A-League Men: Sky Blues star Patryk Klimala ruled out of Reds ALM clash
Sydney FC are set to play without sharpshooter Patryk Klimala, suffering a huge blow ahead of their A-League Men clash against an undefeated Adelaide United side.
The Sky Blues are determined to bounce back to winning ways when they go head-to-head with the Reds at Coopers Stadium on Friday, left smarting after a disappointing 4-3 home defeat to Western United.
But they will have to do it without leading goalscorer Klimala.
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Joining in the off-season, the star Polish recruit leads the club with four goals across seven games, ahead of Adrian Segecic and Joe Lolley on two.
Coach Ufuk Talay is confident Klimala will only miss one week, with Patrick Wood and Joel King a chance to slot into the side.
“Obviously, they haven’t had a lot of minutes, but I still believe they’re capable of producing a certain product,” Talay said on Thursday.
“We’ve got those players that they can come and step in for Patryk.”
Sydney will at least welcome back defensive midfielder Leo Sena as they attempt to hand Carl Veart’s men their first defeat of the campaign.
Sena suffered a heavy knock to the knee in their round seven defeat to Central Coast.
Adelaide are second on the table with 17 points, while Sydney are seventh with nine.
Putting his players on notice after their Western United defeat, Talay is confident his side will go full-throttle on Friday.
Sydney coughed up a 2-1 lead after halftime last time out, conceding three times to lose to United.
“We had a look at the workload that was produced in the first half compared to the second half (against Western United),” Talay said.
“It’s always easy to blame our defenders with these mistakes but it’s not generally the defenders.
“I still think there are players that haven’t reached a level that they can perform at.
“We’ve got a good group of men that are honest with themselves and honest with each other, that there’s certain things that we definitely improve on.”
Corey Hollman (ankle) remains on the sidelines, with Talay hopeful the young gun can return for their round ten match against Melbourne Victory.
