@ShababHossain13

Sydney FC might just be the A-League’s most confusing team to watch. One week, they look like they’re a good chance of bringing back the title to Sydney; the next, they fall to Brisbane Roar and hand their first win since November.

Head coach Steve Corica has had the unenviable job of trying to improve a title-winning side, and the results so far are a mixed bag. New arrival Adam Le Fondre has taken to life in Australia with ease, while Andrew Redmayne looks to be a solid number one to depend on.

In most games though, there’s this sense that the Sky Blues were lucky to get away with three points. Corica cannot continue depending on the spider-like reflexes and intriguing mind-games of Redmayne to win them matches.

In saying all this, Sydney FC are still in third placed and could well leapfrog Melbourne Victory for second if results go their way. They’ve kept a tight ship at the back while regularly putting the ball into the back of the net with a healthy goal difference of +11.

So, what’s the deal with the Sky Blues? Exactly how good are they?

Tight-knit defence

Although Redmayne has had to transform into a penalty saving master to spare Sydney some blushes, the stats, courtesy of Wyscout, suggest they are still a resolute side defensively.

They’ve conceded 181 shots at an average of 9.22 a game, the lowest in the league. It doesn’t need explaining but if a team concedes a low number of shots, then there’s a lower chance of them having to pick the ball out from the back of the net.

Their expected goals against (xG) which basically values the chance of a shot being scored has them at 19.21 goals, which means they’ve been slightly unlucky conceding 21 goals so far this season, although the difference is small enough for it to not be a concern.

It seems then, that Redmayne’s heroics might only be memorable because of the manner of his saves, which is usually in a full-stretch or a quick reflex position, rather than any specific outlier that might suggest defensive weaknesses.

Sydney’s defensive fragility is only exemplified in games where they go against high quality attacks, like Wellington Phoenix’s Krishna who gave the Sky Blues a day to forget as he constantly ran in behind of the high defensively line. There’s no reason though, that Corica can’t shore up these weaknesses and turn them into strengths come finals period.

Winning ugly — The sign of champions or a bad omen?

The main issue with Sydney FC right now is that their performances look to be well below the standards of what is expected from The Cove. Although they do end up with a winning result most of the time, sooner or later, there’s a feeling that their meek displays will catch up with them.

When Sydney score early goals, they typically don’t attack in the same style and instead take more care preserving their lead. Most notably, in the win against Melbourne City, where Luke Ivanovic’s early goal resulted in them ending with only 37% of possession at the end of the match. This surely would have been different if they didn’t score in the first 10 minutes and were chasing a goal.

Another point to note is that in three separate games, (Western Sydney Wanderers, Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners) the opposing team has shot themselves in the foot with a red card after initially putting the Sky Blues on the back foot. These games all ended in victories, even though it’s not their fault these teams have a knack for putting themselves in a disadvantage.

You can only beat what’s in front of you, and they often say that winning ugly is the sign of a champion. But how many games do you have to play badly in before it suggests there might be a deeper lying issue?

Ordinary individual performances

Since Corica has taken over the reigns from now Socceroos manager Graham Arnold, he’s been unable to unlock the attack to the best of their ability.

Other than Le Fondre, it’s hard to find another reliable goalscorer in the team. Of course, new arrival Reza Ghoochannejhad was brought in for exactly that reason, but there is still not much goal scoring support behind them.

Siem De Jong, on loan from Ajax, has had a mediocre time in Australia so far. He’s scored a few worldies with his free-kicks, but in open play, he hasn’t really shown much to inspire.

Another loanee, Daniel Da Silva from the Mariners, has failed to lift his gears, though recent performances have been encouraging. At this rate he might be able to turn into a midfielder that put his name on the score sheet more often than has been the case.

Milos Ninkovic has also struggled to return to the form that brought him into the discussion as the best foreign player in Australia. Only one goal and two assists in his past 14 games is not the output expected of the Serbian from himself and the fans.

Because of this, a lot of the burden has fell on Le Fondre to score and he’s so far been able to deliver. One worries though that if he’s misfiring or out injured, who will carry his weight?

Still to hit their ceiling

Sydney are probably deservedly in third place. They are definitely not better than Perth Glory or Melbourne Victory, but the Sky Blues are most likely the best of the rest (though Phoenix runs them close in my opinion).

Their defence has so far been good enough to withstand most attacks, even though there was some luck involved, but up front they need some more reliable finishers.

The most encouraging part though, is that this is certainly not the ceiling for this team. The Cove knows that their potential is far greater if a few names step up their performances, and it’ll be up to the players and coaching stuff to unlock that potential.

At the moment, Sydney are probably not in contention to be crowned champions, but Corica has enough time on his hands to fix that.

Follow me on Twitter @ShababHossain13