Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold said the Sky Blues’ belief will prevail in Saturday’s #BigBlue Semi-Final clash at Allianz Stadium (kick off 7:50pm AEST).
Feeding off comments from Melbourne players after their seventh defeat in a row against the Sky Blues in Round 27, Arnold said his players would be buoyed and more than capable of progressing to a second successive Hyundai A-League Grand Final.
“We go into the game with a lot of belief, the belief is exceptionally high,” Arnold said.
“Especially when Besart [Berisha] tells the boys after the game that we’re such a great team and they can’t beat us, then that gives us even more belief.
“We go into this game with a huge amount of belief, we’re at Fortress Allianz and we expect to win.
“I truly believe we’ve only been playing at 50 or 60 percent of our capabilities against Melbourne this year. It’s about us getting greater as we go, tomorrow is round 28, we’re in excellent shape.
“I think our performances have been decent against them but not great, tomorrow night we expect a great performance. We don’t reflect on the past, we just look at the future, tomorrow night is a real exciting night.”
Arnold said he’s expecting a war tomorrow night but he believes the Sky Blues’ physical and mental conditioning will be more than enough to win the battle at Allianz Stadium.
“I expect a war tomorrow night, every time you play them that’s what you get,” he said.
“The boys are in great shape, they’re ready and whatever is dealt we’ll deal with it.
“I think on most of those occasions especially in the last few games it started that way but the players can win the war.
“When you have both the physical side and the technical side, a lot of belief in what we do, we expect to win.
“It’s all about winning tomorrow night. It’s great we’ve got a very strong referee, he’s shown his strength over the season so no doubt he’ll do a fantastic job.”
Sydney FC face Melbourne in a massive #BigBlue Semi-Final at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night (kick off 7:50pm AEST) for a spot in the 2018 Hyundai A-League Grand Final. Secure your seats today and be there to back your Sky Blues.
