City attacker Tim Cahill gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance in the Elimination Final on Sunday night saying they were beaten in all of the important battles throughout the match.
Cahill and his City side suffered their third and final defeat to Perth this season in the 2-0 loss at AAMI Park and the Socceroo said that despite the meticulous preparations his side made for the contest, his young squad were not able to execute their plan on the night.
“I know we could have given a lot more tonight,” Cahill said.
“This is what we are learning about our group, there is so much expectation with young players mixed with experience and there is so much on their shoulders. We’ve set up really well in training and we were moving well and until it comes to a game and you don’t execute it, there is nothing the manager can do.
“As players, we have to be accountable and I said it from the start, we win together and we lose together. We won the FFA Cup, that was all of us. Tonight, we’ve lost and that was all of us.”
The clash saw Perth flex their physical muscle in the contest, with Head Coach Michael Valkanis admitting that his side were “bullied” off the park but it was no excuse for Cahill and his side as he admitted he couldn’t take anything away from the Glory.
Full credit to Perth, we can talk all we want, we’ve lost a few games to them, we haven’t beaten them this year and they were desperate,” he said.
“They threw their body at everything, they fought for everything and I’m not going to take anything away from them. Regardless of what they say or what happens, you have to give credit to them.”
“We’ve got a lot of great players and players that have played in big games and tonight, we couldn’t match them. Physically they were stronger and they won the battle.”
As the chapter closed on Cahill’s first season with the Club, his eleven season goals and winner in the Westfield FFA Cup Final headlined his personal accolades but believes there is plenty to work on for him and his side.
“I just can’t believe the season is over,” he said.
“I was sitting in there contemplating about next week we won’t be training and that’s a hard thing for me to take because its 27 games.
“We’ve competed, we’ve tried to fight for it and we’re not good enough on the night and other nights throughout the season. I not going to stand here and say that we fixed it. We’re being open and honest and we weren’t just good enough.
“We won the first trophy for the club and that was massive. We have taken a piece of silverware out of this season. We could be standing here now with nothing but we walk away with our heads held high that we delivered something that no one thought that we could do.”
It’ll be a busy off-season for Cahill as he’ll look to keep fit for the Socceroos final World Cup Qualifiers before returning to pre-season in June.
Before that, join the Club in recognising the Melbourne City Player of Year on Saturday 29 April. Click here to secure your place at City’s night of nights.
