The premiers showed exactly why they are where they are with a 3-0 win on Sunday night. Sydney started a little sluggish after their midweek Korean heroics but Adelaide couldn’t capitalise and the premiers came to life.

Bobo and Adrian Mierzejewski were uncontainable yet again. More records were written and they were written by the feet of the Pole and the Brazilian.

Adelaide can’t seem to find the consistency they need to be a threat for the plate but who knows, they do have it in them to turn it on to pinch the toilet seat.

Sydney FC

Andrew Redmayne – 5

He didn’t have much to do tonight. He loses some marks for his muck up with Jordy Buijs that resulted in a needless corner.

Luke Wilkshere – 6

Wasn’t at his best with the ball tonight but he defended very well.

Jordy Buijs – 7

Showed again how important he is to Sydney’s defence and how much his team misses him in the ACL. He is a rock but he also begins so much of his team’s play.

Ben Warland – 7

He’s helped Sydney since getting his chance, after switching from Red to Blue. He was excellent tonight and he was brilliant in Korea. He deserves to keep his place.  

Michael Zullo – 7

His crossing is some of the best by an Australian player in the last few seasons. Which sounds like high praise but it’s actually rather average praise, we’re awful at crossing. No one seemed like they wanted to eat what he was putting on a plate though. Still, a very good game from Zullo.

Josh Brillante – 7 

A wonderful performance tonight. Some of his balls forward were the best he’s ever played. Blotted his coffee book a little bit by under hitting a few passes, he has a tendency to do this.

Branden O’Neill – 7 

Just like Brillante he was excellent but not quite as prominent. Which has been the way these two have gone all season. One will shine while the other holds them up.

David Carney – 5 

Didn’t stand out tonight. Made a few too many mistakes.

Adrian Mierzejewski – 8 

He had an influential yet frustrating first half. A lot of what he tried didn’t work until the 47th minute when he beat three Adelaide defenders and helped create Sydney’s first. After that, normal service resumed. He is one of the best imports the A League has ever seen.

Matt Simon – 7.5 

Caused Adelaide a lot of problems in the first half. He looked like the only fresh Sydney player. His late first half goal was very well taken. He kept up the pressure in the second half and added a few moments of guile to his game.

Bobo – 8 

He was playing as one of the strikers in an old fashioned four four two and it let him create more than usual. He was also where he needed to be to finish two goals for his team. This season he has put on a master class of, old-fashioned, big man up front, striking. It has seen him set the record for most goals in a season tonight.  

SUBS

Milos Ninkovic – 5 

He should have had a goal with his first involvement off the bench but instead he wasted it. Luckily for Sydney it fell for Bobo to slam home.

Paulo Retre – 5.5 

He was terrific in Korea and it shows how competitive the contest is for who starts at left Fullback for Sydney. Coming off the bench tonight he wasn’t as impressive, especially considering how much space he had on the left. He’s probably helped his team a lot this season by pushing Zullo in training.

Fabio Ferriera  – 3 

Didn’t do anything right in his cameo and again, why did Sydney sign him?

Adelaide United

Paul Izzo – 5 

Although he was beaten three times he wasn’t at fault for any of them. He didn’t put a foot wrong tonight, which is impressive after suffering from some dizziness.

Tarek Elrich – 6 

Looked like he was really up for it tonight but he often couldn’t find anyone at the end of his good runs.

Jordan Elsey – 4 

The Adelaide defence were asked to deal with a front two tonight, unusual in the A League lately. It was a good test for Elsey and Regan but they didn’t pass it.

Taylor Regan – 4 

Needed to organise the defensive structure better to ensure the screening midfielders helped deal with the twin Sydney strike force.

Ben Garuccio – 5

He didn’t cope with Sydney’s narrow formation and overlapping players. It is very hard to contain Mierzejewski and Garuccio wasn’t up to it.

Isaias – 4.5 

In the first half he was influential and received plenty of the ball but Sydney cut out that passing lane and he didn’t do enough to make himself available. With two strikers behind him he needed to stay closer to his centre halves in defence and this took him out of the game.  

Nathan Konstandopoulos – 5 

He was anonymous for most of the game until he started to fashion chances for himself. He butchered those chances though and he should have done a lot better.

Daniel Adlung – 4.5 

He took some poor set pieces in the first half while his team was dominant. This really took the pressure off Sydney. Defensively he needed to do more to contain Sydney.

Nikola Mileusnic – 4 

He’s had an excellent season but tonight he may as well have used one of Elrich’s free tickets. In case you missed the reference, Mileusnic was a spectator tonight.

Baba Diawara – 4 

Was a threat in the early stages of the game but couldn’t do enough to get his team ahead. Came off at half time.

Johan Absalonsen – 5 

He wasn’t as influential in tonight’s game as he has been since coming back. What he did do, he did well, but the gaps between his touches were huge.

SUBS

George Blackwood – 5 

Came on at halftime and did some good work but his team hardly had the ball and didn’t create very much.  

Vince Lia – 5 

Held his shape defensively and was involved in keeping the score at just three.  

Michael Marrone – N/A

Wasn’t on long enough to gain a rating other than that he kept his shape defensively.