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Thank you for all your contributions throughout 2022 and best wishes to everyone on the Forum for a happy and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous 2023 ahead. jw

I've slept on my thoughts. In no particular order: We looked good for 22 minutes, although a little fragile in defence, allowing the vist0rs a few chances that a decent team would have converted. O'Neill's a key player for us; it was good to see him finally score. Why do we go through the inconvenience of regular bag searches, and body 'scans', and have to watch security jump on and wrestle a 14 yr old for standing on a seat when 'security services' provide no security whatsoever when they are needed? It looks like Glover threw two flares off the pitch; the first was just over the advertising fence, the second into the first few rows of a seething mob. Whilst this may have triggered the pitch invasion, it was widely advertised before the game, was premeditated, and was NEVER going to help the cause; APL has much evidence to show why a Grand Final should not be held in Melbourne. Both sets of active support seem to attract 'derby specials' who are never there primarily for the game itself; active support groups must actively identify and exclude these people. Flares are not the issue themselves; there were flares at Fed Square; they added to the atmosphere and were barely reported on by the media, and attracted no Police attention, but throwing anything on the pitch is unacceptable APL muzzling franchise media response immediately after the match left an unhealthy media vacuum APL has handled this issue very poorly; if they had thought this through, would they have expected any different fan response and, in particular, a different response from an entitled aggressive ill-disciplined group like visit0rs active support? I feel for the majority of supporters there who had their evening ruined, hundreds of frightened kids, potential lost future supporters, the players and Alex King. I hope the Channel 10 camera man is OK. A day of shame.

Can't fault the club, if Valon gets over the line it's a terrific transfer window. The midfield was clearly the most deficient area of our squad and we've rectified it with three hard-nosed Europeans, all at a really good age and with experience. How we go throughout the season really falls on PK now.

Congrats to the club, players and staff. And congrats to all of you on this forum. We invest a lot of time and emotion in this club. Many here have dealt with the lowest of lows through our history and the ridicule of other supporters. From bottom of the table finishes, sub par training conditions, multiple training locations, wheelie bin ice baths, taking the scraps of other clubs players especially the tards... just to name a few things..... ...but now, we are premiers 3 years running with the tards stuck to the bottom, and they pick up our scraps of players we don't want, our players are being picked up for the Socceroos, our facilities are best. So I'd like to be gracious in victory but te be completely honest i say fuck you to all the haters and underminers out there. "We will be, and are, the greatest team, this city has seen"!!!!

Same tickets, same seats. If you were eating food, needs to be the same. Even if you were having a piss at the 22nd minute, you'll need to start the game with your dick out.

One point I would like to add. Rado has done what very few football coaches and managers would do - step forward and say that he doesn't feel up to the job. I think that shows what a gentleman he is, and we should respect him for that.

See I told you he was coming, he was just stuck in transit.

That's why the club did not put out a statement earlier. In a cynical PR exercise to draw fire away from the decision and try to divert the questioning to focus on the positives from the World Cup, the club set up JMac, Leckie and Tilio - deliberately those three players (although JMac ultimately did not take part)- for the "press conference." It's a deliberate PR ploy - learned it years ago when I was in industry. The generals are back in the chateaux - it's the poor bloody infantry in the trenches. The people who are actually accountable for this decision at Melbourne City are of course Messrs. Pearce and Rowse and are nowhere to be seen, and don't have the guts or decency to be seen. Some or most of the other clubs have at least seen their Chairman/CEO come forward and take the flak. Not so Melbourne City, and that IMO that is almost worse than the decision itself. Gutless, spineless and weak. Despicable. Players are in the same position as the fans - not part of the decision-making process. To use them, or try to use them, to draw fire is completely unacceptable. The senior administrators of Melbourne City are full of shit.

