A must win: City v Wanderers 9th January

[n i k o]

Six points behind top spot and playing against Wanderers who are just above us. I don't see anything but a win as being acceptable. Desperately need 3 points. 

[Cityscape]

Hope we get at least 10k and push 15k for this one.

Biggest non-derby this club has played for a long time.

[KSK_47]

2 minutes ago, n i k o said:

I don't see anything but a win as being acceptable. Desperately need 3 points. 

I felt the same way about the game last night tbh. But makes this game even more important

[Jimmy]

Lose this game and it makes the Premiership very hard to claw back. 

[belaguttman]

This game is important because WSW are the benchmark team this season. Settled team, clear playing philosophy, competition for places, good attitude. Last time really did benchmark us, this will be an accurate test of whether there has been any real improvement. Hopefully we get back our key players and it may be the first time all season that we have been close to a preferred starting 11.

Edited January 3, 2016 by belaguttman

[bellydrum]

Melbourne City trio set to face Wanderers

 

Melbourne City believe injured trio Aaron Mooy, Erik Paartalu and Ivan Franjic will resume their A-League campaigns next Saturday against Western Sydney Wanderers.

Source: 

AAP

3 JAN 2016 - 12:52 PM  UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO

 

0

The key players all missed the club's 2-2 draw with Sydney FC on Saturday after failing late selection tests.

While Franjic was struggling with a corked quad through the week, both Mooy and Paartalu (groin) were surprise withdrawals from selection after showing issues late in the week.

Their unavailabilities contributed to five changes - with Ben Garuccio making way and Paulo Retre suspended - for City against Sydney.

City coach John van't Schip said the story of the match was City's struggle to adapt to their new line-up.

"Five is a lot," he said.

"The first half, we were struggling to get our play going and we were lucky that we didn't concede.

"We had so many changes, we didn't even practice this week with this team."

Of the inclusions, the most experienced were the biggest strugglers.

Aaron Hughes, the 36-year-old centre-back, looked at sea attempting to keep out an ascendant Sydney FC forward line early, before nabbing City's opener from a corner.

Hughes's quick recovery from struggler to goalscorer was remarkable - if he had been in a pool hall, he would have been booted out for sharking his opponents.

Similarly, City marquee man Robert Koren, 35, couldn't find the rhythm of the game and was profligate with the ball.

Their time in the starting eleven could be short if the senior Australians prove their fitness in midweek.

"We had to take the decision because it's a very busy schedule," Van't Schip said.

"Ivan it was a cork so normally he should be okay ... it was general soreness what caused (Mooy) problems so hopefully that's going to be OK next week."

Bruno Fornaroli added to Hughes's opening goal to cancel out Milos Ninkovic's double for Sydney

[wfc_10]

Mauk away with the Olyroos...

[Dylan]

Oh god not another must win

[n i k o]

6 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Oh god not another must win

Yes Dylan. Yes. 

[Imperial Pints]

Who knows what the hell will happen. Hopefully the lads are fired up from the hiding they inflicted upon us last time.

Nrma look due for a loss fwiw

[SF33]

So, Mauk and (I'm assuming) Melling unavailable and Retre, Mooy, Franjic and Paartalu back in? Which, presumably, would mean Sorensen, Franjic, Kisnorbo, Mooy, Paartalu, Novillo and Fornaroli would be the expected starters, with Clisby/Zullo/Hughes/Garuccio/Millar to fight over the remaining two defensive posts, Retre/Koren/Trifiro to battle for a spot in the mdifield and maybe Kuzi (where is he?) as an option up forward, with the bench consisting of some combination of the players that miss out from that 11 and Velaphi on the bench. That looks like a pretty strong team, though missing Mauk and Melling at the same time is not ideal.

Seems a while since we actually outplayed a team (surprise, surprise, it was back when we last played against a rabble) and it could be argued that we were very lucky to snatch four points against Victory, Brisbane and Sydney. About time that we outplay a decent opponent.

