Wanderers’ press

Wanderers pressed quite high up the pitch to not allow Sydney to build up play how they wanted. Brattan and Retre were always marked (usually by Cox and Yeboah respectively), Grant was closed down (by Georgievski), and Ninkovic and Baumjohann were tracked by the two defensive midfielders. Because the Sydney attack generally leans towards the right, the press was also biased towards that side and Jurman would come out to mark Baumjohann when he was further forward. King was frequently left alone on the other side.

The press pinned Sydney in their third of the pitch and made it extremely difficult to get the ball to any of the four playmakers in space. For the first 20 minutes, Sydney struggled to get the ball in any threatening positions, unless it was on the counter.

The danger men were Baumjohann and Ninkovic, and it looked like Wanderers were instructed to deny them any time or space. So much so that for the Sydney goal, after Baumjohann had drawn out Jurman and beaten him on the turn, he drew three other players, most importantly Baccus, to the ball. King provided a free out-ball and Ninkovic, afforded a rare pocket of space, managed to pick out Barbarouses for a shot, the rebound of which was put away by Le Fondre.