Melbourne City are one win from their first grand final but there is no celebrating at the A-League club.
Instead, perfectionist coach Warren Joyce has his side knuckling down ahead of their trip to face Newcastle Jets in the semi-finals.
City were convincing 2-0 winners over Brisbane Roar in their elimination final on Friday night.
You wouldn’t have known it from Joyce’s post-match demeanour, the coach more concerned with the few deficiencies in City’s game.
Yes, City won the possession (58 per cent to 42), had more shots (21-4) and completed a whopping 400 of 500 passes.
Joyce nominated “the final pass and being ruthless” as his main concerns after the win.
“With that much possession, you’ve got to score goals,” he said.
“You’ve got to make opportunities from clear-cut chances so you can put the game to bed and be two or three up and make it a lot easier for yourself.
“When you’ve got them going you’ve got to turn the screw.”
Joyce, in his first season in Australia, says he has seen his side stumble too many times this season to see it repeated in the finals.
“Them small margins have cost us a lot of goals this year,” he said.
“Too many goals that have happened from us giving the opposition a goal form not being switched on.
“That’s the fine margin I keep going on about. The standards we need to set.”
Michael Jakobsen is in doubt for the semi-final after missing Friday night’s win.
Joyce revealed the Danish defender aggravated his thigh injury at training on Thursday and is no guarantee of returning for the trip to the Hunter.
Waz
Roar Rookie
KJ Maybe, maybe not. You saw “wasted chances” whereas I saw a back 8 with total congestion in the backline so whereas City fans might have had plenty of “ooo’s and argghh’s the reality was clearvut chances were few and far between and even the Jets would have struggled It wasn’t clear how Aloisi planned to win it from there? A slow frontline meant counter attacking was limited and a weak bench hardly inspired the possibility of a late change of plan.
KJ
Roar Rookie
The game I was watching was a game where there were too many wasted opportunities in their final third. It was fine against Brisbane who could defend for only so long however it's unlikely to work against Newcastle who are more likely to punish them.
Nemesis
Guest
Crowd last night was exactly what we would have expected. This was my forecast posted on 16 April 2018. "Don’t set yourself up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations. Reasonable forecasts Crowds: MCY: 8k MVFC: 17k"
Kangajets
Guest
Any comment from gallop re the size of the crowd Maybe how expensive they are is part of the reason, Melbourne City had better regular season crowds then 7000
j binnie
Guest
Waz - The danger of using this tactic is that the scoring of an early goal by the dominant team immediately forces a change in the thinking of the "defensive" team. With a new centre-back partnership this defensive strategy was fraught with danger from the word go and only some outstanding work by Young prevented that scenario from taking place. The trouble with playing that style of game is that every player has to be extremely well versed and educated to the system and how it is played. Hingert obviously has not that experience or knowledge and as you suggest his "gaffe" resembled that of a schoolboy trying to play like Ronaldo in an extremely dangerous position and facing an extremely dangerous opponent.The ball should have been despatched into the crowd giving his team-mates time to regroup. The second goal was again created out on Roar's right and Fitzgerald gave Young no chance as Pepper and Franjic struggled for understanding on who and when a "runner" is to picked up. I tend to agree with KJ, if City had got an early goal I think we would have seen a totally different game being played by both sides. Cheers jb.
Nick Symonds
Guest
City v Roar elimination final crowd = 7,757 Hopefully it'll be bigger if there's a Melbourne Derby Grand Final.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“They should have won 5-0 last night” ... which game were you watching then? City had all the possession which does not equate to goals (or are we still living in the Okon-era where possession matters??) and, until Hingerts awful error, City hadn’t fashioned many quality chances - Roar simply packed their defensive third. City never looked like losing but 0-0 was the most likely scoreline, not 5-0, and after City went one-up it was only a second unforced error that resulted in the second goal. This country has to get over its obsession with meaningless stats and should-have/would-have football. City deserved to win 2-0. That’s all.
KJ
Roar Rookie
I agree with Joyce and I feel that City were actually unconvincing. They should've won 5-0 last night and if they replicate that performance in Newcastle they will not be going to the big show.