[neio]

Definite starters

Sorenson, Franjic, Kisnorbo, Hughes, Clisby, Paartalu, Mooy, Fornaroli, Novillo

Leaves a midfield spot which I think will go to Retre

And a spot on right which I think they will play Koren out there

Leaving Velaphi, Garruccio, Zullo, and 2 of trifiro, zinni, espindola, Millar and eyigun for bench 

[haz]

1 minute ago, neio said:

Definite starters

Sorenson, Franjic, Kisnorbo, Hughes, Clisby, Paartalu, Mooy, Fornaroli, Novillo

Leaves a midfield spot which I think will go to Retre

And a spot on right which I think they will play Koren out there

Leaving Velaphi, Garruccio, Zullo, and 2 of trifiro, zinni, espindola, Millar and eyigun for bench 

You'd expect zullo to start and maybe get subbed at 75

[neio]

1 minute ago, haz said:

You'd expect zullo to start and maybe get subbed at 75

I would like to see that but I've only ever seen him play on the left, and we never seem keen to play Novillo on the right, so I can't see a spot for zullo (unless he goes to right or we do a formation change)

[jw1739]

We looked at our best when the Zulu first came on to play on the left and we had Harry N. and Tuna in the middle. Would like to see that again somehow.
And quite frankly I'd like to see Koren benched. He's simply not good enough to start. No player is more important than his club.

Edited January 3, 2016 by jw1739

[NewConvert]

1 hour ago, neio said:

Definite starters

Sorenson, Franjic, Kisnorbo, Hughes, Clisby, Paartalu, Mooy, Fornaroli, Novillo

Leaves a midfield spot which I think will go to Retre

And a spot on right which I think they will play Koren out there

Leaving Velaphi, Garruccio, Zullo, and 2 of trifiro, zinni, espindola, Millar and eyigun for bench 

I wouldn't start Hughes, instead I would have: Franjic, Kisnorbo, Clisby, Zullo.

The midfield would be: Retre, Paartalau and Mooy

Up front would be Koren, Fornaroli and Novillo

On the bench: Valpahi, Garruccio, Hughes, Trifiro and Zinni.

If Zullo is a bit match sore, then I would start Garrucio with Zullo on the bench.

[NewConvert]

1 hour ago, neio said:

Definite starters

Sorenson, Franjic, Kisnorbo, Hughes, Clisby, Paartalu, Mooy, Fornaroli, Novillo

Leaves a midfield spot which I think will go to Retre

And a spot on right which I think they will play Koren out there

Leaving Velaphi, Garruccio, Zullo, and 2 of trifiro, zinni, espindola, Millar and eyigun for bench 

I wouldn't start Hughes, instead I would have: Franjic, Kisnorbo, Clisby, Zullo.

The midfield would be: Retre, Paartalau and Mooy

Up front would be Koren, Fornaroli and Novillo

On the bench: Valpahi, Garruccio, Hughes, Trifiro and Zinni.

If Zullo is a bit match sore, then I would start Garrucio with Zullo on the bench.

[Imperial Pints]

Hughes won't get match-fit by sitting on the pine. Has to start imo.

[n i k o]

Clisby at centre back  Must we have to go through this every time. I've been impressed with his form the last 6 weeks but this has never worked out well. Hughes is a must to start again. 

[Jimmy]

Draw wouldn't be that bad tbh. 

[Shahanga]

39 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Draw wouldn't be that bad tbh. 

True. If we are aiming for 4th.

After the debacle of 1 point in the last 2 weeks we need to win or kiss any hope of the Premier's plate goodbye.

[strider]

3-2 vs the grubs

Can't wait to give Redders shit. Spud

[Luke]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

Clisby at centre back  Must we have to go through this every time. I've been impressed with his form the last 6 weeks but this has never worked out well. Hughes is a must to start again. 

Wait, hasn't Clisby done pretty well at Centre back ? 

[Murfy1]

Some team news:

Quote

Star trio Aaron Mooy (ribs), Ivan Franjic (corked thigh) and Erik Paartalu (groin) may have played if it was a finals game according to Mauk, but said the result proved City’s depth was improving after they initially struggled to adjust.

City midfielder Jacob Melling has been cleared of serious injury after limping off with 10 minutes to go with a numb ankle, and is a chance to play against Western Sydney.

“We didn’t start the best, those changes late on game day disrupted us and it took a while for us to find our feet,’’ Mauk said.

“Franjic was 50-50 all week and it depended on how he felt on the day, Erik and Aaron Mooy felt something the day before the game and were given until the last minute, but it was decided best to give them a week off.

If it was a more important game they probably would’ve put their hand up and it would’ve been up to the coaching staff.

