Melbourne City boss John van ‘t Schip isn’t sure how his side lost their advantage or their nerves in the Melbourne derby on Saturday night, but he isn’t about to panic.
Yet.
Three games into the Manchester-sponsored City revolution and van ‘t Schip’s men are yet to register an A-League win.
Though their first-half effort in the derby showed all the right signs.
City were bright and determined, with Damien Duff sharp on the wing and Aaron Mooy a force in midfield.
They deservedly led twice, with Robbie Wielaert and Jason Hoffman heading home before they let it all slip away.
Two Besart Berisha goals a minute either side of the halftime break rocked City, falling to 5-2 loss.
Gone was their lead and midfield discipline.
City allowed Victory to run rampant in the second half.
Now van ‘t Schip must discover what went wrong.
“The 3-2, the boys didn’t recover from that and that’s something that we should analyse and talk about because you have to be mentally strong,” he said.
“You have to be concentrated and know what you’re doing.
“After the halftime break we were just not there.”
Van ‘t Schip said the biggest disappointment was not failing on the big derby stage but not playing to their potential.
“In the first half we showed again that we can play good but it’s 90 minutes a game,” he said.
“We should analyse why… we played three good first halves, the second halves are a big part of a game.
“More important because in the second half, games get decided. Its something we must improve.
The Dutchman could at least find positives in a returning trio.
“We’ve got Ben Garuccio, we’ve got Connor Chapman and we’ve got (Jonatan) Germano, they were all injured and they’re all actually back now,” he said.
“They’re going to play (Sunday) their first game in the youth team.”
“With them three coming back gives us more depth and we can start looking at other options maybe.”
Van ‘t Schip was staying mum on another forward option – the reported January signing of Socceroo Josh Kennedy.
“I haven’t agreed on anything,” he said.
“There are a few players that we’re looking at and Josh is one of them.”
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