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Melbourne City FC
3
Match Complete
Newcastle Jets
0
| 93' |  | N. Topor-Stanley | ||
| L. Wales |  | 75' | ||
| 74' | | B. Kantarovski | ||
| N. L. Brattan | | 48' | ||
| 47' | | D. Georgievski | ||
| 17' | | L. Jackson | ||
| R. McGree | | 2' |
| 14 | Shots | 11 | ||
| 6 | On Target | 3 | ||
| 11 | Fouls | 14 | ||
| 7 | Corners | 3 | ||
| 4 | Offsides | 3 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
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Round 6 finds backs-to-the-wall Melbourne City hosting Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park on Sunday evening at 7pm (AEST). Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match.
The big story in this game has already been written, with marquee Bruno Fornaroli again being left out of the Melbourne City squad.
The seeds of the conflict between City and Fornaroli are unclear – a dispute with manager Warren Joyce is theorised, as is the non-sale of the Uruguayan who was trying to engineer an off-season exit – but whatever the cause, Fornaroli’s omission is a moral stand that Joyce really cannot afford right now.
His side is in fifth, coming off a listless performance against Brisbane and desperately needing another positive home performance to keep fans coming through the turn-styles.
Their 2-0 loss to Brisbane Roar underlined the problem with Joyce’s tactics. At their best City keep the ball but can move it vertically through McGree or Brattan, including through direct balls to Fornaroli who can hold up and recycle possession.
At their worst they lack ideas and open themselves up to counters by sharing the ball pointlessly along their back four. Against the Roar we saw the latter. City had 64 per cent of the ball, and their top four passers were the back four.
Despite having twice as much ball as Brisbane they created fewer chances (three on target shots to five) and half the number of shots inside the box (six to 11).
They had chances to score, but they were beaten by two clinical Adam Taggart goals, whose solid forward play made the Fornaroli sized whole in the City attack more noticeable.
Newcastle escaped Spotless Stadium last week with three lucky points. Their opponents – the Wanderers – spurned chance after chance and could easily have won the game 5-2, but instead gifted the 2-0 win to the Jets.
The difference on the night was experience, as Jason Hoffman and Ronny Vargas took their two chances where the younger Wanderer talents Abraham Majok and Bruce Kamau did not.
But there were troubling signs in that victory for Ernie Merrick. The Wanderers’ pace opened up the Jets defence with ease at times, and City’s quicker forwards like Lachie Wales may find value against the big, flatfooted Jets centrebacks.
Riley McGree – not afraid to take on defenders – could also find joy where Majok and Kamau did.
However this isn’t a normal game for City, who is in turmoil against a Newcastle Jets who have underachieved so far and need to string wins together.
More than likely the experience of the Jets should expose soft City bellies, just as it did with the Wanderers.
Prediction
City and Warren Joyce really need this win as a show of character – but you have to wonder if Melbourne City has the character required.
In contrast the Newcastle Jets are defined by their character, style and fighting identity – and that should be enough in this game to get the win.
Melbourne City 0 – Newcastle Jets 2
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