“But with a few injuries already and myself leaving (for Olyroos duty) we couldn’t afford to get too many more. It was a smart decision, rather than risking playing them and picking up worse injuries.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/melbourne-city/melbourne-city-midfielder-stefan-mauk-on-draw-with-sydney-fc-and-olyroo-ambitions/news-story/256c1d18a5258b07ac182e8967d439a9

 

 

Looks like there will be multiple inclusions next week.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Murfy1

[MHFC-FAN]

7 hours ago, Cityscape said:

Hope we get at least 10k and push 15k for this one.

Biggest non-derby this club has played for a long time.

Everytime we gain momentum and encourage a decent crowd showing we let them down with a frustrating loss. This game for me has all the ingredients to be the biggest game outside of the derby. A healthy crowd expected and with that a true indicator of how badly this team wants to put peoples hesitations to bed with a solid win. A loss or draw will send people packing and wave goodbye premiership aspirations. 

[haz]

Perfect game to do the "Bring a friend for free"

[Imperial Pints]

The club really should promote the bejeezus out of this game. Billboards, radio & tv ads, social media etc. Anything less than 14k will be disappointing.

[belaguttman]

5 hours ago, jw1739 said:

We looked at our best when the Zulu first came on to play on the left and we had Harry N. and Tuna in the middle. Would like to see that again somehow.
And quite frankly I'd like to see Koren benched. He's simply not good enough to start. No player is more important than his club.

Unless we are strong enough to impose ourselves on every other team we need a specific formation and tactics to create problems for other teams and to solve the problems that other teams set for us. This formation solved a problem created for us by SFC, we'll have a different set of problems to solve against WSW. They'll be bigger problems as WSW are a vastly better side to the self-styled 'biggest team in Australia' We'll need a different structure, different instructions and different tactics

[neio]

This could he Jack Clisby biggest test, up against Castelan who IMO is the best winger in comp

Will show how fair he has come 

[Shahanga]

10 minutes ago, neio said:

This could he Jack Clisby biggest test, up against Castelan who IMO is the best winger in comp

Will show how fair he has come 

Surely Zullo will start at left back. Isn't that why we signed him?

[Dylan]

Zullo has the pace to keep up with him.

Going to be great to see a fully fit defence take the field. 

[Defibrillator]

I'd be happy with a draw here. We were slaughtered last time by the Wanderers especially in midfield - we didn't fire a shot there. Admittedly we started with Mauk, Melling and Paartalu, but the two Spanish guys in midfield with Nicholls have been the best midfield in the A league this year by a mile. Their guile and discipline has been outstanding. We have to match them to have any chance of winning. Mooy back a real bonus and with Melling gone Paartalu picks himself. I'm going out on a limb here (and start the engines!) but I'll float the idea of picking  Koren over Retre to sit deep with Paartalu in a 4-2-3-1. I think we need experience and patience - basically what they've been doing to grind out wins - and Koren needs to pull his head in and play a role for us which he has done before at Hull. Their midfield isn't that quick - it's just clever and experienced.  Koren could bring some of that experience - ? more so than Retre. I wouldn't mind at all if Retre was picked and Koren providing midfield cover, but  Koren sitting deeper has to happen, and Retre does offer versatility from the bench.  If we match the midfield our forwards will do the rest.

And give the Gooch a crack on the wing - let him run at them. Harry can play either side so start him on the right and Gooch on the left.

Cue the outrage.....................

[strider]

20 minutes ago, Defibrillator said:

I'd be happy with a draw here. We were slaughtered last time by the Wanderers especially in midfield - we didn't fire a shot there. Admittedly we started with Mauk, Melling and Paartalu, but the two Spanish guys in midfield with Nicholls have been the best midfield in the A league this year by a mile. Their guile and discipline has been outstanding. We have to match them to have any chance of winning. Mooy back a real bonus and with Melling gone Paartalu picks himself. I'm going out on a limb here (and start the engines!) but I'll float the idea of picking  Koren over Retre to sit deep with Paartalu in a 4-2-3-1. I think we need experience and patience - basically what they've been doing to grind out wins - and Koren needs to pull his head in and play a role for us which he has done before at Hull. Their midfield isn't that quick - it's just clever and experienced.  Koren could bring some of that experience - ? more so than Retre. I wouldn't mind at all if Retre was picked and Koren providing midfield cover, but  Koren sitting deeper has to happen, and Retre does offer versatility from the bench.  If we match the midfield our forwards will do the rest.

And give the Gooch a crack on the wing - let him run at them. Harry can play either side so start him on the right and Gooch on the left.

