Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka said before the Sky Blues tactics session at the Sydney Football Stadium today that he has a number of options he can utilise in the wake of Nicky Carle’s hamstring injury.
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka said before the Sky Blues tactics session at the Sydney Football Stadium today that he has a number of options he can utilise in the wake of Nicky Carle-s hamstring injury.
Carle picked up a strain in the Sky Blues 1-1 draw with Shanghai Shenhua last week and is at massive odds to take on the Kashima Antlers at the SFS this Wednesday night.
Lavicka has a strong contingent of young stars he could unleash on the Antlers including Rhyan Grant, Dimitri Petratos, Joel Chianese, Brendan Gan and Kofi Danning.
“Its trouble for Nicky and it’s trouble for us,” said Lavicka. “He will be out hopefully for only the next game, but we have to solve it. We have several options how we can replace him.”
“But it’s difficult to replace the marquee player because Nicky especially in the last games of this season has shown his quality and he is an important part, especially when we are attacking.
“We have to replace him but we have players who are younger than him and less experienced.”
Asked if Sydney had any other fitness worries heading into Wednesday, Lavicka said he had a couple of players with small medical problems, but declined to reveal their identities.
“That’s only for tactical reasons, the Japanese team is here in Sydney, so they save their team, we would like to save our team.”
With two draws from their opening two home games, Wednesday night-s game is a must win for Sydney FC and Lavicka said he wants a more aggressive approach from his strikers.
“Every game in ACL group stage, especially at home, is a must win. The group is very close so we would like to be successful. We are confident despite some injury problems,” Lavicka said.
“We must score more goals. We played well and created chances against Shanghai but I expect more goals and for us to be true killers in the attacking third.
“Bruno [Cazarine]is one of our key attacking players. He created chances but couldn-t get that goal.”
Lavicka said that Kashima, despite all of their personal turmoil, will be pumped up for the clash.
“We have a great respect for Kashima. They have quality Japanese players and overseas players and they will come to fight,” Lavicka said.
“They have a well organized team, especially in defence. They squeeze the ball immediately and stay compact but also they are able to play good attacking football with good, quick passing.
“If they have the chance they will play quick counter attack. They are a typical Japanese team.
“We would like to play actively ourselves. We have to be balanced but attack. We are ready though and I hope Sydney FC fans and football fans come and support us.”
