Sydney FC defender Matt Jurman believes the key to overcoming the Melbourne Victory in Friday night’s Elimination Final at Etihad Stadium (kick off 7:30pm) lies in good communication between the back four.
Sydney FC defender Matt Jurman believes the key to overcoming the Melbourne Victory in Friday night-s Elimination Final at Etihad Stadium (kick off 7:30pm) lies in good communication between the back four.
The Victory play with a mobile front three who continually interchange positions and with Gui Finkler sitting behind them they-re always a conundrum to mark, however Jurman feels if the back four can remain in shape then the Sky Blues can increase their undefeated streak against the Victory.
“They have a very good front third, especially with Finkler behind them,” Jurman said.
“They-re a dangerous team but if we, as a back four, keep compact and keep talking that-s the main thing for us to make sure they can-t do anything.
“It-s a bit hard sometimes when you see all these guys running around but if you keep talking to your teammates and have good communication with the back four it-s a lot easier and they can-t really cause you any problems if you-re doing those things.”
The Sky Blues travel to Melbourne having only lost once in their previous six games, and will revel in the fact that they remain undefeated against the Victory all season, and while Jurman is happy to be travelling to Victoria with some momentum he stressed that anything can happen in finals football.
“Coming into the finals with a bit of momentum and with those last couple of wins it always helps your confidence,” said Jurman.
“Finals are one off games so it doesn-t really count for finals when you can get knocked out straight away.
“Maybe we match up well or maybe we just played a lot better against them. But this Friday is another game and we can-t really look at our past form, we need to just be as good as we can, play as a team and if we can do those things we give ourselves a good chance of winning the game.”
Had other results gone the Sky Blues way Sydney FC could have finished second and Jurman said he was pleased with where the squad finished considering the tight nature of the league table.
“Fifth is not a bad position when you consider that everyone thought we had a terrible season,” Jurman said.
“Looking at the results we weren-t far behind second, it-s a funny league.
“If you look at Adelaide and us, everyone thinks ‘oh Adelaide had a great season and we had a terrible season- and then we finished above them so it-s funny how the league goes,” he continued.
“We got results at times where people didn-t think we would and it was a lot of pressure on the team and the club as a whole so I think we did well and for the finals I think we can cause some damage if we play well.”
