Sydney FC won’t focus on Harry Kewell when they meet Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, according to defender Jamie Coyne.
More than 40,000 people are expected at the derby, which will see Socceroos Kewell and Brett Emerton go head to head.
But Coyne said Victory’s whole front line would be a danger, and the Sky Blues had not applied all their focus on Kewell.
“If you focus on one player too much then there’s too many other players in the team who are a threat – whether it be Archie Thompson or Danny Allsopp,” he told Radio Australia.
“They’ve got a couple of other boys that they’ve signed that probably look like they’ll be on the bench.
“If we focus on one player too much, I think it just leaves the door open for someone else. Obviously we’ve got to be weary of him, but just as much as everyone else.”
Victory’s signings, including the likes of Kewell, winger Marco Rojas and striker Jean Carlos Solorzano, have seen them firm as one of the title favourites.
Kewell is expected to play behind striker Allsopp in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and Coyne said it would be a tough task containing Victory’s attack.
“We all know that it’s not just the new signings, but the players that were already at Melbourne,” Coyne said.
“They’ve got a lot of pace, a lot of good movement, with and without the ball. They are going to be hard to contain, but we’ve talked about it a bit this week and watched a bit of video of them.”
The former Perth Glory defender, who said his move had been “refreshing”, also praised Emerton for the way he had settled in at the club.
“He’s only been here a short time, but you can see how much enthusiasm he has for the game and how much he wants to try and help the game here in Sydney and in Australia,” Coyne said.
“He’s had to do a lot of media requests and everything like that, but you can see how professional he is on and off the pitch and obviously he is going to be a great asset for the club.”
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