Western Sydney Wanderers defender Talitha Kramer believes possession is the culprit as her side struggle to achieve form following their fourth loss of the season in the Sydney derby.
After Saturday night’s loss to arch rivals Sydney FC in the first ever W-League match played at ANZ Stadium the Wanderers joined cellar dwellers Adelaide United on equal last position at the bottom of the ladder.
The sting of losing the derby under such significant circumstances was made all the more difficult by the fact that Sydney FC now sit in the top four on equal points with Canberra United.
As the W-League season passes the half way point the Wanderers are in dire need of consistency if they wish to etch themselves a place in the finals and earn a long overdue second win of the season.
Kramer vented her frustrations over the poor possession turnover statistics which her side have produced this season and feels that unless the issue is addressed their remaining fixtures will yield similar results.
“We’ll do a lot more drills just passing it around trying to keep possession,” said Kramer post match.
“I think those stats are letting us down at the end of the day.
“That ball possession you can see with other teams their stats are much higher than ours so that’s number one focus.”
The comfortable three one win for Sydney FC was not devoid of the expected derby day competitiveness and the physicality was prominent throughout the match up.
“The majority of the Sydney girls I’ve played against in the NPL and it’s always fiery,” said Kramer.
“As soon as we stepped out the first tackle we were crunching each other.”
There were moments when the Wanderers looked to contest their rivals when pushing wide and providing crosses however Kramer believes this was simply overshadowed by the high turnover rate.
“When we attacked down the wing and crossed it in that’s our strength,” she said.
“We didn’t keep the ball as much as we should of today.
“You’re not going to win games if you don’t keep the ball.”
Successful passing completion is indeed a statistic which favours this year’s W-League front-runners. Perth Glory have notched just over 1700 successful passes while Brisbane Roar claim just over 1500 in comparison to the 1300 earned by the Wanderers.
The next round will be a pivotal moment in the season for the Wanderers and Adelaide United in a bottom of the table clash and may ultimately prove to be the Wanderers last chance to vie for a finals position which has eluded them since their inaugural season.
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