Graham Arnold preferred the intimidation factor of his front-three imports – Bobo, Milos Ninkovic and Adrian Mierzejewski – to the solid defending of Dutchman Jordy Buijs, leaving the latter out of his squad for the ACL.

The decision came back to bite Arnold when Sydney were defeated 2-0 in their opening group match against Suwon Bluewings, with Buijs’ replacement, Aaron Calver, somewhat at fault for both goals.

Former Socceroo Ognenovski was scathing on Arnold’s decision, saying the Sydney boss must have “rocks” in his head.

“Essentially what’s happened is that Arnie has gone into Asia believing his attacking players are better than those he’s up against in the ACL,” he told The World Game.

“If that’s what you think then you have rocks in your head.

“If you believe you can have a shootout with the Asian teams, you’re going to lose. They punish any mistakes, they are ruthless. It’s very different to the A-League.”

Ognenovski pointed out the success of Adelaide United in 2008 and Western Sydney in 2014 were based on defensive football.

“These teams are not tactically better than Graham Arnold, it’s just that they have more fire power,” he said.

“That’s where you have to be smart tactically to overcome the talent gap, just as Western Sydney Wanderers did in winning the competition in 2014.

“We also made final with Adelaide playing defensive football. Sydney have dominated in the A-League but it all changes in the ACL.

“Having lost at home now it’s going to be really tough to get out of the group, especially with their next two games against the strongest two teams.”

Sydney FC now face fixtures against J-League side Kashima Antlers and Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua – which boast the attacking stocks of Obafemi Martins and Fredy Guarin – to get their campaign back on track.

Ognenovski said Sydney would have to reclaim their defensive solidity if they were to stand a chance.

“Jordi forms a great partnership with Alex Wilkinson and you’ve broken that spine and put a kid in who’s probably not up to A-League standard,” he contended.

“You’ve put him in and said ‘this is your chance to shine’ but then it hasn’t worked.

“And now you’re thinking what do I do now?

“Knowing Graham Arnold as a coach, it’s even stranger that he’s taken this path because I know how much emphasis he puts on defense.

“I was just shocked not to see Buijs selected. He takes corners and free-kicks and is such an important player for Sydney.”