Novillo to Fornaroli Repeat
First of all let me get something off my chest, I was wrong. I berated Bruno Fornaroli without even seeing him ply his trade on the pitch and now have been proved wrong. Without looking for excuses I was burnt by the Michael Mifsud experience and a little scarred by the bewildering recruitment City Football Group undertook for the club both this year and last. Whilst we have seen a multitude of champions make their way to JFK Airport whilst we were given what appeared to be leftovers.
All this probably sounds like an excuse and yes it is but I’m willing to apologise. Bruno Fornaroli, I’m sorry for writing you off before the start of the season without a chance. Please accept my heartfelt apology and welcome you into the City family. Yes, all it took was a goal a game and for you to lead the golden boot before this happened but it shows I’m just a frustrated City supporter sitting behind a keyboard exercising my frustration. Anyway Bruno, keep banging the goals in and we will get along fine.
Alright now back onto the action of last week. How good was it seeing the team click. Mooy was once again outstanding and his goal was an absolute belter. Eric Paartalu’s return was a very welcome one, and although JVS was unwilling to speak about the omission after the game we look a very good team with him on the pitch. Harry Novillo came onto the pitch and made an instant impact, he teamed up well with Fornaroli and this resulted in two second half goals. Seeing Novillo back in action after yet another injury was a pleasing sight for City supporters as we all know how important the Frenchman is to our title chances.
Now for the negatives. Our defence still looked very brittle at the back and with Sorensen and Kisnorbo controlling the back this shouldn’t happen. We know the quality of both players and it’s frustrating to see how easy our defence is to penetrate. The return of Ivan Franjic will help in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see where JVS plays Aaron Hughes.
The 4-2 result against Adelaide was pleasing for City supporters and it reminded us the club is on the right track after the Newcastle debacle. We must judge the club on the results once everyone is fit and firing and this won’t be until almost Christmas. In the meantime as long as we keep our position in the top half of the table I’ll be reasonably happy.
THE WEEK AHEAD
We welcome Tony Popovic, the Western Sydney Wanderers and the RBB to AAMI Park this Friday night. The Wanderers had a come from behind victory over Newcastle after a questionable penalty was awarded to the Wanderers. Without sounding too harsh on the former Asian Champions I’ve seen the team over the last few weeks and haven’t been impressed. This can only mean one thing, underwhelming striker Federico Piovaccari will find the back of the net (maybe twice) and our poor form at home could continue.
The international break hurts City with the loss of Aaron Mooy but hopefully Jacob Melling and Stefan Mauk are more than up to the challenge. Harry Novillo will be keen to score in front of the City faithful and David Williams will be desperate to end his goal drought. Thomas Sorensen could finally get his first City clean sheet and the Wanderers present the best opportunity for this to happen.
Look for City to start well and really get the crowd into the game. Wanderers will be quick to blunt any form of attack early and ‘park the bus’ for the majority of the game. JVS must be prepared to attack the Wanderers from the first whistle and maintain any momentum from the result in Adelaide last week.
Prediction: City 2-0
THE CHAMELEON
I was lucky enough to be a small part of the Fanzine ‘The Chameleon’. A small group of dedicated fans have worked tirelessly on the first ever issue and this will be available tomorrow night. The first issue will only set you back a gold coin (preferably the smaller one) to cover printing costs of the Fanzine.
Hopefully you enjoy the publication as much as I have enjoyed being part of the very first edition, and keep an eye out for a feature I wrote about marquee man Aaron Mooy.
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