Alessandro Del Piero | Class Never Dies | 2014 | Sydney | HD

New Del Piero video:

he had a pretty good game last week

Yea picked up two goals and two assists

I saw him play in person twice this season, but he wasn't fully fit, didn't score or assist - although in fairness, his team is mostly rubbish unfortunately.

How bad is Sydney? How far do you think they can go in the playoffs?

There's 1 round to go of the regular season and this will determine if Sydney will make playoffs at all. They are counting on my team winning away against Newcastle on Friday night. If Sydney do make playoffs, they will play 1 of these 4 teams:
Central Coast Mariners;
Adelaide United;
Western Sydney Wanderers;
Melbourne Victory.

The key for Sydney is that they are going to be away from home for the 1st playoff because of their inferior position on the ladder compared with all of these teams. Central Coast are inconsistent and I could see Sydney winning that one if CCM are having an off day, but it will be tough. WSW and MV are both rival teams for Sydney, so anything can happen. In particular, MV have a recent history of capitulating against Sydney. As for Adelaide, if Sydney draw us, I am fairly confident we will thrash Sydney. Our last 2 results vs Sydney were a 3-1 at home and a 0-3 win in Sydney.

As for Sydney's team, they are always set up for the counter, and play a pretty ugly, gritty brand of football. This is not a Dortmund-style counter - it's almost as if their default is to sit deep and long ball it. They have a lack of quality in midfield, but their CBs are good. ADP sits behind a target man usually and a good team will know not to give him any space or time to put a ball through.

Damn I thought they would be better than that. Also, how has Del Piero declined since joining last year? Has it been rapid or gradual?

Juveman17 wrote:Damn I thought they would be better than that. Also, how has Del Piero declined since joining last year? Has it been rapid or gradual?

Good news for Sydney is that my team lost, so they will likely make finals. I'm not sure if ADP has declined at all. I mean, he doesn't have the stamina and work rate that he used to, but his intelligence is all there. Obviously injuries have been more frequent this season too.

That's good because I remember reading an article that said his decline has been rapid

Juveman17 wrote:That's good because I remember reading an article that said  his decline has been rapid

Yeah, that's not true at all IMO. Injuries have really set him back and his team is rubbish, so that doesn't help. Also, their coach isn't very good either.

Knocked out by Melbourne Victory.

I swear every time I look at how ADP's getting along, he's scored in the recent game and his team have lost

He's nearly 40 and he's still too good for Sydney smh

Tomwin Lannister wrote:I swear every time I look at how ADP's getting along, he's scored in the recent game and his team have lost

He's nearly 40 and he's still too good for Sydney smh

Pretty much. He didn't score or dominate today, but all of Sydney's good play went through him. I should also say that partly as a result of a tackle on ADP down the ground, Victory scored a counter-attack for their opening goal.

Much was expected of ADP and Sydney because Sydney have the most money out of all the clubs in the league. The A-League has a very modest salary cap by international standards, but that doesn't apply to marquee players and ADP still earns 2m a year. This doesn't mean that the Australian league is weak in comparison to the MLS or other Asian leagues though. For example, Melbourne Victory, the team that beat Sydney, just defeated Marcelo Lippi's team Guangzhou Evergrande in the ACL two days ago (Evergrande won the ACL last season). Evergrande have 30x Victory's budget.

Point being, in a team with the right players to support ADP and some style, he could be playing so much better and enjoying his football so much more. Sydney have no discernible style other than winning at all costs. It's a bit of short passing, a bit of crossing and a lot of hoofball combined into one mish mash of nothing much of anything. Contrast that with the possession heavy, short-passing Brisbane and Adelaide - or the sharp, fast counter-attacking game of Central Coast and Melbourne Victory.

Sometimes the A-league is on BT Sport, I wouldn't mind having a look next time ADP is playing tbh

Del Piero just said after the game that although he doesn't know if he will be with Sydney next year, he still wants to keep on playing

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Sometimes the A-league is on BT Sport, I wouldn't mind having a look next time ADP is playing tbh

Season is over for him, but there's an A-League game on in a few hrs between Adelaide United and Central Coast.

Your next chance to see ADP will be him playing for the A-League All Stars vs. Juventus (in Sydney) when they tour in the off season.