RD 5 V Sydney 3/11 AAMI PARK KO 7:50

[thisphantomfortress]

In any other season I think we'd walk away with it but this year Sydney still look the goods. Gunna be a fascinating clash 

[japiedog]

Hopefully the rain will stay away and we can attract a good crowd

 

 

[jw1739]

_{Warren Joyce’s run of consistent starting elevens will come to an end this week, with the one-match suspension handed to Osama Malik after his send-off against Adelaide.}

_{The midfielder has played a crucial role in City’s middle third and despite his absence, his side’s impressive depth will be put to the test with both Luke Brattan and Neil Kilkenny in the mix to fill the void.}

_{Scott Jamieson’s early substitution on Saturday night has seen the full-back named in the extended side but the defender will be touch and go for the contest, with the short turnaround from the contest playing a role.}

_{Ruon Tongyik and Bradeyn Crowley come into the side that will be trimmed to sixteen 90 minutes before the match.}

_{Melbourne City FC Squad: 1. Dean Bouzanis, 2. Manny Muscat, 3. Scott Jamieson, 5. Bart Schenkeveld, 7. Nick Fitzgerald, 8. Neil Kilkenny, 9. Marcelo Carrusca, 11. Bruce Kamau, 12. Bradeyn Crowley, 13. Stefan Mauk, 17. Tim Cahill, 18. Eugene Galekovic, 21. Ruon Tongyik, 22. Michael Jakobsen, 25. Iacopo La Rocca, 26. Luke Brattan, 27. Marcin Budzinski, 44. Ross McCormack}

_{Ins: 8. Neil Kilkenny (promoted), 12. Bradeyn Crowley (promoted) 21.Ruon Tongyik (promoted),}

_{Outs: 6. Osama Malik (suspended – 1 week)}

_{Unavailable: 23. Bruno Fornaroli (ankle)}

_{https://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/news/team-news-citys-round-5-squad}

[Jovan]

Surely Jamieson is out. If not then I'm more than happy to leave Jako as the holding mid and play either Brattan, Kilkenny or Budzinski probably Brattan only because of the 3 he has had most minutes. 

Can't see them risking Jamieson if he is not 100% so it's promising that he is named in the squad. Also Ruon and Crowley being named in an extended squad is a good sign of encouragement for them, obviously it would be half a dozen injuries before they play.

Big game and for the first time since early last season I'm genuinely excited about going tomorrow night. 

[Missing_Moy]

53 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Surely Jamieson is out. If not then I'm more than happy to leave Jako as the holding mid and play either Brattan, Kilkenny or Budzinski probably Brattan only because of the 3 he has had most minutes. 

Can't see them risking Jamieson if he is not 100% so it's promising that he is named in the squad. Also Ruon and Crowley being named in an extended squad is a good sign of encouragement for them, obviously it would be half a dozen injuries before they play.

Big game and for the first time since early last season I'm genuinely excited about going tomorrow night. 

Theyd give Jamo till the last minute to prove hes 100%

id like to see tongyik on the bench to provide defensive cover.

[playmaker]

A-League: Melbourne City to wear sky blue strip against Sydney FC for the first time

THREE years on from a bitter colour clash stoush, Melbourne City will finally host their first sky blue derby against Sydney FC in Friday’s night’s top of the table clash at AAMI Park.

While City Football Group changed the Melbourne Heart name to Melbourne City, the other slice of their $11.25 million dollar rebranding was blocked.

CFG considered legal action against Football Federation Australia, who upheld Sydney FC’s protest against another A-League club wearing sky blue.

After three years wearing a white home kit, which enabled Sydney FC to wear Melbourne City have finally unveiled their ‘City blue’ home strip, coinciding with a record-breaking four-win start to the season.

Melbourne City is now wearing the ‘City blue’ home strip.

Midfielder Stefan Mauk, the only player to wear all three of the club’s home strips, declared it was only fitting.

“It will be nice to wear the City blue shirt against Sydney FC. It’s a huge game,’’ Mauk said.

“I was proud to be a part of the Heart days, and the club still pays tribute to the past. But the most exciting time was when City bought the club. Now we’ve got the sky blue jersey aligning with Manchester City and New York City.

“It’s not our main focus as players, but it’s an important step in the club’s evolution.

“Man City are top of the Premier League and New York City finished second in their MLS Conference, and the owners are backing us and giving us every chance of being successful here in Melbourne. They’ve done that since day one.