Cue the outrage.....................

koren? start? outrage 

[n i k o]

21 minutes ago, Defibrillator said:

I'd be happy with a draw here. We were slaughtered last time by the Wanderers especially in midfield - we didn't fire a shot there. Admittedly we started with Mauk, Melling and Paartalu, but the two Spanish guys in midfield with Nicholls have been the best midfield in the A league this year by a mile. Their guile and discipline has been outstanding. We have to match them to have any chance of winning. Mooy back a real bonus and with Melling gone Paartalu picks himself. I'm going out on a limb here (and start the engines!) but I'll float the idea of picking  Koren over Retre to sit deep with Paartalu in a 4-2-3-1. I think we need experience and patience - basically what they've been doing to grind out wins - and Koren needs to pull his head in and play a role for us which he has done before at Hull. Their midfield isn't that quick - it's just clever and experienced.  Koren could bring some of that experience - ? more so than Retre. I wouldn't mind at all if Retre was picked and Koren providing midfield cover, but  Koren sitting deeper has to happen, and Retre does offer versatility from the bench.  If we match the midfield our forwards will do the rest.

And give the Gooch a crack on the wing - let him run at them. Harry can play either side so start him on the right and Gooch on the left.

Cue the outrage.....................

By all reports we will have nearly all our players available. How much longer will we keep saying our players aren't good enough to win a game like this. I'm not saying a draw is terrible but if we can't expect a win with the squad we have this coming week we might as well pack up our shit and just settle for a finals position. 

[silva10]

I believe we need to tweak our formation to allow Harry to give more support to Buno.

The back four should be Franjic, Hughes, Kisnorbo and Clisby. Even though Hughes struggled yesterday, he should stay in the team.

Our midfield three I expect to be Paartalu, Retre and Mooy.

The front three would be Harry, Bruno and Zullo.

Now Zullo can play wide left thus anchoring that left hand side with Clisby.

I would play Harry from the right, but more narrow than Zullo, so he is in contact with Bruno. These two can be supported by Mooy, with Retre and Paartalu giving the defence cover.

Franjic's ability to get up and down will help us when attacking and Harry can push more into the centre.

 

 

[Defibrillator]

19 minutes ago, n i k o said:

By all reports we will have nearly all our players available. How much longer will we keep saying our players aren't good enough to win a game like this. I'm not saying a draw is terrible but if we can't expect a win with the squad we have this coming week we might as well pack up our shit and just settle for a finals position. 

We're playing the top team with a settled lineup who are patiently dismantling their opposition. We're a merry-go-round with changing lineup and a coach who throws selection places in the air - the youth player subbed after 30 being a case in point. Once we're settled I'll agree with you, but not until then. 

[belaguttman]

3-4-3 would give us a numerical advantage in midfield and hopefully nullify their strongest line of players. Last time we were so unstructured that they played between our lines almost at will. I'm not sure if we can stay structured and compact enough to prevent that again. The conservative approach would be to sit deep and compact but that allows WSW to play their game. I'm not reassured that we can press in a coordinated way to do this. We need to try to stop the ball supply to Nichols just like they will try to stop the ball supply to Mooy. Our pass completion out of defence is crucial here but its been one of the poorer aspects of our game and one of the reasons why our back 4 are always under pressure and have conceded so many goals, its also why WSW are so quick at moving the ball in attacking transition.

[Luke]

Nailed on loss, need to sort that back 4 out 

[rass]

14 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

3-4-3 would give us a numerical advantage in midfield and hopefully nullify their strongest line of players. Last time we were so unstructured that they played between our lines almost at will. I'm not sure if we can stay structured and compact enough to prevent that again. The conservative approach would be to sit deep and compact but that allows WSW to play their game. I'm not reassured that we can press in a coordinated way to do this. We need to try to stop the ball supply to Nichols just like they will try to stop the ball supply to Mooy. Our pass completion out of defence is crucial here but its been one of the poorer aspects of our game and one of the reasons why our back 4 are always under pressure and have conceded so many goals, its also why WSW are so quick at moving the ball in attacking transition.

Spot on Bela.

Real key is to stop the supply and hence influence of Nichols. To do this, we need to not give Dumas and Andreou any space whatsoever, so there needs to be a heap of pressure on those two in particular.

[kingofhearts]

 

Every games a must win for us, but this is a tough one. WSW a very good team, a draw is acceptable, but if we're ever going to make some noise in this league these are the teams we need to make a statement against.

Get an early first goal them stack the backline!