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 |
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
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
MATCH SUMMARY: It was City's night tonight, and the 3 points will help silence the naysayers from within and outside their fan base. The win was set-up, ultimately, by a bit of spirit from City and a conveniently pathetic Newcastle defensive effort. The Newcastle back 4 wilted at the effort and pace of McGree and Wales, and a moment of pure class from Luke Brattan. From the first minute Newcastle were off their game. Their entire left hand side was non-existent and allowed DeLaet and Riley McGree to waltz down their right to pump in balls or cut insight to shoot. Wales is a young player and doesn’t have too many strings to his bow (yet), but his pace and runs troubled the flat-footed Newcastle defenders, especially for the final goal when the Newcastle line crept up to be comically high. Newcastle had a poor night across the board, save for Dimi Petratos who’s set pieces, and individual play out of the pocket created the better chances for Newcastle. Vargas was a non-presence (besides one particularly brilliant piece of individual play which almost brought an equaliser), and the midfield 3 of Ugarkovic, Kantarovski and Cowburn looked flat and incongruous for most of the game. Cowburn improved as the game continued, but Ugarkovic was uncharacteristically poor and Kantarovski has the look of a player who stayed a season too long in the top flight. The stats in the end flatter Newcastle a little, who were, in truth, never really in this contest. City had only 53% of the ball, but there were periods where Newcastle weren’t near it. City had 6 shots on target to 3 though and this tells the story of a team in charge with double the attacking intent of their opponents. Riley McGree was fantastic all night. He opened the scoring, ran tirelessly at the Jets in that that odd right-sided role that Joyce has him in, and offered City the spirit and will to work that they desperately needed in this signature game for the Joyce regime. After the bile and anger directed at Joyce’s man management throughout the week, he needed a hero willing to fight for him and it was the teenager McGree that showed the character. MAN OF THE MATCH was McGree. Jamieson and DeLaet had moments, and Wales played a role but McGree kept the ball ticking over inside the forward third.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Well, City have been very inconsistent this year. But a win will definetely ease the pressure on Joyce.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
FULL TIME! City win this game in a canter 3-0.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
93' - it's a late YELLOW CARD for Topor-Stanley after another clumsy effort. He's been poor tonight.
93'
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Unsurprisingly this game is fizzling out slowly. City haven't lost the ball in the last 5 minutes
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
There will be 4 EXTRA MINUTES
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
87' - This is a fantastic moment. Curtis Good is coming ON for his first time in 6 years in the A-League and Wales is coming OFF. He'll get a couple of cruisey minutes along side two centrebacks as Newcastle - besides Petratos - have all but given up on this game.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
84' - DOUBLE SAVE from City!!! Petratos cuts back from a dangerous run and forces a diving effort from Galekovic, who does brilliantly to parry, and a follow up from Vujica is closed down by DeLaet. City should have done better to close Dimi down, but they'll be pleased with the defensive mettle to clear there.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
City make their final CHANGE. Brattan, the goalscorer is OFF and Anthony Caceras comes ON.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
81' - CLEARED by City - that was dangerous stuff as Vargas found a pocket of space at the top of the box but his lateral touch doesn't find a man. City were quickly on the ball then in defence and did well to run it out of the box.
75'
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
75' - GOAL! It's Lachie Wales!! It was DeLaet who clipped off the ball over an obscenely high Newcastle line, and Wales just bolts into space, burns off the the Jets and flicks it over Moss to score. Smart, sharp and symptomatic of a shocking Newcastle defensive effort tonight.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
It seemed inevitable, but Jackson is OFF and Vujica is ON
74'
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
The Jets have gone now to something of classic Brazillian 4-2-4 with Ridenton and Thurgate out wide and Petratos and Vargas in the central channel dropping deep to collect in midfield.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Jets follow suit. Hoffman is OFF and Thurgate is ON. Hoffman a little unlucky there who seemed to just be following the script and now leaves the Newcastle Jets 2 goals down without someone who can naturally get on the end of crosses.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Looks like there'll be another SUBSTITUTION. Vidosic is coming OFF for City, and Griffiths comes ON.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
70' - SAVED from Galekovic! The shot was from Hoffman and it was a great effort! It came from Cowburn who ran into his forward third with real purpose before laying it off for Hoffman to cut back and shoot. City's midfield was completely absent then.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Certainly part of Newcastle's problem is how static and flat footed so many of their defenders are, including Kantarovski. They just can't compete with nippier forwards or deeper mids like McGree willing to run at them.