Del Piero urges Sydney to move on

Returning Sydney FC star Alessandro Del Piero has told his team-mates to forget about Saturday’s shellacking against Central Coast.

In a major boost for the two-time A-League champions, Del Piero is set to return to the side to face Melbourne Victory on Saturday after missing the 7-2 thrashing with hamstring tightness.

The 37-year-old completed training on Thursday and said he has a ‘good feeling’ about his fitness for the vital clash at Allianz Stadium.

It has been a week of thorough analysis and soul-searching for Sydney but Del Piero said it was time to put the result behind them and focus only on Victory.

“We talked a lot about last Saturday and it was a really bad loss for us,” Del Piero told reporters on Thursday.

“But if we think about it too much maybe we go on the field with some fear … that’s not positive.

“We understand it was not a good day for us but we have another one on Saturday at home and it’s a chance to change our future.

“With a big game like Saturday it could be a perfect situation for us.”

When asked what areas the team needed to improve if they were a chance to turn things around, the former Italy international joked: “Maybe everything if we saw the last match.

“No, we did some good things … we scored two goals against the Central Coast which is not easy,

“But in the end the game last Saturday for us was a very, very bad.

“That’s why I try to joke because if we think about it too much maybe there will be too much pressure on us.”

Sydney coach Ian Crook has the difficult job of not only trying to fix the team’s on-field deficiencies this week but also lift the battered confidence of his squad.

“You don’t forget getting beat 7-2 overnight,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what I say here now, tonight, tomorrow, next week it will still be on people’s minds.

“But you need to lessen that each time and the best way to dot that is get results.”