All noise, no cutting edge

Western Sydney Wanderers defender Panashe Madanha is challenged by Sydney FC's Oriola Sunday. Photos: Adam Cusumano.

Sloppy.

It’s probably the word which best describes the A-League’s season-opening Sydney Derby.

And the way the game played out might have vindicated the faction of league fans who disagreed with putting such a big fixture in Round 1.

The atmosphere at Allianz was great and there was the extra spice of Ufuk Talay’s switch across the divide.

But on the pitch, it’s safe to say the execution was largely poor.

You’d be hard-pressed to remember a match with as much ‘pinball’ — there were countless times players on both sides simply booted the ball forward instead of putting a foot on it.

Neither goalkeeper did much in the first half, and their workload only marginally increased in the second.

So with putting such a fixture first-up to open the season, there’s the risk of a bore-draw being served up because teams still needing more time to become familiar with new teammates, patterns of play, and conditioning.

Throughout the second half, it seemed both sides had become fatigued and were still in pre-season mode.

It meant the rare bargaining chip the league has of an early derby, likely used to spark the campaign and attract new fans, was largely wasted.

Nicolas Milanovic is tackled by Ben Garuccio.

There was an air of daftness about some of the strategies employed on either side as well — which again could be put down to a lack of sharpness, negatively affecting focus.

For some reason the Wanderers made a decision on throw-ins to ask the diminutive Miguel Di Pizio to flick-on headers instead of opting to go back and recycle possession.

Meanwhile, Sydney failed to adapt its approach after the Wanderers adjusted to its high line being breached numerous times early on.

Which, by the way, was a period where Sky Blue fans may have been chuckling to themselves, given they’d seen their team have the same issue under Talay previously.

Though they wouldn’t have been too happy once they realised none of it was leading to shots on goal.

Patrick Kisnorbo’s side made the early running — Alex Popovic’s long passes in behind Panashe Madanha to pick out Takahiro Sekine a feature of the solid start.

But it took Sydney 91 minutes to test Lawrence Thomas.

Akol Akon’s superb pass to find James Overy in stoppage time — the latter denied from close range — was a passage which almost saved the occasion.

Talay seemed to confirm around the 70^th minute in an in-game interview (how did they get him to agree to it) that his side was still finding its feet physically.

Starting with a derby defeat would’ve been borderline disastrous for a new manager whose appointment was certainly not met with wide acclaim.

So he’ll take the point.

Outside the early defensive struggles, Talay should also be happy with Madanha’s performance at right-back — the winger by trade showing off his dribbling capabilities with a handful of strong drives forward.

Meanwhile, given he was dragged into the contest only 12 minutes in, Atiya Waraga showed promise in a free number 10 role.

And we already knew about Dylan Scicluna’s quality.

But he seems to have levelled up slightly, if not in quality than leadership — the midfielder marshalling the troops at half-time for a rare on-pitch team huddle, despite scores being level.

In terms of Sydney individuals, Ben Garuccio made it his mission to spoil Nicolas Milanovic’s return — doing it successfully — and Rhyan Grant was his usual reliable self.

And he didn’t have the end product tonight, but Oriola Sunday’s work rate certainly stood out.

Oriola Sunday puts the ball into the box.

He ran the channels well and seems to be what you might call a ‘scrapper’ — capable of turning a half-chance into something more.

Let’s see what he can do with some better service, or at least a team around him more willing to patiently build up its attacking moves.

So those were the positives on both sides, but unfortunately they are more a footnote rather than the central plot of a disappointing start to 2026-27.

Perhaps the lack of goalmouth action at Allianz means where in for some crazy stuff for the remainder of Round 1 — let’s hope so.

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