As a youth at the Bensley Road Gunners, his pace and agility saw him nicknamed ‘The Greyhound’. At least, that’s what Wikipedia says of Brett Emerton’s formative footballing years in Sydney’s south-west. These days, Syndey FC’s marquee man is more like your
common brushtail possum – a national icon who, for as long as anyone can remember, has been keeping households around the country awake through the night. And a highly adaptable one, too.
“I’ve played in numerous positions. Obviously, football is a team game and I’ve always been a versatile player,” says the second-most capped Socceroo who, until his surprise homecoming this season, was a fixture of the English Premier League.
“Emmo” is naturally a right-sided midfielder and it’s a position he has made his own in his 91 appearances for the national team. But his adaptability has helped him rack up close to 250 games at top-flight English side
Blackburn Rovers and, before that, almost a hundred for Dutch powerhouse,
Feyenoord. It’s also been a feature of his dozen or so games with the Sky Blues - to the derision of some.
"(The coach) has to make a decision (about) where to play him and to play him in the same position all the time," his former Socceroo team-mate Robbie Slater
told AAP a fortnight ago. "You can understand ... needing to do what's best for the team, but I think it's time to maybe think about what's best for Brett."
While Emerton is spending more and more time out on the right, he is having none of this talk that he’s a one-spot wonder. “At every club I’ve played for, I’ve played in numerous positions. It’s not something that’s new to me. I quite enjoy the variety, so I’ve got no problem as to where I play on the pitch.”
Sydney FC have been equally all over the place this season. Case in point: One week they bring the record unbeaten streak of Brisbane (aka Roar-celona) to an end; the next week they are held to a goal-less draw by the bottom-placed Gold Coast United.
“It’s difficult to say (what’s been lacking). But that’s exactly right: We’ve been very inconsistent this season. We’re trying to put our finger on why that is the case. Hopefully we find the solution and become a more consistent team, because on our day we can beat any team in this league," Emerton says.
“I’m enjoying my time being back. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a good run of results lately. But hopefully we can turn that around.”
The other link you might draw between Emerton and the aforementioned furry critter is the months it can take them to score. Emerton’s debut performance - and possibly his debut season – will be remembered for his blocked penalty shot. He has only found the back of the net three times since then, albeit against the top two sides and in Wellington.
Like the other top shelf recruit of the season, Harry Kewell, Emerton hasn’t blown opposition defences apart in the way the critics and fans would have liked. But he is taking heart from Kewell’s recent turnaround in form.
“It’s good to see Harry back to his best. Harry’s now fit and it took him time to adjust. He was really impressed by the standard of the league and it was much better than what he thought.”
Sunday’s match against the lowly, unloved team from the Glitter Strip might be as good a chance as any for Emerton to show off his wares, but the 32-year-old is not one to shoot from the lip.
“They’re not easy beats. They play some good football, but have been unlucky at times. They’re still a good team and even though they find themselves down the bottom, the league is so closely matched that one or two wins can lift you up.
“It’s going to be a tough game, just like every game is in the A-League. I think the teams are very closely matched and every game you go into, you go into it expecting to come up against a team that’s just as good as you are. Obviously it’s an important game for us. It’s a home game and one we’ll be looking to getting all three points from.”
I couldn’t let Emerton go without asking him about the weekend’s flare up between two players he spent his early Socceroos years with. Robbie Slater (now a Fox Sports commentator) lashed out over a column by Craig Foster which criticised the hiring of British coaches. Slater started by calling the SBS pundit’s views racist. He finished by alluding to a incident on tour that may have ended Foster’s international career.
But Emerton is happy to let what happened in Tahiti stay in Tahiti. “Obviously, I was a very young player in those days. I don’t know what’s been said between those two, and I’d like to remain out of it.”
WORDS: Jack Kerr twitter:@jckkrr