Gold Coast United boss Miron Bleiberg refuses to be fooled by the hype surrounding Sydney FC in the wake of their giant-killing effort against champions Brisbane Roar.
The Sky Blues were good value for their 2-0 win at Kogarah last weekend, ending the runaway A-League leaders’ long and storied undefeated streak just days after they made it an Australian sporting record.
Their intensity and pressure was too much for Brisbane, who were unable to break into their regular rhythm – but Bleiberg remains skeptical despite Sydney’s hard-fought triumph.
Instead of being swayed by the shock result, the astute United coach simply pointed to their record prior to last weekend as proof that the Sky Blues remain as vulnerable as any other side.
“I’m not buying into it. It’s partly a media myth,” Bleiberg said ahead of their visit to Skilled Park on Sunday.
“You know what the results were of Sydney before they beat the Roar? They lost two in a row – to the Mariners at home and then to Wellington in Wellington.”
“They had one good game. The question is if they had an extremely good game – which I think so, I’m not denying it – or if the Roar was flat or a combination of both.”
“I watched the game and Sydney played well, but the Roar were flat.”
“(I’m not reading) too much into it. They’re not in good form – I don’t think in any language if a team loses two then wins one, that it’s good form.”
Despite that, there are two players who are in fantastic touch that Gold Coast will need to look out for – marquee men Brett Emerton and Nicky Carle.
The Socceroo duo were the driving force behind Sydney’s stunning 3-2 comeback win over United nearly a month ago, which began a horror run of five successive losses for the Glitter Strip club.
“Carle moreso – he’s in terrific form and I’ve known him since the Marconi days when I used to play with him,” said Michael Thwaite.
But it is the Sky Blues’ overall team dynamic under coach Vítezslav Lavicka, rather than just one or two individuals, that has the Gold Coast skipper worried the most.
“Generally, their whole squad plays well and has a good structure. They play a 4-4-2 diamond and stick to it every week, and I think even we can learn something from that,” Thwaite said.
“They play a similar structure every week and Lavicka’s got them playing some really good football.”
“They’ve got a sound midfield and some livewires up front, and also those danger men in Carle and Emerton.”
“We’re going with a lot of experienced boys this week and hopefully we can grind out a result and turn our season around.”
