He may be new to one of the Hyundai A-League’s fiercest rivalries, but Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka knows exactly what to expect against arch rivals Central Coast in Gosford on Saturday.
The Sky Blues have made the perfect start to their new campaign with wins over North Queensland Fury and Adelaide United, and head into enemy territory full of confidence.
But Lavicka, who spent part of his week studying footage of previous games between the rival clubs, understands the challenge that awaits his men in the form of an undefeated Mariners line-up.
“I watched on DVD the last games, it was a big rivalry and interesting games – we expect the same tomorrow,” Lavicka said on Friday.
“We played against them during pre-season game (and) they played very well, (it was) a difficult game for us.”
“(They have) very good structure and organisational play and they have several tall players … they are a good opponent.”
The Mariners’ 2-0 upset win against Melbourne Victory in Round 1 also caught Lavicka’s attention.
“It was a very good performance from their whole team, especially from attacking set-pieces, they have very tall players and are very dangerous,” he said.
“(They have) good strikers and I think they have very good team spirit as well.”
While delighted with his side’s winning start to the season, Lavicka insists his side is far from the finished product.
“Of course we are happy, but this is only (the) first two steps,” he said.
“We need to continue. We have respect for all teams, we want to be successful next time as well but we expect a tough game.”
“We have still many things to improve but I think the players know it, they have good attitude to be better and better.”
Sydney veteran Alex Brosque agrees the Sky Blues remain a work in progress, but says the players have adapted well to Lavicka’s game-plan.
“(During) the pre-season he really emphasised a lot in attack and really tried to get us to express ourselves from the left all the way over to the right,” he said.
“I think it’s worked well. We haven’t been as predictable as possibly we have been in past seasons, so I think having players just express themselves – guys like Kofi (Danning) – has been brilliant and Johnny (Aloisi) and Bimbi (Steve Corica) are working well together up there as well.”
“There is a lot of players that are playing well at the moment going forward so it just makes it harder for other teams to work out who they’re going to stop because I don’t think it’s one individual player.”
Lavicka is expected to take an unchanged line-up into Saturday’s Round 3 blockbuster.
