Following Melbourne City FC’s emphatic dismantling of Perth Glory, we take a look at some of the key Quotes and Notes to come out of Friday night’s 5-1 win at AAMI Park.
Quotes
Melbourne City FC Head Coach John van’t Schip
On the performance…
“I’m happy that we had a good win. Even though the players and the coaching staff know it’s just three points and 5-1 is important for the confidence. We showed that we have quality in scoring but we have showed that in the other games – I think we have scored the most goals of all teams – not bad for a team that plays ‘anti-football’.”
On the response after half-time…
“We also know that it’s a lot to improve. If you look at the first half it could have been 4-4, so we were absolutely not happy and also the boys were not happy. I think that is a good sign that they all recognised that the first half, even though we were leading 3-1, that we were giving away a lot of space and Perth had a lot of opportunities going forward and created some dangerous moments.”
“It was because we were blocking a few shots from them that we didn’t concede earlier and on the other hand we had some big chances that we didn’t make to make the score bigger before half-time.
“I think the second-half was a more solid performance. As a team we were more compact, we were helping each other better from the front to the back and the other way around. It made it better for us as coaches to see there was a team on the pitch that was helping each other.”
On the balance between attack and defence…
“It’s the balance and again we’ve been struggling with our formation from the start because of the injuries. It’s loose sometimes before the game, we still had to change two players or something happened on the session. We are still going through that process with players coming in and getting game time, today Ivan [Franjic] was a good example.
“But that doesn’t help if you want to get into a solid block and that’s something we have to work on as well. It is good going forward and scoring and creating, but we have to make sure we are difficult to beat when the opposition have the ball.”
On Aaron Mooy’s match-winning performance…
“I love to see good football and I think Aaron showed some terrific stuff in the first half and second half. It’s something you enjoy and the fans were enjoying it as well. It lifts the team and the other players showed some good things.
“The confidence started getting there and we showed we have a team that can make big steps, but we have to make sure that we are solid and be dangerous going forward.”
On Harry Novillo’s return to first-team action…
”Harry needs game time as well, he is a player with a lot of individual qualities. He has a great shot, a great free kick, he’s strong in the air and jumps very high. All those aspects are coming together now, he’s getting fitter now and the moment he gets stronger he can be a very, very important player for our team.”
Perth Glory Head Coach Kenny Lowe
On the performance…
“I thought in the first half we’ve had the most opportunities we’ve had all season, not opportunities that were poor, decent opportunities that were fashioned with good football. You can’t give three goals away like that, they’ve had two headers and a shot and they’re three up. I think we massively contributed to all three.”
On the mindset of the Perth squad…
“The attitude is good, I can’t fault the attitude. You saw in the game we were down but we’re still creating chances. They’ve still had a go, they’ve come back and its 3-1 and the next goal is game on, game off. They’ve had a corner and we’ve gone to clear it and rolled it straight in to [Novillo’s] path and he’s smashed it in, so again we’ve contributed to ourselves.”
On the battle between Aaron Mooy and Michael Thwaite…
“You look at [Mooy] and he is quality. It was a good old tussle between him and Thwaitey today. I thought it was game on but obviously Aaron had a few more players around him, but I thought Thwaitey did quite well.”
Notes
- The 5-1 result was Melbourne City FC’s biggest ever win over Perth Glory in the 17 Hyundai A-League meetings between the two sides.
- With 18 goals in the opening 8 rounds of the season, City have already scored half as many goals than in the entire 2014-15 Hyundai A-League season (36).
- Aaron Mooy’s number of chances created this season is 13 more than the next highest player in the competition – second is Wellington Phoenix midfielder Michael McGlinchey with 20. The Socceroos midfielder leads the competition in assists with a total of 5.
- Bruno Fornaroli continued his sensational start to the Hyundai A-League season, netting his sixth goal of the season against Perth to sit atop of the league goalscoring charts, level with Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha.
- Connor Chapman’s 19th minute header was the defender’s first ever Hyundai A-League goal in his 49 league appearances for City and Newcastle Jets.
- Chapman’s strike also saw him become City’s eighth individual scorer this season, joining Bruno Fornaroli, Wade Dekker, Aaron Mooy, Patrick Kisnorbo, Stefan Mauk, Harry Novillo and Erik Paartalu on the goalscoring list.
- City’s dominance in attack was demonstrated by a total of 25 shots on goal for the match; the Club’s highest tally of the season.
