Sydney FC veteran Terry McFlynn says embattled coach Frank Farina has the backing of the players following their disastrous start to the A-League season.
Sydney FC veteran Terry McFlynn says embattled coach Frank Farina has the backing of the players following their disastrous start to the A-League season.
Pressure is mounting on the former Socceroos coach following three straight losses to the Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory.
The Sky Blues are languishing in eighth spot on the ladder on three points ahead of Saturday’s grudge match against bitter rivals Melbourne Victory.
But McFlynn, who has missed the first four games of the campaign with a groin injury, says the entire squad and coaching staff – not just Farina – are responsible for their current predicament.
“We take collective responsibility for the performances recently,” McFlynn said.
“We’ve spoken about it numerous times in private, we know where the problem areas are and we’ve been trying to rectify that on the training ground.”
Pressed on whether the coach has his full backing, McFlynn replied: “Of course. As I said it’s a shared responsibility across the board, we set goals at the start of the season and that hasn’t changed.”
McFlynn, who says he’s feeling fit and ready to return if selected, admits blown chances have been costly in recent weeks.
“We just have to keep working hard, work smarter in a lot of areas,” he said.
“I think the performance on the weekend showed that we created 12 clear-cut chances, 11 of them from open play, one from a set-piece.
“So we’re creating chances and now it’s about putting confidence into the players and turning chances into goals.
“Collectively we’re not hitting it into the back of the net as often as we should be and it’s an old cliche but goals win games.”
Marquee man Alessandro Del Piero trained away from the main group on Tuesday but McFlynn is confident the skipper is on track to face the Victory.
Del Piero came off the bench in the 63rd minute of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Glory in Perth after missing the previous two matches with a calf injury.
“Day by day he’s getting fitter and stronger and the important thing for us is to manage him properly through the week so that we can get the best out of him in the games,” McFlynn said.
He added of this week’s encounter with the Victory: “Sydney FC-Melbourne Victory games are always special. I think they’re the ones that as a player you look to when the fixture list is announced at the start of the season.
“As history shows it’s always been tight encounters between us and we’re really looking forward to the game.
“We know they played last night and they’ve got a little bit less recovery time than we had from the trip to Perth but we’ll be focusing more on us than them.”
