Jump to content
Melbourne Football

Rd 11: Sydney FC v Melbourne City, Friday 15 Dec 7.50pm


Harrison
 Share

Recommended Posts

4 minutes ago, japiedog said:

WSW were as bad as I've seen an A League team, even Heart in it's "unlucky days" 

Doesn't mean that if we don't front up fully focused we won't get spanked either 

Focus will be our biggest problem. We can't afford to come out of the tunnel and look as though we've taken a collective lethargy pill that doesn't wear off for 15 minutes. Nor can we go into our shells at the end and give Sydney opportunities for shots on goal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Harrison said:

Biggest match of the season against the best team. If we lose this, Sydney have a 9-point lead over us. A win puts us right back in the hunt.

Yep. Huge Game.

I think we lose this, we are done as far as winning the “real” title goes. A draw and we are in there by our finger nails. A win and they’ll also be cheering in Newcastle as it’ll now be a 3 horse race.

Going to be tough. I reckon Sydney are the better side right now, so we’ll need to lift to get over them up there (or umm play our best players, sorry couldn’t help myself on that one).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Shahanga said:

Yep. Huge Game.

I think we lose this, we are done as far as winning the “real” title goes. A draw and we are in there by our finger nails. A win and they’ll also be cheering in Newcastle as it’ll now be a 3 horse race.

Going to be tough. I reckon Sydney are the better side right now, so we’ll need to lift to get over them up there (or umm play our best players, sorry couldn’t help myself on that one).

Yea will accept a 1 goal loss if we play well (Heart Mentality ;) ) but a win would do wonders

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are much improved from when we met last time and yet I think most of their wins have been fumbly. Last match WSW were a no show so not much can he taken out of that.

They will play the same way as usual and our mids and defence are very capable of shutting then down. Our vulnerable area will be Kamau/ Zullo match up as Zullo beat Kamau last time and he was their midfield outlet when they wanted to open up play. This is a big problem for Wazza and it will be interesting how he deals with it.

On the positive side, we are creating a lot more opportunities on goal and I don't really think much of their defence.

This is going to be an epic strategic and tactical battle, these are games where a big manager and a big striker will usually step up.

1-2 win with Budzinski subbed on at the 65th minute and blasts a rocket from outside the box with 5 mins to play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone pulls their dicks over Ninkovic and this polish Adrian dude at Sydney, but whenever I've watched them, it's the workrate and continual contest making of both Brillante and O'Neill that is at the heart of their performances.

That's why I think this is Mauk's most important game to date. His defensive pressure in attack will be key to how this game unfolds. If he can nullify at least one of those guys, we'll go a long way to winning this.

Tbh, he'll probably be our most important player this weekend because of this.

Edited by rass
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, rass said:

Everyone pulls their dicks over Ninkovic and this polish Adrian dude at Sydney, but whenever I've watched them, it's the workrate and continual contest making of both Brillante and O'Neill that is at the heart of their performances.

That's why I think this is Mauk's most important game to date. His defensive pressure in attack will be key to how this game unfolds. If he can nullify at least one of those guys, we'll go a long way to winning this.

Tbh, he'll probably be our most important player this weekend because of this.

Good call. His finishing in front of goal has been frustrating (to say the least), but otherwise, he's been superb for us this year.

This game will tell us about about our team and I'm looking forward to it. It feels like we have a habit of putting in at least a solid performance when we're a clear underdog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, SF33 said:

Good call. His finishing in front of goal has been frustrating (to say the least), but otherwise, he's been superb for us this year.

This game will tell us about about our team and I'm looking forward to it. It feels like we have a habit of putting in at least a solid performance when we're a clear underdog.

Disagree strongly with this.

I honestly think Mauk has been average for a while and should be benched.

Outside of the amazing stop he did last game he did jack shit #unpopularopinion

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Disagree strongly with this.

I honestly think Mauk has been average for a while and should be benched.

Outside of the amazing stop he did last game he did jack shit #unpopularopinion

I think his grunt work has been extremely important and since it's probably an area where the rest of our attacking players aren't great, I think it makes him vital to the team's balance.

It's just that bit of polish that he's lacking and if he'd bagged 3-5 goals this season like he should have, instead of 1, he'd be one of the recruits of the year. Granted, that statement is a bit 'If my aunt had bollocks, she'd be my uncle', but I think he's shown enough in his career that he should be able to snap out of this funk.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, rass said:

Everyone pulls their dicks over Ninkovic and this polish Adrian dude at Sydney, but whenever I've watched them, it's the workrate and continual contest making of both Brillante and O'Neill that is at the heart of their performances.

That's why I think this is Mauk's most important game to date. His defensive pressure in attack will be key to how this game unfolds. If he can nullify at least one of those guys, we'll go a long way to winning this.

Tbh, he'll probably be our most important player this weekend because of this.

