Nikola Petkovic admits it could be a very new-look to Sydney FC next season but says the club owe it to the fans to be much better in every department.
Nikola Petkovic admits it could be a very new-look to Sydney FC next season but says the club owe it to the fans to be much better in every department.
The Sky Blues’ roller-coaster season came to a heart-breaking end on Friday night as Gui Finkler’s injury-time volley consigned them to a 2-1 defeat.
The post-mortem on the campaign will begin immediately, with huge questions remaining over the futures of coach Frank Farina and skipper Alessandro Del Piero.
“Many players are coming off contract, more than 10 I think, and the club obviously has to make some big decisions,” Petkovic said in the Daily Telegraph.
“Sydney FC has a big transfer market coming up — it’s not for me to say what Ale and Frank in particular should do.
“But as a club we must try to do better next season. We have some great fans, you saw that in Melbourne when so many came down.
“We owe it to all our fans to make sure we are better next year, and we learn from what happened against Victory.”
Sydney certainly gave as good as they got against Victory and could easily have progressed if not for some poor finishing in front of goal.
With the scores tied at 1-1, Del Piero struck the post late in the first half while Victory ‘keeper Nathan Coe pulled of two amazing saves to deny Matt Jurman and Joel Chianese after the break.
They were thin hit with a sucker-punch at the death just as extra-time looked likely.
“I don’t like to say we were unlucky, but to concede a goal like that in the last few seconds is not a nice way to lose. It’s really hard because over the whole game I think we did well,” Petkovic said.
“We didn’t start so good, the first 20 minutes or so Victory were good but after they got their goal it seemed to lift us and we were much better.
“Yes, we missed some chances but it was a really tough game, we gave everything and I don’t think we could have done much more.
“We defended well against a good side, we had some good combinations but you cannot give a player like Finkler the space to be all alone in the box.”
Sebastian Ryall, who scored Sydney’s goal which was his third against Victory this season, added: “When we scored, I thought maybe it was our day.
“We came out in the second half in a positive frame of mind and had some good chances to win it. Unfortunately we couldn’t take them and at this level, if you don’t take the chances you get, you’re always liable to get punished.
“It was a pretty even game, but it’s hard not to look at the negatives. As a footballer if you’re not winning games then you’re not happy.”