Gosh there's some shit on here. Yeah not an unreal second half and it would've been fantastic to celebrate a goal down at our end. But to say we were bossed by them in the second half is total horse shit. Usually shitting myself to the final minute in a derby, but wasn't concerned in the slightest all game. Perhaps that's a good thing you know... Great result, we're 3 from 3 including 2 wins from our derby rivals we couldn't do last season. Building beautifully.

Weve literally done the double with Metcalfe and Atkinson last year, and are the odds on favourite to win the plate again this week. If the talent is good enough then its good enough, irrespective of age.

Definitely aren't out on a technicality, the rules were in place before the tournament started. Can certainly argue the 4th place points not counting isn't fair, given we were technically the 3rd ranked 2nd place side across both east and west combined across any sort of normal system, but ultimately it is what it is and we needed to do better. We were 100% ridiculously unlucky with how the other results conspired against us. Aloisi would be proud of that set of circumstances for sure. Ultimately i think we did well overall as a team given the injuries we had and 6 games in 18 days, but its hard not to look at the little things like man management and Glover's indiscretions as being key reason we fell agonizingly short.

Colacovski has been disappointing should have offered alot more in his 85 seconds as impact sub

OK, show us a photo of your Misses then

I feel that it will definitively tell us where the team is at.

Our German/Turkish Aaron Mooy. What an absolute pleasure it is watching this guy. His vision is second to none in this league. He knows exactly where his team mates are around him before we even do. Deserved goal last night and player of the match. Hope he stays injury free and can continue to build on his performances.

Leckie is such different quality to anyone in the park this season.

This is the problem though, he should have been more than a bit part player. He was good enough to warrant getting 30 mins of game time pretty much every game, especially in the first half of the season where Leckie was just plodding around looking content to collect his pay cheque and do nothing to earn it. People's reactions are not over the top in my opinion, the reactions are a result of seeing "one of our own" leave for a reason that is likely PK's coaching philosophy of "I don't make substitutions even when it is blindingly obvious that they need to be made".

There's absolutely nothing wrong with our Plan A. It's generally good to watch and effective. But its maddening that when teams set up that low block against us we're too pig headed to change our point of attack. It's happened all season and IMO, PK has to cop most of the blame for what happened Saturday night. Plan B can't be do Plan A better. We're Melbourne City not Real Madrid. We don't have the out and out quality to repeatedly put the ball on a dime against a 10 man defence.

I don't mind at all if it is directed at me. This is as far as possible an open Forum, and I actually think that this season, and changes to the squad during the off-season ahead should be discussed and debated at quite some length. I guess all clubs have plans based on their resources. IMO though, all plans have to include a Plan B, otherwise you find yourself in a "First Day of the Somme" situation, relentlessly following a plan even though it is manifestly failing (and on the Somme dreadful and inconceivable loss of life). Just focussing on the game plan for the moment, our game plan delivered a Premiership, and with it ACL football again next time around. Very good. It didn't deliver in the FFA Cup, the Group stage in Thailand, and now the Finals Series back here at home. All these were, if you like, short forms of competition. In such competitions there's basically no second chance - you don't play a weak team the next week and get three points that way. I think that this season we have been very inflexible in our starting line-ups, and apparently unwilling to make substitutions and positional changes when that line-up doesn't deliver. At the 60-minute mark yesterday we were 2-0 down, and not looking like scoring. I cannot see any logical reason why we didn't, say, move Leckie to the centre, bring on Cola on the right wing, Tilio on the left, Bos as a left wing-back, and try and win the game. One goal and the pro-City crowd would have lifted and maybe we could have brought City home on the day. Why not go for it? It didn't matter if it didn't work, because we'd already lost the match as it stood. And there was no second leg, no catch-up match next week, no second chance. There's nothing wrong with having a game plan, but you have to be prepared to be flexible when it's not delivering. And Kisnorbo is not sufficiently flexible.

