“We’re only at 43 per cent”: Corica fires off warning to title rivals

Sydney FC manager Steve Corica says his side still have lots of improvement left in them even after they moved to within five points of Hyundai A-League ladder leaders Perth Glory.

The Sky Blues’ 2-0 win over Adelaide United at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night ensured they would stay in second place until at least next weekend with goals to Reza Ghoochannejhad and Cameron Devlin sealing the three points either side of half-time.

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Speaking post-match, Corica said it was only a matter of time before fans saw the full brunt of their attack.

“It was always going to come,” Corica said.

“It’s about getting the combinations right and the attitude, the attitude’s been fantastic all year but we’re probably playing at 43 per cent at the moment and we’re going to get better.

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“We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of points to pick up and it’s getting better with Reza in the squad, looking forward to having Brosquey back and Danny [De Silva] back and once we get Sim [De Jong] back as well I think we have a very strong squad with great depth in it.”

With both goal scorers finding the net for the first time in Sky Blue, Corica was quick to dish out praise, especially for Ghoochannejhad.

The Iranian joined in January on loan from APOEL and has taken a while to fit into Sydney’s front third but a blistering first half performance well and truly announced him to the league.

“Pleased with the goal scorers, Reza getting his first goal for the club and Cammy Devlin coming on and scoring his goal, he took it very well,” Corica said.

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“First half was excellent I thought, probably the best we’ve played all season which was great. Then the second half turned a little bit but sometimes you have to defend and we defended really well and kept another clean sheet which is great.

“It takes a little bit of time, he hasn’t been here a long time so the combination between him and Adam is really working, both very good strikers, both will score goals and we didn’t have Brosquey tonight either so I’m looking forward to having him back as well to have a headache to see who starts.”

The visitors lost key defender Michael Jakobsen on Thursday to injury, forcing Reds boss Marco Kurz to rearrange his backline.

Even allowing for some defensive disorganisation, Kurz still bemoaned his side’s inability to find the back of the net.

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“It was not easy for us to set-up today because we have to replace Jakobsen…I think we started well in the first 10 minutes but after the first mistake we lost our confidence a little bit and we also conceded the first goal,” Kurz said.

“In the second half it was a good game from our side, we controlled the game we had a couple of good chances as well but at the end of the day we didn’t find the room or the space in their last third.”