SYDNEY FC V MARINERS

TOM SMITHIES

MORE points, more goals, more wins – it’s no wonder Sydney FC are on the verge of more records. There is no avoiding the dominance of the players in Sky Blue.

Already five points clear at the summit less than a third of the way through the season, the defending champions will knock over a few more dominoes if they beat the bottomplaced Mariners tonight.

With seven wins and 21 points in eight games so far, the 2019-20 vintage have already equalled the best start to an

A-League season at this stage.

In 2006-07, Melbourne Victory had the same record, also winning seven of their first eight matches.

To pull ahead of that Victory side, Sydney need to win their next three games, but internally this squad is already ahead of the pack.

No Sydney team had won seven of their first eight games before this year – not even the record-breaking side of 2016-17, who went on to set a high-water mark by accruing 66 points.

Including their past three games on domestic soil last season, Sydney have won seven consecutive home games – equalling their 2016-17 club record. A win tonight would break that as well.

All of which raises an interesting question – whether the team assembled by Steve Corica is better than their 2016-17 predecessor, the Graham Arnold-coached team, which lost only one game and fairly sauntered to the double.

More than half of the

JUBILEE STADIUM, 6.30PM (AEST) strongest starting XI has changed, including the goalkeeper, centreback, a central midfielder and three of the front four.

“It’s nice to be compared to that great squad, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of hard work before we get to that,” Corica said.

While it’s true that comparisons at this stage may be misleading – with Corica’s side having to maintain the pace over a whole campaign – the stats are persuasive so far, collectively and individually.

After The Daily Telegraph published a table last weekend of the most effective goalscorers in A-League history, with former Sky Blues striker Bobo at the summit, Adam Le Fondre produced a hat-trick to surge past his predecessor.

This team doesn’t have Bobo’s power in the air, but with three of the front four being 178cm or less they play a different brand of football.

“They’re enjoying it,” Corica said. “When you enjoy your football is when you play at your best. We still have improvement to go but the boys like playing together and working together.”

So far no one has offered a convincing way of combating the champions. Instead their toughest opponent may prove to be themselves in the battle to be the finest team in Sydney’s history.