Sydney FC midfielder Alex Brosque is confident his side boasts the firepower to hand Gold Coast United its second consecutive defeat on Saturday night.
Brosque played a leading hand in his side’s 2-0 victory over Wellington Phoenix last weekend which saw it slip past the Hyundai A-League newcomer at the top of the table.
The Sky Blues have lost key midfielder Terry McFlynn for at least a month with a thigh injury and are sweating on the availability of John Aloisi who is nursing a minor knee complaint.
Brosque is confident Sydney has the depth to cover its injury problems but is not convinced Gold Coast will be the same side with chief playmaker Jason Culina absent on Socceroos duty.
“I think it’ll be a big loss for them he generally starts all the movement and everything going forward goes through him,” Brosque said of Culina.
“I mean you saw Newcastle on the weekend shut him down pretty well and the balls forward were kept to a minimum.”
“So that’s what we I guess would have planned to had he been playing but with him not there it’s a huge loss for them.”
“But still they’re not a one-man team or a two-man team, they’ve got some quality all over the park so just because he’s not playing doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy game for us.”
With Culina out of the picture, the 25-year-old admits the result will hinge on Sydney’s ability to shut down the league’s leading goal scorer Shane Smeltz, who has already found the back of the net six times this season.
“He’s probably the man that’s most likely to get them going and get us on the back foot, so he’s another one if we can sort of close him down and limit his options we’ll go a long way to a victory for us,” Brosque said.
“We’ve had a good start but it obviously does come down to this game to see exactly where we’re at away from home up there.”
“It’s going to be tough but I think we have got the players to win this game.”
“But everyone’s calling Gold Coast the benchmark so it’s a good test for us this week to see if we can carry this form on.”
Meanwhile, Brosque admits he’s still coming to terms with his new role on the left wing under coach Vitezslav Lavicka, having spent the bulk of his first three seasons with the club as a striker.
“I still think that I can be doing a bit more but with a new position it’s something I’m still trying to get used to but something that I am I guess enjoying,” he said.
“As long as I’m in that front third of the park I can still get in close and support Johnny (Aloisi) and Bridgey (Mark Bridge) and Bimbi (Steve Corica).”
“At the same time I can hold my width as well and try and support our left-back coming forward – it is a different position but it’s going alright.”
