Sydney FC midfielder Brandon O'Neill has labelled Brisbane Roar as potential "bad boys", predicting Friday night's opponents will try to reduce the Sky Blues' style of play into another scrappy battle as part of a negative game plan.
The league leaders emerged unscathed after a hard-fought match last week against Melbourne Victory, who attempted to stifle Sydney's fluid attack with a cagey midfield battle that was described later as a "dogfight" by coach Graham Arnold. O'Neill believes that battle was a warning for what lies ahead in the remaining 10 games of the season as teams could resort to defensive tactics in an attempt to take points from Sydney.
For all the attacking firepower within Brisbane's ranks, O'Neill believes they will attempt to slow tplay down and play a similar brand of football as Victory who found some success in exploiting Sydney FC on the counter with pace out wide.
"I think Melbourne Victory and Brisbane are similar in that regard because they make sure you earn your three points," O'Neill said. "They're both very physical sides, both like to try and press and try to be bad boys in a sense. But if we can weather that in the first 10-15 minutes like we did against Melbourne Victory then we're very confident that we can go on and get the three points."
O'Neill said Sydney have to be prepared for an early physical battle in their run towards the premiers' plate as teams could look to create chaos in the midfield in an attempt to rattle their playmakers.
"That will be a ploy from here on out going into the last 10 games of the season, for teams to create a dogfight with us but we won't concentrate on that. We're a very good football side and we've got players that can change games within the blink of an eye," he said.
"As long as we go into every game knowing that we're going into a dogfight and us being ready for that, as long as we can weather that and be physical enough but then also let our football do our talking, get on top of them and start playing the way we like to play, then I have the utmost confidence for the 10 remaining games."
The Sky Blues were put through an extensive training program during the week focusing on their ability to control possession and dictate play during difficult conditions after falling victim to Victory's impressive defensive press. But they haven't allocated much time in their preparation towards combating physical challenges and cagey football as O'Neill said overcoming that has more to do with nerve than tactics.
"It's more a mental thing than anything. As a professional footballer you have to be able to do that in games otherwise you won't be playing. If you have all the skill and all the talent in the world but if you're not ready to roll up your sleeves and put the hard work in then you're definitely in the wrong profession," he said.