CITY INSIDER: City v Wellington - Monday 9 May

CITY INSIDER

WELLINGTON PHOENIX MONDAY 9 MAY AAMI PARK

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MELBOURNE CITY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX

CITY INSIDER MONDAY 9 MAY

CAPTAIN’S MESSAGE IT’S BEEN A WHILE, CITY FANS. WE’RE BACK HOME TONIGHT AND WE COULD NOT BE MORE PUMPED TO GET OUT ONTO AAMI PARK AND SEE YOU ALL IN THE STANDS.

As always, our focus is solely on the next game, and it doesn’t get much bigger than tonight. Of course we would’ve loved to have things wrapped up by now, but our destiny remains in our own hands. If we perform to the level we are capable of tonight, we know it’ll be good enough to get the all-important points that we need.

Don’t underestimate how much your support spurs us on either, make as much noise as you can and get behind us tonight. That push we get from hearing you in the crowd makes such a difference and it games like these, every little edge we can get counts.

It’s great to be home too. While its part of the job to be away for periods of time and we have to do what we have to do, we are humans too and of course it’s always tough to be away from our families. We’re all now refreshed, revitalised and ready to put in a big performance in front of you all tonight.

There’s no denying our ACL campaign ended in disappointment, having not qualified for the next round, but despite this, I couldn’t be prouder of the way the boys approached the tough conditions we faced in Bangkok.

To go through the Group Stage undefeated was a massive effort, and to only miss out on qualification by two goals to a team that played every match in their home stadium was a tough way to go out, but it is what it is.

That’s all in the past now and the focus is on Wellington tonight and as I previously mentioned, we’re all feeling refreshed and well prepared to put in a massive performance in what is a massive game tonight.

See you in the stands, C’mon City!

Scott Jamieson Melbourne City FC captain

Together We Move

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MELBOURNE CITY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX

CITY INSIDER MONDAY 9 MAY

PREMIERS PLATE ON THE LINE YOUR CITY BOYS ARE FINALLY BACK HOME TONIGHT, TAKING ON WELLINGTON PHOENIX IN A MATCH THAT COULD END IN CITY LIFTING THE PREMIERS PLATE. TONIGHT MARKS OUR FIRST HOME MATCH IN A MONTH, WITH THE SQUAD NOW HOME AFTER 26 DAYS ON THE ROAD. This long stretch away from home saw us take part in our inaugural AFC Champions League campaign in Thailand, which didn’t end the way we’d hoped. Despite going through the Group Stage undefeated, we narrowly missed qualification for the next stage.

A stopover in Perth was then on the cards before returning home, and it didn’t go to plan as we suffered a tough loss to the Glory despite creating more than enough chances to have won the game.

That’s all in the past now though and a revitalised City will only have one goal in mind on

Monday night – picking up the three points and finishing the night as back-to-back A-League Men Premiers.

Monday night will mark the second meeting between us and Wellington in the A-League Men this season, after we picked up a resounding win first time around. An April clash behind closed doors in New South Wales saw us run away six-goal winners, with Marco Tilio, Andrew Nabbout, Mathew Leckie and Curtis Good all amongst the goals.

In more recent times, the Phoenix, who again have spent a large part of the season away

from home, secured a Finals berth on Thursday night with a 2-1 win over Western Sydney.

Sam Sutton’s early goal was pulled back by the Wanderers before half-time, only for Reno Piscopo to strike the crucial blow in the 65th minute and secure all three points.

Wellington now come into the match with wins in four of its last six fixtures, but no doubt City will still be full of confidence that it can get the job done at home.

A-LEAGUE MEN PREVIEW

DANGER PLAYER

SEASON STATS - WELLINGTON

RENO PISCOPO The Victorian-born midfielder has proven to be a handful for sides this season and Piscopo could be one player that stands between us and the Premiers Plate on Mondy night.

The Melburnian has had an up and down season - just like his side as a whole - but has the individual brillance to change a match at an instant.