The team will only perform as well as the weakest link. Sydney only has one weak link but the rest of the team does a good job of  protecting ReddersAs you've pointed out the role of each player protects and compliments the role of others in the team, it's no good having us just create 'scoring opportunities', we need lots of balls into the box and shots on target

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, belaguttman said:

The team will only perform as well as the weakest link. Sydney only has one weak link but the rest of the team does a good job of  protecting ReddersAs you've pointed out the role of each player protects and compliments the role of others in the team, it's no good having us just create 'scoring opportunities', we need lots of balls into the box and shots on target

It was interesting hearing Redmayne talk on Fox Sports when asked about the pressure of performing for the best team and having to remain switched on for the full 90 minutes, because you might only be called into action on one or two occasions and you have to be ready, as opposed to being constantly under threat.

If his Heart/City career is anything to go by, it seems like that situation really suits him, as he generally seemed capable of making 2-3 miraculous saves, then flubbing a routine one. Unless he's a completely different player now (he didn't seem any different as far as I saw at WSW), it seems to be a case of getting a heap of shots on goal (easier said than done) and he'll inevitably let one through. Or get heaps of corners into that corridor of uncertainty and he'll invariably make the wrong choice of whether to go or stay.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, SF33 said:

I think his grunt work has been extremely important and since it's probably an area where the rest of our attacking players aren't great, I think it makes him vital to the team's balance.

It's just that bit of polish that he's lacking and if he'd bagged 3-5 goals this season like he should have, instead of 1, he'd be one of the recruits of the year. Granted, that statement is a bit 'If my aunt had bollocks, she'd be my uncle', but I think he's shown enough in his career that he should be able to snap out of this funk.

100% agree. Its a thankless role to many sets of eyes, but one that is absolutely essential in creating a successful side imo. O'Neill is identical in this role at Sydney.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Already been touched on above but O'Neill and Brillante are the best midfield pairing in the league. They work very well together and make it difficult for opponents to break down the last line of defence, mainly because they chop out a lot of passes/runs to the forward third.

We need to separate and isolate them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Already been touched on above but O'Neill and Brillante are the best midfield pairing in the league. They work very well together and make it difficult for opponents to break down the last line of defence, mainly because they chop out a lot of passes/runs to the forward third.

We need to separate and isolate them.

Agree, we have seen adelaide and CCM deal with them and break them down, something that we have the quality to do based on our last effort when we were no where near as good going forward yet allowed them no real open chances on goal.

If it wasn't for their opposition's poor conversions from inside the box and a bit of luck, Sydney should be below us on the table. 

It has all to do with our conversions, as Mauk and Ross can not miss easy goals like they do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the one area we can possibly exploit them is down their right hand side, as they don't really play a right winger. Mierzejewski starts there but drifts around the pitch like a 10 and wilkshire overlaps. If we can get quick ball movement out to that side, Jamieson and fitzy can exploit wilkshire if he doesn't get back quick enough 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Melbourne City FC Squad: 1.Dean Bouzanis, 2.Manny Muscat, 3. Scott Jamieson, 5. Bart Schenkeveld, 6.Osama Malik, 7. Nick Fitzgerald, 8. Neil Kilkenny, 12. Braedyn Crowley, 13. Stefan Mauk, 14.Daniel Arzani, 18. Eugene Galekovic, 21.Ruon Tongyik, 22. Michael Jakobsen, 25. Iacopo La Rocca, 26. Luke Brattan, 27. Marcin Budzinski, 37.Nathaniel Atkinson, 44. Ross McCormack

Ins: 2.Manny Muscat (returns from suspension), 8.Neil Kilkenny (promoted)

Outs: nil

Unavailable: 23. Bruno Fornaroli (ankle), 9.Marcelo Carrusca (calf), 11.Bruce Kamau (knee)

Bruno Fornaroli and Fernando Brandan are training at a limited capacity as they continue their recovery from their respective injuries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Idk if wazza should just park the bus and accept a draw or try to attack but could possibly concede. Sydney are a good side with good players and Graham Arnold has been successful at 2 clubs atm. If we want to beat sydney away we need to man mark players like Ninkovic, Bobo, Brosque and that Polish guy...the way we can do that is playing Brattan as Defensive mid with Jakobsen and have Mauk track back and man mark Ninkovic. Also Scott needs to man mark Wilkshear and have Fitzgerald tracking back and helping Scott mark Wilkshear. Muscat to man mark Zullo and Atkinson tracking back for support. If we havent scored by 65th minute, sub on Kamau as impact sub and Arzani

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, xXCiTyZeNXx said:

Idk if wazza should just park the bus and accept a draw or try to attack but could possibly concede. Sydney are a good side with good players and Graham Arnold has been successful at 2 clubs atm. If we want to beat sydney away we need to man mark players like Ninkovic, Bobo, Brosque and that Polish guy...the way we can do that is playing Brattan as Defensive mid with Jakobsen and have Mauk track back and man mark Ninkovic. Also Scott needs to man mark Wilkshear and have Fitzgerald tracking back and helping Scott mark Wilkshear. Muscat to man mark Zullo and Atkinson tracking back for support. If we havent scored by 65th minute, sub on Kamau as impact sub and Arzani

I like people who take the trouble to read the team sheet...

Kamau is injured and not in the squad.

Edited by jw1739
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...