City Head Coach John van’t Schip was critical of his side’s intent to take their style of play to Perth Glory, saying his side lacked the level of positive ball retention that saw them pick up maximum points in the opening two rounds.
It was always going to be an arm wrestle on Friday night at AAMI Park and that played into the hands of Perth Glory as they came to Melbourne with a perfectly executed game plan.
It was no excuse for City however as their movement and intent to take the game to Perth was not there with van’t Schip believing his side were “too average” on Friday.
“Everybody has to be connected and be at a high level and we have to do the things we are working on and I think tonight we tried but the performance was not there,” van’t Schip said.
“We lost the ball too early and then you make the opponent strong and dangerous and we didn’t really get into our game.
“Even though we came back two times, there was even a spell that we could have gone up with a chance through Bruno, it was just too average and I think it shows that we’re in a process of trying to do something, trying to get to a certain level but today we didn’t reach that level. We’re back on earth after the game we played against Victory.
There was plenty of feeling on the pitch during the contest with referee Alan Milliner called upon to put out a number of spot fires throughout the match.
With Perth’s physical presence on the pitch playing into the hands of the West Australians, van’t Schip felt it was more his side that were to blame for the sub-par performance.
“I think it was more something of our own that we just didn’t keep the ball long enough, that we could really get into positions to start playing the way that we want to play,” he said.
“I think we lost the ball too early, we played the ball long too early and I think we were just too sloppy. If you just miss that little bit that we just talked about, then you know that it’s going to be a different kind of game and I think that’s a good lesson. We have to make sure that we learn again from this.”
It won’t be long for City to put this lesson into practice as they back up for Tuesday’s Westfield FFA Cup Melbourne Derby Semi Final.
Bruce Kamau will be assessed for concussion on Saturday after receiving a cleared ball to the face while Luke Brattan limped during the second half with a niggling calf issue but is expected to front up front up after an assessment from the medical team.
The other exclusion from Friday’s match was Nicolas Colazo. The Head Coach explained the Argentine had missed the match due to a clash to his head and subsequently his ear sustained in the Round 1 contest against Wellington. It is still unsure whether he will play a role in Tuesday’s Semi Final at AAMI Park.
City’s next league match is at AAMI Park this Friday night against reigning Champions Adelaide United, kick-off 7.50pm. Get your tickets for the match or sign up as a Melbourne City member today.
