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City v Sydney FC @ AAMI, Tuesday 23rd February, 7.05 pm


Tommykins
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So the dynamic has completely changed with Nabbout back in. Griffiths solid too. A few more matches with a settled XI and we’re probably a more effective team. 

Worryingly we are still god awful at closing out matches. Why is Kisnorbo not making use of substitutions? Does he want more soft tissue injuries? Running 30+ year olds into the ground isn’t smart management and it was clear that we needed fresh legs.

But overall a nice night. Great to get back to the stadium and watch live football. And a vital three points. 

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My god it's good to beat Shitney. 

With our team fresh,  and Sydney a bit flat,  we were lucky that Ninkovic needed a spell, and even more so when Bratts came off injured.

With fresh legs we took compete control of the midfield,  both in attack and in defence and on the counter. 

Caceras and Retre come back to the pack without Ninkovic taking most of the defensive focus. 

What worked very nicely was Florin being creative and attacking in midfield,  and Nabout adding another attacking dimension that freed up Mclaren and Noone.

Atkinson also looked much sharper,  and Metcalfe was playing closer to,  and under the direction of Griffith. He was immense. 

Luna was also very aggressive and had a good game. 

Jamo also played a lot more centrally,  which helped both in an attacking and defensive sense. 

Despite everything going right initially,  when Ninkovic came on,  as others have mentioned,  a bunch of our players were cooked. 

Florin, Metcalfe,  Noone and Nabout were dropping their heads,  hands on knees and Sydney quickly grabbed control of the midfield and game. 

PK was looking panicked on the sideline and was too busy directing his players, rather than looking to his bench,  which he clearly needed to do. 

To his credit,  moving RG into midfield did shore things up a little, but honestly we were at serious risk of dropping 2 points. 

A good turnaround in form to win, a great performance by the players,  and just a pass by PK. 

 

Edited by Torn Asunder
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One of the best halves we've ever played. 

Luna going down hurt a lot, so much of our success to that point had been from our immense energy and intensity never allowing Sydney to breathe. At that point we were just starting to tire, and losing our most energetic player only exacerbated that. Cannot believe we basically made no subs that we weren't forced into. Tilio or Tsubaki for Noone was a no brainer, Berenguer was great but should've been replaced before he started cramping, and especially after. 

Griffiths ahead of Reis at CB was an interesting choice but I can't fault the team selection when we perform like that. 

Metcalfe was fantastic in the deeper role and had a great combination of intercept work and attacking flair, that was the exact game we would be hoping O'Neill would produce there. His pass to Nabbout for our third was beautiful. 

Speaking of Nabbout he was fantastic, just kept going. Having such a direct player who really keeps defenders on the back foot is going to be an immense help to Maclaren. 

Very enjoyable performance for the most part, just wish Kisnorbo spent less time talking/shouting everyone through every single moment and actually realised his way to contribute is to manage the side, I don't want another Warren Joyce who seems to think he gets a financial bonus for every unused sub. 

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My first attendance at a game in about 18 months, and a good, if somewhat unexpected win.

Positives

We were positive, fresh and pressed well for 60 minutes

defence looked solid for 60 minutes

We were patient building attacks with good movement off the ball that created space for attacking opportunities

Nabbout is a very frustrating player to watch, he makes easy things look hard at times, other times he makes hard things look easy.

Good game from Florin

 

Negatives

We need to be more ruthless, should have scored 5

Tired after 60 minutes, Bimbi recognised this and brought on Ninkovich who changed the midfield balance. PK didn't respond until almost too late

Nabbout is a very frustrating player to watch, he makes easy things look hard at times, other times he makes hard things look easy.

I may not be in Melbourne for another game this season

Sparse crowd, no food options outside, inside food too expensive and poor quality as usual

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Absolutely brilliant performance for 65'.

Thought Sydney missed a trick in their tactical approach to us but then again not sure it would have mattered, we were exceptionally sharp on and off the ball.

Ninko on and Luna off changed the dynamics completely and whilst i still didnt think they particularly dominated after that, its disappointing to give a sucker an even break.

Great to see Metcalfe put in one of his best shifts in a City shirt, Flo was back to that form that saw him get extended and it goes without saying how important Nabbout is to straightening us up as an attacking unit. Key, key, key player for us.

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9 hours ago, belaguttman said:

My first attendance at a game in about 18 months, and a good, if somewhat unexpected win.

Positives

We were positive, fresh and pressed well for 60 minutes

defence looked solid for 60 minutes

We were patient building attacks with good movement off the ball that created space for attacking opportunities

Nabbout is a very frustrating player to watch, he makes easy things look hard at times, other times he makes hard things look easy.

Good game from Florin

 

Negatives

We need to be more ruthless, should have scored 5

Tired after 60 minutes, Bimbi recognised this and brought on Ninkovich who changed the midfield balance. PK didn't respond until almost too late

Nabbout is a very frustrating player to watch, he makes easy things look hard at times, other times he makes hard things look easy.

I may not be in Melbourne for another game this season

Sparse crowd, no food options outside, inside food too expensive and poor quality as usual

Hopefully with Paddy someone above him mentions it to him that he missed a trick with Subs as he is very passionate and in the game maybe needs to step back a little 

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I understand the thinking behind Reis coming on and Griffiths going to DM but in hindsight maybe Tilio or Tsubaki should have replaced Luna. At least fresh legs means Sydney's backs and midfielders need to chase hard as well.

Caceres should have been sent off too. Happy to ping us for reds but not SFC aren't they.

Reis seems a little short for a centre half, that but in the end where he flailed about with McGowan, could that be a reason why they started Griff instead of him since we've had some problems with corners.

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