Agree with so much of the above. And finally PK actually influenced a result. Was brave to start Berenguer and we looked a completely different side the first 30 minutes, then he ran out of gas. Was great that he brought on Tilio and moved Leckie central. Glover played so much better, but was lucky. He completely missed a punch and it was only luck Adelaide didn't score. But Good and Nuno, seriously solid. Metcalfe worked and stretched them, but Griffiths change was also critical. I think he should start the granny over Gomulka. Cola was another great change. Overall PK has done what a decent coach should do and he needs his bench. Looking forward to this week.

Incorrect. No-one can take the plate off us. If we dont win it, we'll have lost it and have no one to blame but ourselves. We'll get it done tomorrow tho

It's all a bit fluid because the team that finishes *2nd, and the team that finishes 4th, often isn't decided until the final day, and then you have to work backwards to rank the second place teams. The United game is a total dead rubber until it isnt effectively; if Jeonnam get something out of the game against Pathum then top spot is back on the table, either by simply winning if Pathum lose, or winning by 5+ if there is a draw. Jeonnam have some incentive to get a result too; if they win they need us to lose for them to slide up into 2nd spot. In fairness that looks highly unlikely if we have a result to play for. In terms of the ranking of 2nd placed teams, our best result at the minute is to hope the game between Johor and Ulsan isn't a draw, because either of those team winning takes them top and we have already secured more points than Kawasaki against the non-last placed teams (Kawasaki play last in the final game). The other key fixture for us is hoping that Kitchee don't take more than 3 points over their two games v Vissel Kobe and Chiangrai. I think our most likely outcome is that we'll go through 3rd ranked of the 2nd placed teams, but top spot and missing out altogether are definitely still on the table.

I’ll take first place and a champions league spot as a success for this season.

Stockholm syndrome is a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time. This condition applies to situations including child abuse, coach-athlete abuse, relationship abuse, sex trafficking and above all supporting Melbourne heart/Melbourne City prior to Eric Mombarets.

I don't think it was a name that was ever on my list....

I don't care what anyone says. There is something fundamentally wrong at the club and has been since before the end of last season.

Big man’s decided to hang up his boots. Loved his time at the club. Double winner 🫶

The real winner here is the manager of Jakolis. The story of him finding out he is a long lost Aussie and wants to play for Socceroos in Asian cup and getting him to the most well resourced club in the country. For him to resemble a potato, he must be outstanding at his job

Aziz Behich confirmed this morning.

Lovely to see one of our own return towards the end of a great career. This does feel like a bit of genuine heritage.

Another oldish bloke here shares your sentiments. Having seen the Trent End in action from the far end as an opposition (Walsall) supporter I know exactly what you are on about. And I crave an ounce of the spontaneous passion and humour that I recall from the Street End at Walsall. We come from a different fan culture, and as such don't understand why active support needs to be organised. Just turn up, gather with the other noisy buggers and sing. Doesn't need megaphones or tifos. Bring your own flag, drum or ukelele if you want to. Also agreed re these wannabe ultras. I remember the eighties in the UK and the associated violence and hooliganism. I remember being herded about as if I was a dangerous invader, and having to jump over walls, run away and hide, and constantly watch my back. Can I say this bluntly. WE DO NOT WANT TO FUCKING GO THERE. Kids won't listen of course. Some always want to play with matches and then wonder where the fire came from and why they have no house anymore. I share your sad ambivalence and even recent memories of the warm, noisy, funny atmosphere we had even a few years ago, and in the Heart days. I don't want to be Victory. I don't want to be anything like fucking Victory. That's why I chose Heart back when I arrived in the country in 2011. I want us to be us, because we're a fabulous bunch of supporters, at heart. Too many gone, too many disillusioned. Good, genuine people who have even given up this season. I feel a genuine sense of mourning for what and who we have lost.

Just to clarify the position so far as your comment pertains to Yarraside. 1. Yarraside was not of the view it held leverage over the club. It may not have been apparent to the FRG, but Yarraside had a good working relationship with Scott Munn. 2. Yarraside was of the view that the atmosphere created by active support generally across all teams was vital to the success of the league. 3. Yarraside's non-negotiable independence was borne from the ethos that the passion of active support should be built by the fans and in no way manufactured by the club and that once you cease being fully independent you start having to make compromises for interests that an independent group would not need to make. As for other groups that came after Yarraside, I cannot comment.

