Sydney FC won't celebrate Premiers' Plate
Mar 9, 2017 - 2:40 AM Coach Graham Arnold has vowed his players won't celebrate if Sydney FC lock up an historic A-League Premiers' Plate this weekend, determined not to lose momentum for the all-important finals run.Eleven points clear at the top, the Sky Blues can officially claim their first trophy in seven seasons - and become the fastest A-League team to win the premiership race - if they defeat Central Coast on Friday night and second-placed Melbourne Victory fail to beat Perth on Saturday.
Even if it happens, Arnold was resolute there'll be no toasting the achievement, instead demanding his record-breaking squad lift yet another gear.
"Not a chance," he said.
"That's what the other teams want, they want us to celebrate and take our foot off the pedal.
"That's not going to happen.
"It's about driving this team to be better and better, and we know we've still got a lot left in us.
"Last week (against Melbourne Victory) it was a good performance, but the improvement side of it is we had 18 shots to five and we should have converted more.
"Until we get that ruthless streak of finishing off our chances we're letting the opposition stay in the game."
The premiership, Arnold said, was an important ambition because it served as a precursor to the title and guaranteed a home semi-final and grand final, should they make it.
But that's where it ends and Sydney's primary goal starts - bettering Western Sydney's 57-point 2012-13 season to become the best-ever side in a 10-team competition.
The coach confirmed he'd make no changes to last week's Big Blue starting XI on the grounds he wanted his strongest line-up to face the ninth-placed Mariners - the only team to score more than one goal against Sydney this season when Sydney edged a 3-2 win on January 8.
Incredibly, the second-half specialists have not conceded a goal after the break since then and now have 12 clean sheets - twice as many as next-best Victory and Wellington.
Sydney's attack has also shone late, scoring more two-thirds of their 45 goals in the second half.
And to keep motivation high, Arnold has set personal targets for his front-third quartet.
"Ten goals or above, so double figures for Brosque (9), Ninkovic (8), Holosko (6) and Bobo (11)," he said.
"They've got another five games and three of them still need to get to that.
"So they've got individual goals as well as team goals - the team goal is about creating history."
STATS THAT MATTER:
* Sydney FC are undefeated in their last eight games against the Mariners (W7, D1), scoring an average of 3.4 goals per game over that period
* The Mariners are undefeated in their last four away games against NSW opposition; they have never had a longer streak
* Sydney FC have now kept 12 clean sheets, twice as many as any other team in the competition.
Source: AAP
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