Melbourne City has long been a club associated with three key values: mediocrity, inconsistency and underachievement.
Even with the much hyped City Football Group takeover in 2014, City have remained true to these three traits, leading to some justified groaning from supporters.
Fan pages are littered with the slogan ‘JVS out’ and there seems an uneasy fascination and expectation that marquee man Aaron Mooy will single-handedly drag the club out of its present state.
This season has done little to ease concerns – until the last fortnight. A 2-all draw with Sydney FC and a breathtaking 3-2 victory over the Wanderers has given fans the right to be optimistic.
The draw against the Sky Blues, without Mooy and Erik Paartalu, showed plenty of character. Despite Sydney dominating play, City twice took the lead, before holding on for the draw in the face of relentless pressure. Such a result would not have been believable at the start of this season.
For the Wanderers fixture, City came up against a side who hadn’t been beaten in ten games, and who swatted them aside 3-0 in their last meeting. Surprisingly, Melbourne took a 2-0 lead and despite having that clawed back by a determined Wanderers outfit, they had the desire and fight to re-take the lead and snatch all three points. A previous Heart/City side would not have had the mental or physical strength to keep fighting.
While the season is far from over, City look the real deal. The next challenge will be using these gritty results as a basis to regularly compete with the best.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
The financial backing is there, so the potential is there for greater things. But I still don't think Vant Schip is the right fit for a club with such big aspirations. Take Mooy out of the game and they look fairly ordinary. Vant Schip needs to get his tactics right for any sort of situation they face.
SLIM
Guest
City is a force these days, well balanced side and deft finishing. JVS is a superb man manager. I predict another three years at the helm too. Job well done!
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Who knows where we're going to end up come end of the season but one thing is for sure, the addition of new players Bruno and Harry, aided and abetted by Mooy 'the magician' has added grit and a never say die attitude that is infecting the rest of the team. You just need to look at the work rate and toil of these guys to see that they're giving it 100% and more. Not to mention the classy finishing. It's a far cry from the recent past where WIllo was quoted as saying "if we win we win, if we don't we don't." FFS that's not a professional attitude - that's should have been a sackable offense. Anyway, I'm enjoying the ride and I hope others are enjoying some of the goals being scored :) Oh, and the 'JVS OUT' thread is probably a bit quiet these days.
Qantas & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
I'm not a City supporter, however I wish the club all the success in the world, because the HAL needs a successful second Melbourne club to thrive and produce young players coming from their academy for the country.