Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay is confident the club’s new Spanish striker Victor Campuzano will quickly find his goal-scoring range after his quiet start to the A-League season.
Campuzano led a Sky Blues attacking line that lacked potency in Sydney’s unexpected 2-1 loss to Adelaide United on the opening night of the season last Friday at Coopers Stadium.
However, Talay was confident there were better things to come from former Sporting Gijon marksman Campuzano, hopefully for Sydney’s sake as early as Saturday night’s battle with Central Coast Mariners at Leichhardt Oval.
“Once we build that cohesion (in attack), Victor will be fine,” Talay said.
“He is a very smart player in the way that we want to play.
“He knows when to come off the line, knows when to get into the box, and he’s in the right areas.
“Once he scores his first goal then that’ll definitely build his confidence moving forward.”
English winger Joe Lolley aside, the Sydneysiders have a new-look attacking arsenal that includes Campuzano, Peruvian playmaker Piero Quispe, ex-Western United excitement machine Abel Walatee and former Adelaide United Macarthur FC forward Al Hassan Toure.
“We’re trying to build that cohesion with the group to have a good understanding,” Talay said.
“In my tenure at this club, it was the first time (last Friday) that we actually entered the opponent’s box 33 times, but it just (was) not effective in that last pass and our final third, and capitalising on those half-chances that we created.”
Talay said the Sky Blues were looking forward to “getting reintroduced” to Sydney’s fans on Saturday night.
“I’m hoping that we get a great turnout. Hopefully the fans have missed the boys playing … and Leichhardt (Oval) as always has a great atmosphere.”
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