Piscopo found the back of the net in the Nix last match against Western Sydney and will look to continue his form in front of friends and family as his side prepares for an Elimination Final next week

6

12

LEAGUE POSITION

GAMES WON

33

47

GOALS SCORED

GOALS CONCEDED

A-LEAGUE LADDER

LAST RESULT

LAST TIME WE MET

WESTERN SYDNEY

1

WELLINGTON

0

WELLINGTON

2

MELBOURNE CITY

6

Isuzu UTE A-League 2021/22 Saturday 2 April, 2022 PointsBet Stadium

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

Isuzu UTE A-League 2021/22 Saturday 26 February, 2022 Netstrata Jubilee Stadium

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

MATCH SQUADS

HEAD COACH: PATRICK KISNORBO

A-LEAGUE MEN

1. TOM GLOVER

2. SCOTT GALLOWAY

3. SCOTT JAMIESON

4. NUNO REIS

5. ROSTYN GRIFFITHS

7. MATT LECKIE

8. AIDEN O’NEILL

9. JAMIE MACLAREN

10. FLORIN BERENGUER

13. NATHANIEL ATKINSON

15. ANDREW NABBOUT

16. TARAS GOMULKA

17. STEFAN COLACOVSKI

18. CONNOR METCALFE

20.MANUEL PUCCIARELLI

22. CURTIS GOOD

23. MARCO TILIO

33. MATT SUTTON

34. JORDAN HALL

36. KERRIN STOKES

37. MAX CAPUTO

38. JORDAN BOS

42. AHMED TALEB

35. RAPHAEL BORGES RODRIGUES

39. ANTHONY LESIOTIS

20 40

OLI SAIL ALEX PAULSEN

3 4 5 16 17 21 33

MATT BOZINOVSKI SCOTT WOOTTON JAMES MCGARRY LOUIS FENTON CALLAN ELLIOT JOSHUA LAWS FINN SURMAN

6 7 8 10 13 14 19 23

TIM PAYNE WALTER SANDOVAL BEN OLD RENO PISCOPO NICHOLAS PENNINGTON ALEX RUFER SAM SUTTON CLAYTON LEWIS

9 11 18 32 36 43 88

DAVID BALL JAUSHUA SOTIRIO BEN WAINE GEORGE OTT RILEY BIDOIS OSKAR VAN HATTUM GARY HOOPER

HEAD COACH: UFUK TALAY

WELLINGTON PHOENIX

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MELBOURNE CITY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX

CITY INSIDER MONDAY 9 MAY

CITY GALLANT IN MAIDEN ACL CAMPAIGN OUR CITY BOYS ARE NOW BACK ON HOME SOIL AFTER HAVING COMPLETED THE CLUB’S FIRST EVER AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN. WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT HOW THINGS WENT IN A HECTIC SCHEDULE THAT SAW US PLAY SIX GAMES IN 15 DAYS. There’s no hiding from the fact that things didn’t end the way we wanted in Bangkok. We went through our Group Stage campaign undefeated, but despite this, narrowly missed the Round of 16.

BG Pathum United 1-1 City Our campaign begun back on Friday 15 April where we recorded a 1-1 draw against host Thai team, BG Pathum United.

Andrew Nabbout wrote himself into the history books as our first ACL goalscorer in the 22nd minute with a thumping long-range strike to get our journey in Asia off to a perfect start.

Unfortunately, a first ACL goal didn’t translate to a first ACL win, with the home side striking back through Teerasil Dangda not long after. It was a hard-fought contest for the remainder of the 90 and no further additions to the scoreline saw the points shared.

City 3-0 United City FC We wouldn’t have to wait much longer for the first win, with the boys putting in a strong second up performance against Filipino club United City FC. Stefan Colakovski got his name on the scoresheet in the first half, before Marco Tilio – who was deservedly named Player of the Match – put in a strong second half display to finish the match with a brace.

City 2-1 Jeonnam Dragons While City may not have cruised to the three points as it did in the previous fixture, back-to-back wins were secured next time out against South Korea’s Jeonnam Dragons.

