3 minute read
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica anticipates his former Western Sydney midfielder Alexander Baumjohann will rise to the occasion in their A-League derby.
Sydney FC coach Steve Corica expects ex-Wanderer Alex Baumjohann to shine in a hostile derby atmosphere and wants more from his defence,
The Sky Blues and Western Sydney meet in a derby for the first time at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday, with the game selling out on Friday morning.
The only A-League sides to have won both of their first two games, a victory for either will put them first outright.
Wanderers have won just one of their past 17 league and cup games against Sydney and Corica has no intention of relaxing the stranglehold his side has on their local rivals.
Much of the attention will focus on playmaker Baumjohann, who scored Wanderers' goal in the 1-1 draw in the last Sydney derby.
Released by the Wanderers after last season, the German is probably the highest profile player to have represented both Sydney clubs, though Western Sydney's Socceroos defender Matt Jurman is a former Sky Blue.
Asked about the anticipated hot reception Baumjohann is expected to get from Wanderers fans, Corica said: "He expects that we expect that.
"I think that's what he's looking forward to most and I think we're looking forward to seeing him play and putting on one of his best performances for us.
"He's working extremely hard and he's got the quality that we want in that final third with the killer pass.
"I think you've seen it a few times already in the first couple of games. We want him to score goals as well, which will come."
Sydney conceded three goals across their first two games and Corica said he didn't expect his club to hit their full stride yet.
"The performances will come later on, I think we've had very good patches in both games, we dominated in periods," he said.
"'Defensively a couple of teams are getting too many chances and we've looked at that and we've worked on that, so we want to try and cut the chances down this week."
That means trying to curb the influence of the Wanderers' new German striker Alexander Meier, who impressed Corica with the manner in which he scored his first goal for the Wanderers club last week.
"'We're ready for what he throws at us," Corica said.
While Corica insisted players block out the crowd noise once the game starts, Wanderers' captain Mitch Duke was adamant their spectators could make a difference.
"They can be that extra per cent that extra man to push us through, when the going gets tough they get loud and crazy, they can help push us through the last 10 minutes of the game," Duke said.
Stats that matter
* Wanderers will look to extend their new club record of two wins at the start of a season.
* Western Sydney haven't won more than two successive matches at any stage of a season since March-April 2017.
* Sydney FC are winless in their past three A-League games against fellow New South Wales opposition, the last and only previous time they went longer without a win in such fixtures was a four-game stretch from September to December 2006.
Stats supplied by Opta.