Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka will not yield to pressure and shift marquee player Brett Emerton from left midfield despite the Sky Blues’ winless start to the season.
Sydney goes into Saturday night’s meeting with Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium without a victory or goal in the opening fortnight of the new Hyundai A-League season, with Emerton’s subdued form a big talking point.
Lavicka surprised many by switching the Socceroos star from his preferred position on the right to left midfield for last weekend’s match against defending champions Brisbane.
Emerton had a quiet night by his high standards and spent much of the match defending as the Roar eased to a 2-0 win.
Lavicka is likely to persevere with Emerton on the left, declaring before training on Thursday: “I’ve heard some critical talk after our last game against Brisbane but I’m not a person who changes the line-up and positioning every game.”
“We will see on Saturday but at this moment I prefer to keep the same positioning as last weekend.”
“I trust the players (and) I trust Brett Emerton is able to (produce) a better performance.”
“Brett is able to do it easy … it doesn’t matter if he plays on the right, centre or left in the midfield.”
“He’s a versatile player and a valuable player for the team and he will do a good job for us this weekend.”
Emerton trained without problem on Thursday, proving he has overcome a quad injury and will line-up against the Reds.
Lavicka is confident the best is yet to come from his the former Blackburn player and the team, which has picked up just one point from two games.
“Brett is ready to train and play and he will do a good job for us this weekend,” the coach said.
“You could see a couple of moments from our game against Brisbane that he did make some good runs from behind but he just (needed) better work on the last part … a better pass from a teammate stopped us (from progressing).”
“But you must remember he arrived one week before we started the season so he needs more time to settle.”
“We all believe we will (have) better performance and result (in Adelaide).”
Reminded of Sydney’s winless start to last season, defender Scott Jamieson added: “Last year we kept saying ‘next week’, ‘next week we’ll get a win’ but you have to try and get your first win on the board to take the pressure away.”
“(Saturday) is an important game for us to win.”