Stefan Mauk is the only Melbourne City player who wore Heart’s red and white stripes. Photo by George Salpigtidis

“Having ambitions to go back overseas, (CFG) is a big reason I returned, having links in the UK. They’re a very respected club and we saw what they’ve done with Mooysie (Aaron Mooy) and Brattsy (Luke Brattan).’’

Former Sydney FC chief executive Tony Pignata said they were dead against a City colour change in 2014.

The 2016 FFA Cup final was the last time Melbourne City had to wear a white home strip against Sydney FC after FFA reversed its original decision.

“We were adamant that we should be the only sky blue team. It’s a 10-team league. We lobbied the first time and FFA agreed,” Pignata said.

“City changed their tracksuits, corner flags, it was creeping in. Then they lobbied FFA and they changed their minds. We were disappointed, but we moved on.

“We understand as league grows there will be more colour clashes.”

Mauk said there was all to play for at this early stage.

“It’s a massive game to show we mean business,” Mauk said

“Backing up a great start with a win to go five points clear would be massive. It’s a good test for the players to see where we’re at.”

[DukeVader]

City 1-0

McKormack Free Kick past Redmayne 22'⚽️

[Afif Adam]

Game Day !

[R410]

City 1-0

Bort with a header from a corner

[Jovan]

I'm a massive fan of the double header and think all the ladies home games should be double headers obviously depending on the draw. The only thing

Friday night is a bitch personally. Friday night after school sports. 1 of my adorables ditched basketball but another wants to play his futsal so going to miss most of the ladies. 

Saturdays or Sundays suit me better for a double header but I guess Friday's would be for some. 

Hopefully we get a few for ladies and can build some support for our best team.

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, Jovan said:

I'm a massive fan of the double header and think all the ladies home games should be double headers obviously depending on the draw. The only thing

Friday night is a bitch personally. Friday night after school sports. 1 of my adorables ditched basketball but another wants to play his futsal so going to miss most of the ladies. 

Saturdays or Sundays suit me better for a double header but I guess Friday's would be for some. 

Hopefully we get a few for ladies and can build some support for our best team.

I'm the opposite. MrsJW just won't consider watching the ladies. Doesn't matter when or where. Only chance I've got to see them in the regular season is Sunday arvo.

I guess we'll never please all of the people all of the time.

[Jovan]

13 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I'm the opposite. MrsJW just won't consider watching the ladies. Doesn't matter when or where. Only chance I've got to see them in the regular season is Sunday arvo.

I guess we'll never please all of the people all of the time.

Exactly. But from my end 1 chose City over their own game.

[playmaker]

19 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

MrsJW just won't consider watching the ladies

You have a smart woman there mate.

[HeartOfCity]

1 hour ago, Jovan said:

I'm a massive fan of the double header and think all the ladies home games should be double headers obviously depending on the draw. The only thing

Friday night is a bitch personally. Friday night after school sports. 1 of my adorables ditched basketball but another wants to play his futsal so going to miss most of the ladies. 

Saturdays or Sundays suit me better for a double header but I guess Friday's would be for some. 

Hopefully we get a few for ladies and can build some support for our best team.

As much as i might cop the pc battering here, i would like to watch the reserves over watching the ladies. Nothing against the girls i would just like to see the up and coming players we have.

[belaguttman]

Gee, I'm very happy watching the ladies, they play good football

[n i k o]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I'm the opposite. MrsJW just won't consider watching the ladies. Doesn't matter when or where. Only chance I've got to see them in the regular season is Sunday arvo.

I guess we'll never please all of the people all of the time.

Tell the Mrs that you're going to watch the women, you'll catch the train in and she can join you by driving in for the men's game. Simple jw. 

[Jovan]

27 minutes ago, HeartOfCity said:

As much as i might cop the pc battering here, i would like to watch the reserves over watching the ladies. Nothing against the girls i would just like to see the up and coming players we have.

The quality of the chicks is probably above NPL2 in reality.

[InMyHeart]

2 minutes ago, Jovan said:

The quality of the chicks is probably above NPL2 in reality.

LOL NPL 2 men would absolutely batter the womens

[Murfy1]

As far as i'm concerned, the more football the better.

 

And at AAMI Park as well; no better place to watch any of Melbourne City's teams. I'm looking forward to a good full day of football.

