A victory over the Newcastle Jets at the SFS on Sunday won’t salvage Sydney FC’s frustrating season, but coach John Kosmina insists his men still have plenty to play for.
Last week’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Queensland Roar put an end to the Sky Blues’ finals aspirations.
But if the side’s fiery Friday training run is anything to go by, the Sydney-siders are determined to end a difficult campaign on a high.
“They’re probably still smarting about what we’ve tossed away,” Kosmina said of his side’s heated session.
“We’ve had opportunities to be a lot better off than we are at the moment and for whatever reasons we haven’t taken them and it hurts.”
“There’s a bit of a point to prove I think from everybody’s point of view, there’s a few guys leaving and a few guys that have got next year to look forward to and maybe more years at the club so everyone’s trying to prove a point.”
Kosmina says he has already begun the post-mortem on the disappointing season and admits he would have done some things differently with the benefit of hindsight.
“I look at lots of different reasons why things happened. I look at it from a personal point of view, I look at things that I can do differently, I think of how I could manage players differently,” he said.
“Sometimes with selections – maybe I took a couple of risks that I shouldn’t have at particular times.”
Amid constant rumours of unrest within the Sydney camp, Kosmina added: “At the end of the day it’s been a long hard season and probably a lot of nerves are a little bit raw, people say things that they might think twice about a bit later on.”
“But it’s over and done with you’ve got to think of the positive side of things.”
“We’ve got a game on Sunday, it’s a good opportunity to say goodbye to the fans for this season at least on a positive note and then we look at what we do with all these good kids we’ve signed for next season.”
Kosmina confirmed marquee man John Aloisi will make an appearance off the bench with Matthew Jurman also coming into the squad in the absence of Zach Cairncross (suspension) and Robbie Middleby (calf).
“Johnny will come off the bench this week, he’s nowhere near fit enough to start a game but he’s got through three sharp training sessions this week which has been good,” he said.
Asked to confirm Aloisi’s future at the club, a frustrated Kosmina said: “Johnny’s under contract, no one ever said that he wasn’t going to be here next year, it was purely speculation.”
“Johnny wants to be here and I’m happy that he wants to be here, I think the club’s happy that he wants to be here.”
“So we look at what we can do to make Johnny fit and healthy and successful next season.”
