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There are not many teams in the Westfield W-League who would be disappointed with a second finish come end of season. And Sydney FC were definitely disappointed. Regular season premiers, the Sky Blues were rolled by fierce rivals Brisbane in the final and regaining that title will be top priority in Season Four.
Due to a raid on their talent, that goal will have to be achieved in the absence of at least 10 11 players from last season’s squad. However coach Alen Stajcic has been quick to replenish the club with players equal to or greater than those that have departed. Matildas defender Thea Slatyer joins the Sydneysiders from Newcastle while the American trio of Allison Lipsher, Estelle Johnson and Megan Rapinoe will be sure to serve them well.
Despite a disrupted pre-season and the squad upheaval, Stajcic expects his side to once again be the League leaders.
“It is one our goals to be one of the premier teams and we have prided ourselves on being a performer in the first three years.”
“Our expectations are obviously high and we know the calibre of players within our squad. We know what we are capable of and our expectations match that.”
Technical, highly skilled players have allowed the Sky Blues to play a possession based attacking brand of football with great effect. Kyah Simon and Leena Khamis last season combined for more than 20 goals between them while Kylie Ledbrook, Heather Garriock, Renee Rollason and Teresa Polias gave them supply aplenty. With all those players back again, it will be much of the same from Sydney.
“We have those kind of players in our team so that has to be our foundation for success.”
“However, we all know there is two main sides to the game and it is also important for us to be strong defensively as well.”
“We have our usual suspects of Ledbrook, who is a fantastic player, Polias, Brogan, Foord
and players like that who really are a class above. We are putting our hopes on the solids foundations of our starting line-up last season.”
The Strength
In the last two seasons Sydney have proven time and again that they are an exciting
team going forward and formidable team in defence. The acquisition of Lipsher, Johnson, Slatyer and Rapinoe will adds to an already dangerous combination and this across the park strengthening will make them a very difficult team to combat.
The Challenge
Depth will the challenge for the Sky Blues as the Season Two champions have lost several highly regarded fringe players. While the additions
look like future prospects, they are still untried at this level. Although not regular starters, Young Matildas Kennedy, Bolger and O’Neill were quality substitutions for Alen Stajcic and their loss could become significant if injuries or form force changes. |
Sydney FC
