City Views – Brisbane Away
Don’t be fooled, Brisbane away is still the toughest trip on the A-League schedule. The defending champions have started their 2014/15 campaign very slowly but face a team in Melbourne City that is low on skill, confidence and passion.
On paper the form of Melbourne City doesn’t look too bad, having played the top three teams in the first month of the season. The 2-1 loss to Adelaide last week wasn’t their worst performance of the campaign, and you could argue a case for the penalty, particularly if you watched the ACL final. Anyhow that’s football and every week gives you a different opportunity, sadly for City fans facing a wounded Brisbane team after a week off won’t be an easy task ahead.
City will be without the now departed David Villa, the little we say about that experiment the better. Expect to see a more cohesive City team from here on in. Van’t Schip will be without Jonathan Germano once again who appeared to injure his right hamstring. Germano was rushed back into the team to face Adelaide due to a lack of options at left back and now is paying the ultimate price for lack of match fitness and will miss another extended period of time through injury. Australia hasn’t been kind to the talented Argentinean who has only played 46 games in his four seasons at the club.
John Van’t Schip must approach this game much smarter this week as he is up against one of the better coaches in the league in Mike Mulvey. Van’t Schip continues to play a 4-3-3 formation without success and must change this before he is shown the door at Melbourne City. I don’t believe he is under any immediate danger at the moment but new owners City Financial Group will be looking for points and progression in their first season. The predictable possession game mixed with their inability to take the game on has hurt City over the past month, and Heart at the end of last season. Much of the players are the same in the line-up and Van’t Schip must realise his plans cannot be carried out with the limited talent of the group.
Van’t Schip very much reminds me of former West Bromwich manager Tony Mowbray, both implored their team to play a beautiful version of the game but failed to have the squad to back their beliefs. Mowbray left West Bromwich after the 2008/09 season where the club were relegated back to the Championship. Mowbray was a well respected manager at West Bromwich but didn’t get the results required by the club. Van’t Schip is a well liked manager at City but he too isn’t getting the results so desperately needed by the fans and owners.
Instead of playing 4-3-3 I would like to see Van’t Schip play a 4-5-1 formation. City has struggled to create anything with the three attacking players and with the dominant midfield City could have this would be a far superior option. Mate Dugandzic is a fish out of water when playing up front and must be either dropped or pushed back into the midfield. David Williams hasn’t given the club anything in 2014/15 but I suspect this is because of his severe lack of match fitness and carrying a slight injury. The club must be prepared to change tactics when it’s so evident the current ones are simply not working.
Defensively we aren’t without our problems with players making simple errors and being caught out of position far too many times. Young Ben Garrucio looked a much better option than Ian Ramsay at left back and had superior defensive capabilities. The partnership of Wielart and Kisnorbo is beginning to work well once again, but does lack the pace required when playing against some of the quicker forwards in the league.
I suspect Andrew Redmayne will be given at least one more chance in goals. None of the five goals conceded in the Melbourne derby were evidentially his fault, but the penalty looked clumsy from where I was seated in the stadium last week. Redmayne’s chances must be running out shortly to hold down the number one keeping position in the team with such a leaky record. He will be hoping a return to Suncorp stadium will be a successful one.
Redmayne will be one of three former Brisbane players facing his old team, Eric Paartalu for the first time. Whilst the transient nature of the league means players face their former clubs more often than other codes around the world this factor won’t be lost on match day when Murdocca, Paartalu and Redmayne will want to give Brisbane fans a taste of what they are now missing. None of these three players would make the starting Brisbane XI, so it gives you an idea of the quality that City finds themselves up against Saturday night.
City will be desperate for a win, but if they come away with one point the club should be happy.
Prediction: Brisbane 3 Melbourne City 1
Predicted Starting XI: (4-5-1)
REDMAYNE
HOFFMAN WIELART KISNORBO GARRUCIO
PAARTALU
DUFF MURDOCCA RAMSAY
MOOY
WILLIAMS
BENCH: Velaphi, Retre, Dugandzic, Marino, Melling
Congratulations to Aaron Mooy who was selected in the 23 man Socceroos squad earlier today. Mooy last represented the Socceroos in the East Asia Cup in 2013.
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