Sydney leads the competition as the field hits the halfway point of the season, but the plaudits are in short supply.

According to the self-proclaimed experts, the football being dished up is as plain as white bread, unadventurous, conservative, sluggish, boring -  and the Sydney skipper's heard it all.

"I can only wonder what they'd be saying if we were mid-table or near the bottom," Corica said. "We're copping some criticism but getting some results so that's all that counts.

"If they are going to give us stick then so be it - we've just got to cop it and get on with playing football. Our main aim is to still be on top at the end of the season."

Sydney emerged from an intriguing round 12 as sole league leaders, courtesy of their seat-of-the-pants 2-1 victory over Brisbane Roar.

It came just after Wellington Phoenix's stunning 6-0 thumping of previous pacesetters Gold Coast United - and Sydney face rampaging Phoenix this Sunday.

"We were preparing for our game but we got told the score and were pretty surprised by it," Corica said of the Gold Coast massacre.

"It was a strange result but Wellington have been playing well and obviously everything clicked for them that day. They played really well and they'll be on a high and really confident after that result so we'll have to be very careful.

"We're at home and we need three points to stay on top so we'll be up for it."

The match provides another chance for Slovak import Karol Kisel to further impose himself on the Sky Blues' attack.

The midfielder broke his goal-scoring duck with a well-taken goal against Roar and is starting to show the class his European pedigree suggests.

"He was looking forward to that, he's been waiting a while for it," Corica said of Kisel's strike. "It was a good finish and hopefully we will see a few more from him.

"He is getting better with each game and is proving a really good asset for us."