It was an unlikely name who found the back of the net first for City on that night, with fullback Carl Jenkinson driving forward and finding the bottom corner with a powerful low strike in the 12th minute.

As was the case on Matchday 1, City’s lead didn’t last long with the Dragons finding an equaliser soon after.

An action-packed start continued in the 22nd when Nabbout found his second of the campaign to restore City’s advantage. From there, it fought hard to come away with the win thanks to a strong performance in goal from Tom Glover.

Jeonnam Dragons 1-1 City Just days later, City was again in action to take on Jeonnam, although it was a far more frustrating fixture second time around.

In virtually the opposite of the first clash between teams, all the action came late – with Jamie Maclaren finding the back of the net with what seemed like an 89th minute winner. It wasn’t to be though, with an equaliser coming just seconds before the final whistle.

City 0-0 BG Pathum United After the highs of back-toback wins, next came the frustration of back-to-back draws. It was another tight contest against the home side, although this team neither could find a way past the respective keepers.

Overall, a draw was a positive result on the night for City who faced a tough BG Pathum outfit again in their home stadium.

City 3-0 United City The campaign concluded with another 3-0 win over United City, this time around Raphael Borges Rodrigues and Jamie Maclaren got on the scoresheet, while Marco Tilio was again on target against the Filipino club.

MELBOURNE CITY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX

CITY INSIDER MONDAY 9 MAY

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS SO, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS. 25 GAMES OF THE SEASON PLAYED, ONE MASSIVE ONE TO GO. YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A MATHEMATICIAN TO WORK OUT THE EQUATION TONIGHT – WIN AGAINST WELLINGTON AND WE ARE PREMIERS. IT’S AS SIMPLE AS THAT. After the highs of being crowned Premiers and Champions for the first time in Club history last season, we’re now in a position to repeat the trick and go backto-back, so let’s take a look at how we’ve gotten into this position.

Like last season, we began our season against Brisbane, although this time around we were at home. Connor Metcalfe was again on the scoresheet in the season opener as we got our season off to the perfect start with a strong performance resulting in three points.

Despite starting on the right note, frustration would soon follow with just one win coming from our next six league games.

In that period, we twice drew with Adelaide away from home after dropping points from winning positions and played out a captivating 2-2 draw in the first Melbourne Derby of the season.

The bright spot over that time came against Perth, when we looked set to share the points before Nathaniel Atkinson – who we said goodbye to soon after – headed home an 87th minute winner.

After a slow start to the season, the emergence of Mathew Leckie coincided with a strong period of form for City.

Wins came in six of the team’s next eight matches, as Leckie starred, finding the back of the net six times and adding three further assists over that run.

Following that, a strong 3-1 home win over Macarthur was met with a few draws on either side – as we shared the points with our Victorian rivals in back-toback fixtures in mid-March.

A top of the table clash against Western was up first, and disaster struck when we found ourselves on the wrong side of a two goal deficit after just half an hour of action. Down but not out, the boys fought back hard, with Connor Metcalfe pulling one back just before half time before a quality Jamie Maclaren finish drew us level in the second half. Despite a hectic finish, the points, were deservedly shared in the end.

The second Melbourne Derby of the season was up next.

Another enthralling encounter saw the points again shared.

Curtis Good was on the scoresheet for City that night..

Late March and early April was great for City, with consecutive wins against Brisbane, Macarthur, Wellington and Sydney FC seeing it move to the top of the table ahead of its final fixtures of the season.

Averaging over three goals a game over that run, City’s attack was dominant and opposition defences had no answers.

We then suffered losses in our final two league fixtures either side of our ACL campaign, which leaves us in the position we see tonight. Winning is all that’s on our minds tonight at AAMI Park and with the boys now having had a few days at home after almost a month on the road, expect to see a revitalised City ready to go and up for the big challenge of tonight’s must-win game.

MELBOURNE CITY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX

KIDS ZONE

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CITY INSIDER MONDAY 9 MAY

PRESENTED BY

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