Why Sydney FC are conceding late

Sydney FC may well want to take some advice from baseball legend Casey Stengel after the week the struggling Sky Blues have endured. “Most games are lost, not won” Stengel once said. After throwing away five points in as many minutes, it’s a theory Lavicka can certainly relate too.

Brett Emerton out this week for Sydney. Credit: Kristy Beck

Three of Sydney’s five wins this season have been come-from-behind victories. The 1-0 win over Perth in Round Six was only just held on to by a thread, and the 2-0 over Brisbane also saw a defensive second half from Sydney.

This defensive attitude after hitting the front is what has caused Sydney to throw away two near certain wins at the death in the last two games. An inability to keep possession, lack of numbers getting forward and isolated strikers has led to piled pressure and eventually late goals. The eleven on the field look weary, restricted and uncertain of whether they should try to push for a two goal advantage or not.

Sports physiologist Bill Beswick says the key to being focused at the end of matches is to “always pay attention to the process of the game rather than the result of the game.” If you concentrate on the result, Beswick explains, you can’t wait for the game to end. If you do you stop focusing on the minutes between now and the end of the match, and your concentration and composure is consequently shot.

A look at how Sydney played in the final ten minutes against Brisbane and Perth shows they weren’t concentrating on the process of the game. A desperate need for points made Sydney nervous and too eager to sit back and defend a narrow lead, waiting for the result rather than continuing to play football and letting the result come to them.

Comeback wins against Adelaide, Gold Coast and Newcastle – as well as the draws against Heart and Adelaide – have proved Sydney can attack with spirit and hunger and score goals when needed. But all these late goals came after poor and conservative first halves. It’s this same mindset issue Sydney has had during first halves this season that has caused them to concede late in their last two matches.

Sydney has lost the ability to do the basics right when switching to a defensive mindset. While the grinding 1-0 results were brilliantly played out in the double winning year under Lavicka, the current squad has the potential to be controlling and attacking most games. Looking for goals – not just the one – could give confidence in a deflated team.

Asking a deflated team to defend a narrow lead for the last 15 minutes of the game after previously having some sort of control of the match will continue to, as has been the case this season, lead to danger.