Interesting how people see the game differently. Our entire game is based on moving the ball and therefore moving the opposition until we have an overload and ultimately it being at the back post 5 yards out. Does it always work? No, but we still had 5 or 6 big chances. Adelaide IMO created almost none, first goal was a terrible error by Tilio losing his feet and the ball in the first minute, he never recovered for the rest of his match. Bos played an atrocious waste high ball across the box that at no level is acceptable, and to his credit he got over it and saved the game. The other goal came from a set piece that we should really do better. Other than that what did they offer. We played them off the park. Should we be more direct, probably not, we try and play through teams and IMO successfully. I genuinely feel last 3 draws are anomalies and the next 3 games will prove so.

Well he’s actually very good, calm and a clever player.

This is spot on. Wanna know why attendances aren’t growing? Active is a big part of the issue. I have kids now and can’t sit anywhere near the flogs in active when amateur hour, un-clever chants like “Fuck ‘em all, fuck all the rest” come out. It’s a disgrace. I love watching the support, but the male toxicity (admit it, it’s a sausage fest - minimal chicks) which have all these young blokes feeding off each other’s pack mentality, builds this environment which pushes people further and further until stuff like last night happens, which at the time seems acceptable to those participating, Victory active support does have a far darker, sinister undertone - you can see it in the older thugs, wearing black hoodies covering faces etc, look like they are a gang not football fans. but people outside football see our terrace in the same light when flares are chucked, anti establishment chants with fuck the APL come out. Even look at your city terrace Facebook posts each week, written with anger about chanting, disrespecting opposition etc etc it all builds toxic anger. protest with banners, walk out, do all these things, but honestly, active support is an asset, and a liability - and maybe it really is something that needs to be looked at - is it time to disband a bunch of hot headed blokes on the sauce, and scatter them amongst the crowd. And if this stops you following our football club, maybe you weren’t there to follow and support and be part of our football club, but rather the toxic male pack mentality side of it where you felt part of a tribe who chant abuse and stick together, but that’s about it. this isn’t at all approval for moving the GF to Sydney, that’s still a disgrace, particularly the process. And we should still show peaceful protests and simply boycott finals, First past the post are the premiers. but this is more broadly a question about who really loves football and believes it can grow with new fans when they see the way our active fans behave. I’m a heart Foundation member, I got into aleague after 2006 World Cup when I finally understood the excitement and emotion of football seeing our country do so well. I could never follow victory because I saw back then the thugs and toxic undertone of their active. But I have loved heart/city and being a part of many wins and tough times (including in the terrace years ago), but have always cringed at some of our behaviour - I think if they ban active, for the long haul, maybe they have a better chance. Right now, we go backwards.

Wow, I thought it was superb. Negative posts seem to me to based on people's already fixed opinions and regardless of what he does or doesn't do won't change. My opinion on him is that he did an exceptional job season 1, season 2 he lost his way. Now, based on preseason and 3 games he seems to reflected on his and teams issues and has changed. Another point which I think is a little unfair being articulate does not always indicate intelligence. I think PK understands the game and potentially could be a great manager but agree his delivery and communication is limited. As any coach we've had and any future they will always divide opinion and ultimately can only be judged on results, points won/lost, finals won, players developed and ascetic style.

I had to double take to make sure that wasn't someone else....

Of all the players that I thought would have no use for us, but turned out to be incredibly useful, you were the best Rostyn, fucking brilliant part of the squad who did his job very well.

PK just text me and he’s found your 3 visa spots!

