Sydney FC striker John Aloisi will be glad to see the back of a season he freely admits was his toughest yet.
Having joined the Sky Blues on a marquee deal at the start the 2008/09 campaign, Aloisi endured a hard year scoring just two goals as the glamour club failed to qualify for the Hyundai A-League Finals for the first time.
The 33-year-old concedes his first year at the club was a rough ride.
“It was pretty hard,” he said on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t a good year but you end up growing and becoming a stronger person and a player from going through tough times, and hopefully next year that shows and I have a great year.”
Aloisi and co have one-last chance to end a sour season on a positive note when they meet Chinese giant and sister club Shanghai Shenhua in China on Saturday.
While the match is only a friendly, it will be the first opportunity for all players to impress incoming coach Vitezslav Lavicka and his assistant Michael Zach, who will both be keen observers in Shanghai.
And the chance to start afresh is not lost on the veteran striker.
“We’re playing this game over there which is really the first time the new coach is going to see us so everyone wants to prove themselves,” he said.
“It was a disappointing year for not only myself but for the whole club I think and it’s a clean slate for everyone.”
“We’ve been working hard the last couple of weeks, it was good to play that friendly game against Newcastle Jets (last Tuesday), I got on the score sheet so hopefully over there I’ll get on the score sheet again and next year will be a bigger and better year for us.”
Aloisi, who missed the bulk of the club’s pre-season preparations with a foot injury, confirmed he would not be pursuing an off-season loan move.
“I want to have a good season under the new coach, we’re going to be playing a lot of pre-season friendly games which is important for me because I didn’t play a lot this season,” he said.
“If I went on loan I would come back, probably have to have a week off, and then play catch up in the pre-season and I don’t want to do that.”
“I want to make sure I’m right for Sydney FC and the right thing for me to do is have a good pre-season, play a lot of friendly games, get to know the coach, he’ll get to know us and me personally and take it from there.”
