Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka has conceded the defending champions are all but out of the finals race after they crashed to their fifth consecutive loss with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Adelaide United on Wednesday.
Lavicka said it would be ‘unrealistic’ to think about the top six with the Sky Blues fifth loss on the trot anchoring Sydney to the bottom of the table on 18 points for at least another week – one point behind North Queensland Fury.
The Czech coach admitted frustration has set in among the Sydney camp with the defending champions still a mathematical chance to make the finals, but results and goals scarce.
“To be honest it is unrealistic to think about the finals series,” he said.
“It’s frustrating for us. You’re still talking about it and you try to reach some points, but without the goals and without the points there’s no way to get there. Without the points there is no way to be in the finals series.”
“At the moment it is frustrating for us. It’s a good lesson for us but we keep going and believe that we will improve next game.”
Sydney have not found the net in five games and Lavicka declared the Sky Blues goal drought is now a major problem.
Lavicka refused to blame his strikers, conceding the barren spell is a team issue.
“A big problem for us, not only tonight, is attacking play,” he said.
“Attacking play is not only about strikers it is also about midfielders, about how we build up the attack from deep.”
“It’s a major problem. It’s not accidently – we haven’t scored a goal in the last five games, this is a major problem for us at the moment.”
The Sydney boss acknowledged the arrival of Finnish striker Juho Makela in the January transfer window would bolster the Sky Blues attack.
“We are working to bring some attacking player in January,” he said.
“He should come in the next few and we’ll see. He’s a Finnish striker, Juho Makela. We’re still trying to bring another player, maybe a midfielder but it is hard to say if it will be now or later.”
Another vital cog in the Sydney machine is marquee player Nick Carle who managed to run out an impressive 60 minutes against the Reds.
Lavicka admitted after such a long spell on the sidelines, the return to full fitness of the skilful playmaker will have to be carefully managed.
“Nicky didn’t play for nine games, he had a long term injury so we must manage him very carefully,” he said.
“He is a very important attacking player for us so we would like to keep him for a long period so we must manage his periods on the pitch.”
Captain Terry McFlynn said despite their recent poor run of form, confidence and belief is still high.
The hard-nosed midfielder stated while there is still a mathematical chance the Sky Blues will be aiming to turn hard work into results.
“On the pitch we have to keep going, work hard and believe in what we do,” he said.
“We’ve played every team in this league and performances against most of them have been good, it’s just about getting the results. Going into games confidence is high.”
“As long as it’s mathematically possible, as long as there’s points to be played for … we’ve just got to turn our hard work into results.”