Moreover, deserved a yellow card given the position and potential impact on the game. Perhaps felt that the penalty was enough. I'm not sympathetic to CCM for a host of reasons. 1. We get bad calls against us, we've had a fair few recently and these things both even out, and are a reflection of poor quality refereeing. 2. They were play acting through the game. This IMHO was a major factor in the second decision. 3. As in previous matches against other opponents the strategy appears to be to kick us out of the game, especially but not solely Tilio. CCM tried to kick us up in the air, and got away with a lot because of inconsistent refereeing. The crocodile tears about them being innocent parties and hard done to doesn't wash. 4. They've no claim to be the better team over the course of the match. On the balance of play they didn't really deserve anything. 5. The commentariat hate us. They and we can argue all week about whether particular decisions were right or wrong, but they were subject to thorough and endless review, and there was apparently sufficient ambiguity to both that there was not enough to overturn the original decision. Having said all of that, we should be good enough to put ourselves two or three goals ahead and not concede soft goals to our opponents, so that such issues don't have a material impact.

There it is, finally your German midfielder?

Slightly off topic but had to come on for a vent.. this league is just proving how dead in the ass it is and how the league clearly is against fans and active support.. There were a group of kids. Yes that's right kids probably 6-8 years of age throwing red, white and blue balloons around near the active. Security just came in and told them to stop. Took the balloons and popped them all whist the other 2 security guards stood there laughing. I swear there is an agenda to completely kill this league off. It has been dead for a few seasons now but seeing this tonight just made me go wow.. what has this league come too?? When they should be encouraging fans to come, especially kids to games and you get in trouble for having a couple of fucking balloons.. I went to my first ever NBL game a few weeks ago.. it was loud.. they were handing out hand clappers and continually encouraging the whole crowd to make noise and in particular when the other team had the ball. The atmosphere was incredible and it made me look around going "wow the NBL knows how to put on a show" meanwhile the league is on it's knees, has security guards litteraly patrolling all areas and if you dare let out a fart you'll be kicked out.. end of my rant but I'm just getting fed up to be honest!

Fotmob has some interesting stat's for this season for City players. Jmac is third on expected goals at 11.2 and exp goals on target he leads at 13.7. However he also leads by a long shot on Chances missed at 16. Interestingly, Caputo leads the league on xG per 90 mins and expected assists per 90 mins and secobd on shots on target per 90. Jakolis is actually 3rd on expected Assists. Caputo is third on successful tackles per 90 as well. Reis is equal second on penalties conceded. Young is third with clean sheets. Good is second on accurate passes at 69% and Souprayen fifth at 66%. Simple conclusion is that it's Maclaren's poor season that has condemned us this year, that and the refusal to sub him with Caputo or try something different say like Leckie up front

Call a vote? Step down? Spare me the heroics. The amount of time you dedicate to this forum; fk me i wouldn't be so cruel to even try and take that away from you. This forum will miss you way more than it would me if it ever got to that. Yes, we get you're foundation and you go to all the matches and all that.. and yes a forum is a place for opinions... .. but that also gives me the right to question when i think your opinions are no longer objective and now purely driven on some long standing disillusionment with the club. To the point where reading your posts (and there are many) has become quite depressing for me. ..and that's the point of my rant. The 1st home ACL game against the Japanese side - shocking. The CCM GF - extremely disappointing capitulation. The Adelaide game last week - totally disgusting. Pre-season games - couldn't care less. Club's reaction to 1st games - refreshingly swift and warranted. Last night's game: was it perfect - of course not. Was there improvement - absolutely in both attitude, intensity and game style. From the start it was obvious ugarkovic in particular was driving forward more. Calling out Good's miss - yeah maybe but ffs he started that play and 7f he had scored, would've been goal of the year. Was amazing. And a nice thing too was seeing the players engage with the fans again after the match. My son even took picks with the players which is something that hasn't happened in ages. So just some objectivity please.. because one thing last night wasn't is shocking and voting for the sake of picking the least shit player is bullshit talk - and I'll call that out.