[thisphantomfortress]

49 minutes ago, HeartOfCity said:

As much as i might cop the pc battering here, i would like to watch the reserves over watching the ladies. Nothing against the girls i would just like to see the up and coming players we have.

You clearly don't spend much time in our dom pol thread. Its a game of opinions, personally I'm sold on the girls

[GreenSeater]

Doesn’t feel right being this excited for a game to be honest. Personally love watching the Ladies and very happy we have the double header today

[Afif Adam]

19 minutes ago, GreenSeater said:

Doesn’t feel right being this excited for a game to be honest. Personally love watching the Ladies and very happy we have the double header today

only going for the derby but might aswell stay for the Sydney game.....

[fensaddler]

If it's any indication of the crowd size, just bought two tickets online and the PAX number is into the 12,600s.  Suggests a crowd well into five figures?

[Afif Adam]

3 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

If it's any indication of the crowd size, just bought two tickets online and the PAX number is into the 12,600s.  Suggests a crowd well into five figures?

oooo like the sound of that, how true...we'll see

[n i k o]

4 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

If it's any indication of the crowd size, just bought two tickets online and the PAX number is into the 12,600s.  Suggests a crowd well into five figures?

We have 10k plus members so all their seats are technically counted as attending, then there's corporate which I'm assuming is also included in the PAX number. Not trying to burst the bubble but that number probably has no reflection on how many people will actually go through the turnstiles. Hope we get at least that many though.  

[Murfy1]

My prediction for the starting XI:

 Kamau       McCormack       Fitzgerald       

                       Budzinski

                  Mauk       Brattan

Jakobsen    La Rocca    Schenkeveld   Muscat

                         Galekovic

 

Pretty confident with that (the midfield is similar to the derby midfield). One or two surprises could be Jamieson being fit enough to start (then Jamo in, Jako to mid and Marcin to the bench), or Joyce making a defensive move, like keeping Jakobsen in midfield, and bringing Tongyik into the defence (and probably shuffling the back 4).

 

For the record, I personally would be happy to see Kilkenny play. But based on the 4 selections so far, where the players with the most minutes have played again and again, I'm tipping Joyce to select a team like this.

[fensaddler]

My only fear is that if Kilkenny doesn't get some game time soon we risk losing him.

[Forever City]

Prediction

City 2 -0 Sydney

McCormack and Fitzy 

 

[AlexJones]

Carrusca and brattan as CDM 

 budzinski start as CAM

[bt50]

2 minutes ago, AlexJones said:

Carrusca and brattan as CDM 

 budzinski start as CAM

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

We have 10k plus members so all their seats are technically counted as attending, then there's corporate which I'm assuming is also included in the PAX number. Not trying to burst the bubble but that number probably has no reflection on how many people will actually go through the turnstiles. Hope we get at least that many though.  

The weather's not good down here in Bayside. 12 degrees, a stiff south-westerly, and quite heavy showers.

Our membership now 10,273 (A-League web-site), which is 10% down on last year.

See https://www.a-league.com.au/membership

Edited November 3, 2017 by jw1739

[strider]

The only way to increase memberships is to sign Samaras 

[AlexJones]

CDM= Defensive mid

CAM= Attacking mid

[hakz7]

15 minutes ago, AlexJones said:

CDM= Defensive mid

CAM= Attacking mid

Thanks for clearing that up.

[rass]

46 minutes ago, AlexJones said:

CDM= Defensive mid

CAM= Attacking mid

Reckon the wtf was re Carrusca as a cdm... good luck with that one.

[playmaker]

5 hours ago, InMyHeart said:

LOL NPL 2 men would absolutely batter the womens

Exactly, the level is probably equivalent to U14 boys and that's being generous.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/6072/australias-national-womens-soccer-team-lose-7-0-amanda-prestigiacomo

[hakz7]

Interesting that Cahill is starting. Thought Kilkenny would be the preferred option to help solidify the midfield.

EDIT: On the official team sheet, it’s listed as a 4-4-2. Cahill and Ross the front two.

Edited November 3, 2017 by hakz7

[haz]

In Waz we trust

[Jovan]

31 minutes ago, haz said:

In Waz we trust

Until he doesn't deserve it. 😉

[Murfy1]

Very interesting. It’s the first time McCormack and Cahill have played together I think.

 

To be honest, in possession we haven’t been moving the ball through the centre of the pitch too well, so I’m pretty interested too see how we do with 442 with Cahill and McCormack up front, and team using the wide areas with Kamau and Fitzy.