Sydney FC’s younger central defensive pairing of Jake Girdwood-Reich and Hayden Matthews will relish the problem of nullifying Melbourne City’s Socceroos-laden attacking arsenal on Saturday.
Expected to once more begin within the coronary heart of the Sky Blues’ defence, the 19-year-old former Endeavour Sports High schoolmates can have the duty of containing the likes of Jamie Maclaren, Mathew Leckie, Marco Tilio and Andrew Nabbout, who’ve all worn the Socceroos jersey in recent times.
“You want to play against the best in the league, and their front three or four have got great quality, but we’ll back ourselves,” Girdwood-Reich mentioned.
“We’ve been pretty good defensively in the past couple of games, so we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Matthews agreed, and was hopeful he and Girdwood-Reich may hold City’s assault, which has failed to fireside in latest weeks, in verify at Allianz Stadium.
“It’ll be a great game. They’re a great team with a lot of quality players,” Matthews mentioned.
“They might not be performing at the moment but they have it in their locker, and if they get it right on the day, it won’t be easy.”
Matthews is the lesser skilled of the pair, having made simply 4 A-League appearances, in comparison with Girdwood-Reich’s 31.
“I’ve definitely had a word with Hayden in terms of his first start (this season) but I back him all the way,” Girdwood-Reich mentioned.
“We know how we play together and that’s shown on the pitch.”
However, each might want to preserve kind, with skilled defensive pair Jack Rodwell and Gabriel Lacerda lurking within the background.
“As long as we keep performing, there’s always going to be competition for spots, regardless of age and experience,” Matthews mentioned.
The Sky Blues, who’re unbeaten of their previous 5 matches, are aiming for a 3rd successive win this weekend.
In distinction, City have received simply one among their previous six video games in a disappointing run that has included 4 defeats.
However, City coach Aurelio Vidmar took some positives from the clear sheet his facet stored in final weekend’s scoreless draw towards Melbourne Victory after conceding 9 targets of their earlier two matches.
“Last week was a really good foundation and we just need to continue to do that, continue to do it better, and have everyone working hard to put themselves in good positions when we don’t have the ball,” Vidmar mentioned.
He mentioned altering personnel in latest weeks had made it powerful for City.
“It’s clear when a team has the regular players playing all the time, there’s a lot more cohesion and it works better,” Vidmar mentioned.
Originally revealed as Sky Blues younger weapons prepared for problem of taming star-studded Melbourne City assault
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
