Palumbo, who has decades of experience commentating on Italian football, was blunt in his assessment of the Sky Blues line-up which includes Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero.

Describing it as the weakest roster in the team’s history, he criticised the club’s management for jettisoning good players and failing to lure them back.

The Sky Blues have been unable to put their first eleven on the park since the season kicked off six rounds ago, a point taken up by chief executive Tony Pignata.

“Everyone has got different opinions and all I can say is that we haven’t had a full roster to pick from day one and when you take six or seven players out of any squad it’s going to have an impact,” Pignata said.

“I totally disagree that this is the worst Sydney roster.”

Former head coach Ian Crook shocked the club by resigning on Sunday after the team threw away a two goal lead the night before, losing 3-2 to arch rivals Melbourne Victory.

Palumbo said he was surprised the former assistant coach was appointed in the first place but said it was not the biggest problem facing the harboursiders.

“The fact of the matter is the team, the squad, is weak,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com. “With the exception of (Alessandro) Del Piero and Brett Emerton I think it’s probably the weakest team they ever had.

“And it’s interesting to see how well the players they get rid of are going with other teams – (Scott) Jamieson for instance – so there is something wrong with the environment (at Sydney).

“How about Nikolai Topor-Stanley, and how about (Ruben) Zadkovich in Newcastle, Iain Fyfe in Adelaide and (Mark) Milligan at Melbourne Victory?”

In the case of former Sky Blues defender Milligan who returned from Japan to play for Victory he added: “That’s where you make the effort to get good players to come back instead of going to somebody else.

“(Sydney FC) are extremely weak in the buying and selling of players.”

Palumbo recalled the words of former AC Milan team manager Silvano Ramaccioni: “He once told me here in Australia something I’ve never forgot – it’s not the players you buy it’s the players you let go.

“Sometimes top businessmen, real top businessmen, when it comes to football they make huge mistakes.”

Pignata said Sydney was far from the only club to offload a player only to find them playing better for the opposition.

“I think you speak to any club in the world and that happens,” he said. “Sometimes players don’t fit into the team for whatever reason, they go away and they have that energy and determination to prove their former club wrong.

“That doesn’t only happen to Sydney – it’s happen to a lot of other teams as well.”