The Football Tragic

It was hardly the opening to the competition that neutrals would have been hoping for, but there were a few hopeful signs.

From a Mariners point of view, it was good to see Nik Mrdja back in action and looking fairly sharp. In tandem with Saso Petrovski, he might provide the finishing they so patently lacked last term, when Adam Kwasnik had such a frustrating time of it in front of goal.

On the subject of Kwasnik, he cut a sad figure last night. Last season's disappointments appear to have sapped his confidence; apart from one fine shot on the turn, he had an evening of poor first touches, wrong turns and long faces.

Lawrie McKinna's men lack pace at the back, too. Alex Brosque's industry and occasional adroitness troubled them at times, and even Juninho came close to bursting through on a couple of occasions.

In midfield, though, they look good. Mile Jedinak had another excellent game, policing Juninho very effectively (if a little clumsily at times), and Andre Gumprecht was probably the player of the first half, prompting well and putting in a number of important challenges.

In the second half, though, the Mariners went badly off the boil. This was partly, I feel, due to the fact that Sydney were pressing far better and moving off the ball more after the break, but McKinna would surely be unhappy at his team's propensity to give the ball away so easily when under pressure.

Sydney FC's problems were those which most of the fans had already identified: the lack of a finisher up front (certain fans seem to be seeing Patrick da Silva as some sort of messiah in this regard), and the uncertainty in the full-back positions (Terry McFlynn and Iain Fyfe were both all at sea in the opening period).

On the upside, Steve Corica and Juninho worked surprisingly well together, combining in some pleasing one-twos and posing a genuine threat to Danny Vukovic's goal at times. Although Alex Brosque made a terrible hash of a good chance towards the close, he had a good game overall, getting through a pile of work in the lone striker role and often forcing the Mariners defence into errors.

Adam Biddle's A-League debut, on the other hand, was a wretched one. Sadly, he looked out of his depth, getting hassled off the ball regularly and succumbing to nerves in front of goal.

Branko Culina's switch to a back three in the second half was appropriate and welcome, and should probably become the modus operandi from here on. The signs were that Corica and Juninho are capable of working in tandem, so perhaps a 3-4-1-2 system of sorts, with Corica dropping a little deeper, is the go. The question is then who patrols the wings; on the evidence of last night, neither Iain Fyfe nor Robbie Middleby is really suited to the left. I still think that young Nick Tsattalios is worth a punt there.