Melbourne City need mental strength to succeed: Mombaerts

Exactly, O'Neill could probably play in the lower leagues of Europe but he'd rather stay at SFC.

Nem you got it right MV has been rubbish for a long time. It seems you the one who put emphasis on knockout games, not me. This is how I see it. 2019/20, SFC awesome some 16 pts clear of MV. 2018/19 SFC were average but manage to finish 2 pts ahead of a poor MV despite having a decent team 2017/18 SFC 23 pts ahead on the table from a rubbish MV 2016/17 SFC 17 pts ahead on the table from a rubbish MV 2015/16 Both teams average, SFC 7 pts behind MV 2014/2015 last time MV was decent, yes 5 years ago, only 2 pts clear of SFC.

Wilkinson is a liability , Ninkivic so overrated. Sydney lost their best player and the best in the history of the A-league Brosque, however they replaced him with Barbarouses who is the second best player in the history of the A-league. Barbarouses was back to being a beast again playing on the wing he covers from box to box. Thanks for giving us the player who won almost half your titles for you.

In 2018/19, if MVFC was average, then so was Sydney FC. Sydney lost as many matches as MVFC & had an inferior Goal Difference. MV beat Sydney twice - once at home once away. Sure MVFC got smashed in the knockout. If the knockout is valuable to you then, an even more rubbish MVFC team knocked Syd out of the finals in 2017/18. In 2016/17 another rubbish MVFC team only lost the knockout on penalty shootout to Sydney FC. In 2015/16, another rubbish MVFC team finished above an absolutely putrid Sydney FC team who finished in the bottom 4.

Noone was awful last night. He has been pretty ordinary since looking promising in his first few games here.

Victory has been dead average for 5 seasons now!!! SFC have had 3 & possibly a 4th trophie winning season, while last year was not great, being the transition year from the best A-League coach to the next best, we seem to have picked up steam this year & looking like we did for the 2 seasons prior to last season. Victory hasn't had a decent season since 14/15, when they just pipped SFC in the league but smashed us in the GF.

I actually wrote this which is far from you've just attributed to me: "We may have trounced the Jets but we came to a screeching halt the previous week against Glory. Two very different outcomes. Against Glory we had little to cheer about in the stands watching the team get bottled up by Popovic’s charges and finding no way through their defence. Against Jets it was like a hot knife through butter as our attacks found plenty of openings, like Swiss cheese. Two very different sides presenting different problems. No doubt Kurz will have watched our Glory game closely and will be formulating a plan. Will the derby turn out to be like our game against the Jets or Glory? The following week we play Sydney. As they say, one game at a time."

Happy New Year :happy:

"SFC have kept the best of their players". Yes, that's true. Why does this happen? Because SydFC players prefer to remain at A-League level for their careers, rather than test themselves in other leagues. I've no doubt: Redmayne, Zullo, Grant, Ninkovic, Wilkinson, O'Neill would've had offers from K-L, J-L, CSL, Gulf Nations, possibly some lower leagues of Europe. They choose to stay in A-League. LeFondre has also had offers but he chooses to stay in ALeague. By contrast, Bobo & Mierzejewski decided to take more cash abroad. I think two 35 year olds: Wilkinson & Ninkovic are the keys to Syd Fc consistency. When their form drops, or they get injured... then, we'll see if Syd FC are able to cope. Last season, Sydney were bang average. Lost as many matches as MVFC & finished 1 point above a very average Victory unit.

2 weeks ago you were full of bravado, thumping your chest after beating the Jets & thumbing your nose at most of the other A-League teams. You were lauding JMac as unstoppable & he'd tear apart the clown defenders at MVFC in the Derby. Many of us who viewed City from the outside always felt they were the Great Pretenders. Flat Track Bullies. They should create a new Banner for City: No Ticker. No Heart.

“To those that say Maclaren “goes missing”. They lack a quality 10 to support him so he gets isolated against better sides. It’s the system around him. Fornaroli had the same problem early season for Perth. Imagine Ninkovic supporting JMac ?” Yeah but this goes to the recruiting, again a weakness that our brains trust at La Trobe should have seen before season kickoff. “Mind you, if Noone wasn’t so poor when it mattered City would have won the game and we wouldn’t be having this discussion” Yeah but I’m not interested one iota in “gonnas”, “should have” and “could have”. The fact that he didn’t with a golden opportunity says all you need to know. Our local product could have missed a chance like that as well and would have been less costly to the bank balance in terms of player salary.

Excuses? What's he got, 9 goals in 8 games or something? He relies on service and support. He's had neither in the last 2 games. How many times did he make a run anticipating a cross that didn't come? When they come he scores

melb city need just need to wake up and smell the roses again.like they did early in the season.its not about mental strength its just about to get back to basic and they need a good kick up backside.

Agree Punter, Talay, has picked up the pieces from Rudan's defection and poaching some of the Nix players and doing an extraordinary job there.

Noone works hard? he hardly tracks back, the only thing he looks like he works hard on is his gut. Despite that he still made an impact. How many excuses can you make for dead weight McLaren, he is a tap in king, with no other byproducts.

Agree Caltex. There is continuity and a succession plan throughout SFC. It really highlights how badly MV have performed over the last 3 years (a worthy comparison given they are the 2 biggest clubs in the country). Watching SFC you can see a potential dynasty. My only criticism of Corica is like Arnold he prefers wiley, and battle hardened veterans over youth, but in the last few weeks there are signs he is starting to introduce youth, essential for ongoing continuity. Talay looks like he could be a really good coach

Caltex Rudan is not anywhere near Talay as a manager.

Yes Fad, and I think you can go back even further to Arnold's obsession to detail that is needed to manage a successful professional football club; who in turn has passed on that methodology to Corica and Talay. Talay now with the Nix has recruited well and managed well after the Rudan era.

Agree Caltex. Sydney have managed their recruitment and squad building superbly (see above)

Sydney have got continuity of quality. No one else has managed that. While MV have lost Honda, Barbarousis, Troisi and Antonis in one off season and replaced them with very average alternatives (Kruse aside ), SFC have kept the best of their players while removing De Jong and Van De linden, either not good enough or not fit enough. Their replacements are McGowan and Baumjohann. That is how you manage a squad. Hats off to those behind the scenes, that is brilliant. For MC, Noone is doing what his career stats suggest; working hard but has no end product. Have we even seen Windbichler? Berengue is very average. Across the board they have slightly inferior versions of SFC players in every position. Squad management has killed them. They have young players who are slightly more advanced than SFC do at this stage, but that is it. Having said that, they shoukd still finish top 4! This Sydney squad is fantastic. Barring significant injuries they will run away with it. To those that say Maclaren "goes missing". They lack a quality 10 to support him so he gets isolated against better sides. It's the system around him. Fornaroli had the same problem early season for Perth. Imagine Ninkovic supporting JMac ? Mind you, if Noone wasn't so poor when it mattered City would have won the game and we wouldn't be having this discussion