Brosque urges Sky Blues to continue dominance over City
Why Sydney FC have won their last seven matches against Melbourne City remains a mystery to Alex Brosque but the Sky Blues skipper says as long as it continues he’s happy.
Sydney haven’t lost to City in all competitions since the FFA Cup Final in 2016 and with a six-point gap in place between themselves and ladder leaders Perth Glory, Brosque knows they just have to keep winning.
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“It’s [record] just one of those things,” Brosque said ahead of their clash with City at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
“Our record probably against other teams isn’t as good as Melbourne City but for whatever reason that is we have to make sure it stays that way.
“We’re at home this week, looking to bounce back from the [AFC] Champions League midweek result and we need to keep the pressure on Perth Glory.”
The Sky Blues sit in second place with a further four points between themselves and third-placed Melbourne Victory.
They’ll face a City side in poor form, winless since January, but who have one of the in-form players in the Hyundai A-League in Jamie Maclaren.
The January acquisition has scored five goals in his four games since arriving and will equal the Australian top-flight record held by Robbie Slater if he finds the net on Sunday evening.
Fellow striker Brosque praised the recruitment but backed his side to get the job done.
“That’s what he does [score],” Brosque said of Maclaren.
“He’s a good acquisition for them, since losing [Bruno] Fornaroli to pick up someone like Jamie Maclaren, he’s very good for them.
“We’ve been doing very well against them recently and got two wins against them so far this year so we need to obviously put the Champions League behind us and focus on the league now and stretching the distance between us and Melbourne Victory.”
Sydney’s midweek 2-1 loss to Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League was a setback for the Sky Blues after a positive opening matchday draw.
Brosque said he was confident their depth would cover any jetlag and pointed to the January acquisition of Reza Ghoochannejhad as key for Sydney’s forward line.
“It is definitely difficult when you’ve been used to playing 20-30 minutes for a couple of weeks in a row and then to have to start,” Brosque said of his role.
“It does take a bit of adjusting but again it’s normal and it’s something that I think is welcome since Reza’s come in.
“It’s allowed me to spend a bit of time freshening up, coming off the bench, looking to have an impact and then when called upon like Wednesday to be ready to play as long as possible so I think the fact we’ve got that depth for Steve [Corica] is a good thing and we’ve got it all across the park which will allow us to freshen up for the City game.”