Well, it was a very pleasant afternoon of football that reminded me of the pleasures of football in bygone years. A small lunch, making our way to the ground as a couple of friends should, settling in to our seats, chocolate biscuits at half-time, and home again for tea. An idyllic Sunday afternoon at a small suburban ground basking in the chilly afternoon sunshine, a stadium that made me think that perhaps we could pay a little more attention to basic facilities such as main exit gates that could open at the conclusion of the match instead of keeping the crowd for 15 minutes penned behind fencing more suitable for Guantanamo Bay. And perhaps a public address system, although the silence was better for the ears than the incessant babbling at 100dB to be endured at AAMI Park. The match started as a Sunday afternoon match should, Curtis Good forgetting that he was not out for a leisurely stroll with his dog but playing a match in a competition the winner of which will play in the Asian Football Federation Cup next season. From the resulting corner Oakleigh were 1-0 up after just 32 seconds. Inability to get the ball away from set-pieces threatening the City goal was going to be a feature of the afternoon. Oakleigh defended well, broke quickly, and had the City defence in all sorts of bother all match. The centre pairing of Good and Reis looked in trouble for pace, but Hall and Talbot stood up well, the latter a continual threat down the left flank and getting plenty of rough handling, but seemingly the referee had jammed the zip on his yellow card back pocket. City gradually took control in midfield where Arslan stood out as did Jakolis on the right wing, but failed to really create a goal-scoring opportunity. Max Caputo was introduced for the second half and began to make his presence felt by the Oakleigh defence. An unmissable hand-ball in the area was a gift for City, and Arslan put the resulting penalty away neatly. The midfield was working hard but again the goal-scoring opportunities were not being created and eight minutes later Jamie Young and the City defence made a complete hash of a corner and Oakleigh were deservedly ahead again and City were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing defeat until another hand-ball in the box gave them a lifeline with a second penalty. After mind-games from the Oakleigh goalkeeper, only ended when a wet sponge from the Oakleigh trainer cured what seemed at first to be a career-ending leg injury, an unfazed Arslan put the penalty away even more emphatically than his first. With just seconds remaining in time-added, Terry Antonis finally found space on the left and crossed beautifully for Alessandro Lopane to put the ball into the roof of the net for City's winning goal. Daylight robbery if ever we were to see it. All that said, my take on the match: - Oakleigh did themselves proud; - Jamie Young is not the answer in goal; - Our defence needs stiffening because we could not deal properly with any dead-ball situation threatening our goal; - Our new recruits are solid, but we have to solve this problem of sterile possession and failure to create good goal-scoring opportunities; - It's polite to say that JMac was invisible during the first half. Caputo was more visible in the second, but no-one's going to score if we can't set up the ball properly for them. - Mathew Leckie doesn't have the close control necessary when the opposition plays a close-press game. Plenty of work for Vidosic to do before the next round, scheduled for 27-30 August. Quarter-Finals 16-17 September. If we make the QF how we're going to play then when our first ACL match 18-20 September is going to be a challenge!

I'm pleased to see that he is coaching better this season. Seems like we are better at managing games, and also it's good we are seeing subs PK also seems slightly calmer on the sidelines and even his pressers have improved Glover is also playing better ... Seems like there was some genuine introspection after last year's GF loss and improvements have been made Also seems like we finally have a full contingent of quality foreign players ... this helps heaps. Leckie also is looking great This is what should be expected as a minimum every season

This could be one of the key signings for the next season. Tom Glover was decent and was improving under Neil Young's coaching, but really regressed last season. A good coach will get both our keepers back on track and save our on-field recruiting efforts for other positions

Love the thread, great idea @Jovan. Got a positive story to add. Got a call from Ryan on the Friday before the Wellington game. Said the club wanted to thank my partner and I for attending all home games this season and being long term members, and offered us an 'ultimate matchday experience'. We were chauffeured to and from AAMI, got free jerseys, had a stadium tour, and had seats behind Wellingtons bench (not the best view, but being pitch-side was cool). On the pitch up close for the trophy lifting too. Truly amazing. There's a video on social media if you want to watch us try, and fail, to act naturally with a camera following you the entire time.