It is the end of an era for Steve Corica at Sydney FC. Alex Brosque played with him and for him, and reacted to his departure on The Global Game.
Brosque and Corica were Sky Blues teammates for four years, and they won the 2009-10 Isuzu UTE A-League Premiership-Championship double. The former was also coached by the latter for a season, which yielded another Championship in 2019.
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Brosque, also a Sky Blues legend, reacted to the end of an era in the Harbour City, where Corica delivered a pair of Championships as a player and a further two as a coach.
“I was shocked, to be honest. I wonder if the decision that Melbourne City made last week to sack Rado Vidosic, I wonder if there was that sort of thinking behind it as well,” Brosque said on SEN’s The Global Game, with Australia Cup champions Sydney having lost all three of their league games to begin 2023-24.
“We’ve now gone three games without a win, City reacted after two. Something needs to be done.
“I do think Corica has had an incredible four or five years that he was there; a couple of Championships, a Premiership. I guess the unexpected part is that they are zero and three after three games, it leaves me scratching my head.
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“They had such a good pre-season, they were scoring for fun, looked like this brand new side and all of sudden, they’ve gone back to what we saw a lot last year.
“Just struggling to crack open teams and create all that much, where that has come from is beyond me. I understand that sometimes as players, as coaches, things can just become a little bit stale. I think after five good years that he’s had there – the timing is right, it’s fine on both parts.
There’s no point dragging it out any further. Bimbi has done a great job. He needs a new challenge to test himself as well, and the players could do with a kick up the backside as well, because they’re at fault in part for what has happened.
“A manager can only do so much; the players go out there and they have to perform and they haven’t been, so they need to take a good look at themselves over what they put out in the last three weeks and understand that that’s not good enough, not at this club.”
Sydney entered the season with high hopes, having defeated Brisbane Roar in the Australia Cup final the week prior to the 2023-24 Isuzu UTE A-League campaign starting.
However, the Sky Blues have suffered losses to Melbourne Victory, Brisbane and Melbourne City to begin the campaign, while they are yet to score a goal.
When asked if Corica had a rough ride from Sydney fans, Brosque said: “I was there for both; Arnie (Graham Arnold) at the back end and then when Bimbi took over.
“The way that he understood that and realised, well if it ain’t broke I don’t need to change anything. These players are set in their ways, they have their routines, we know our trainings, know each other inside out – why would I change anything?
“But a lot of managers have that arrogance about them to think this is my team now, I want to put my spin on it, this is how we’re going to play and that doesn’t always sit well in the changing room.
He does get a rough ride in that respect, I think he did incredibly well, particularly in those three years, but things had just started to fall away and change was needed.
