second half was outstanding and I’m sure all the Sydney FC fans went home happy with the type of style and performance that we played.”
Sydney FC take on Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium on Saturday 17 October (kick off 5:15pm). Catch the match live on Fox Sports 4, listen live on ABC Grandstand or follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for match updates.
Sydney FC Memberships are now on sale for the 2015/16 season. Click HERE to become part of the Sky Blues family
