Time to bounce back
There is no doubt our last two matches have been ones to forget as we weren’t able to take any points from either fixture.
We took on Perth on Sunday and although we created the better chances of the two teams and probably had the better of general play, Glory were the more clinical of the two and ran away 1-3 winners.
Goal number 2️⃣ of the season for Macca.
📽 @FOXFOOTBALL#MCYvPER #ALeague #CmonCity pic.twitter.com/P8BvuFBzuw
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 31, 2021
Things were looking good on the Central Coast on Wednesday night as we were 0-2 up half an hour in but a disappointing second half that included being reduced to 10 men had us on the back foot and ultimately gave us our second loss in a row.
While disappointing, those games are now in the past and the focus is well and truly on bouncing back and securing what is now a very important three points against Newcastle.
Four in four for Macca?
After going goalless through the first couple of games of the season, Jamie Maclaren is back in the goal-scoring form he displayed for much of last season.
He scored the winner against Western United back in our first home game of the season and despite the fact we didn’t get the results in our last couple of fixtures, our number nine was still on the scoresheet both times.
An absolute 🍑 of a ball by Flo was expertly finished by JMac for his third goal in as many games.
📽 @FOXFOOTBALL#CmonCity #CCMvMCY #ALeague pic.twitter.com/7X0sCBaoBc
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) February 3, 2021
There’s no doubt we are at our best when we have Macca up and firing so let’s hope for more of the same when we take on Newcastle on Sunday.
A test of depth
We’ve seen early in the season that we have plenty of depth in the squad – particularly in the front third with the likes of Stefan Colakovski and Marco Tilio stepping up.
We just 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 to shout out the kids again… 9 players aged 21 or younger in our squad vs Western United. They stepped up 💪#CmonCity pic.twitter.com/HF2JXVejC3
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 24, 2021
Now we will see our depth in defence faced a big test with Rostyn Griffiths sidelined due to injury, Kerrin Stokes suspended and Scott Galloway in doubt.
Nuno Reis is a chance to make his City debut and could come in to shore up the backline for City.
Continuing our recent form against the Jets
Although we did lose our last meeting against Newcastle 2-1, we’ve had plenty of success when facing them in previous seasons.
We’ve won five of the last seven fixtures, including a 0-4 win last season at McDonald Jones Stadium – Sunday afternoon’s venue.
An Adrian Luna first half double got us off to the perfect start in that fixture, before second half goals to Javier Cabrera and Maclaren sealed the result.
Guaranteed goals?
We’ve met Newcastle over 30 times in all competitions and one thing we’ve never seen is a scoreless draw between teams. In fact – only one of those fixtures has seen a single goal scored.
Neither team has played out a scoreless draw so far this season so you can expect to see goals aplenty on Sunday afternoon.
