Continue winning is the mantra at Sydney FC, as Head Coach Steve Corica stressed the importance of that fact ahead of Saturday’s clash against Melbourne City at ANZ Stadium.
With the Hyundai A-League Premiers Plate secured, Corica isn’t content on sitting back, erring against complacency against a side preparing for their first game back following the league’s postponement in March.
“We’ve won the Premiership but we have four games to go and we want to continue winning,” Corica said.
“We want to be motivated, we’ve got four games to go and we keep stressing it.
“They [the players] know what’s up for grabs, leading into the Semi-Finals there’s positions up for grabs and it’s vital they continue to do what they’ve done best which is play good football, defend very well and win games.
“They [City] right up there, they’re a good team. They have good players, good foreign players and good Australian players and they’re playing a good style of football as well under their Head Coach,” he continued.
“So again we need to make sure we’re ready and be up for it. We saw what happened against Newcastle when it was their first game, they need to win, so it’s going to be a good game.
“We came back first game, against Wellington it was good. They’ve had a couple of weeks training to prepare for this game, we’re looking forward to it and we want to respond after the loss to Newcastle.”
Corica confirmed the Sky Blues would be missing Socceroos star Rhyan Grant, who remains sidelined through injury, while he also hinted at possible rotations following Saturday’s encounter against the Victorians.
“Rhyan will definitely be out for the next two or three games,” he said.
“There’s a short period between those games so we’re not going to rush him back. If we could get him back for the Western game that’d be great, leading into the Semi-Final.
“We’ve got a couple of options at the right back position so we’ll see how the next couple of days at training and then we’ll decide.
“There will be a couple of players getting rested between now and the Finals,” he continued.
“This game is pretty much full strength and then we’ll see after that.”
Sydney FC face Melbourne City at ANZ Stadium on Saturday (kick off 5pm AEST). Catch the match LIVE on Fox Sports 507 or streamed on Kayo Sports and the My Football Live app, and catch Sydney FC official pre-game show LIVE on their Facebook 30 minutes before kick off.
