CITY INSIDER
MELBOURNE CITY FC vs CENTRAL COAST MARINERS MONDAY 22 MARCH, 2021 KICK-OFF 7.05PM
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
CITY INSIDER MONDAY 22 MARCH
CAPTAIN’S MESSAGE IT’S BEEN A NICE RUN OF GAMES FOR US RECENTLY, WITH A NUMBER OF HOME FIXTURES IN A ROW A NICE CHANGE OF PACE AFTER WE SPENT A LOT OF THE EARLIER ROUNDS PLAYING AWAY FROM HOME. Welcome back to AAMI Park City fans, we are looking forward to seeing you all out there in the stands tonight! This run of home matches has also coincided with a good period of form from the team and we’ve now won four games in a row. The boys are full of confidence at the moment and the vibe around the club is very good. We’re getting closer and closer to the halfway point of the season and with plenty of momentum under our belt, we are well positioned to attack the second half of the season. Our last match we were able to record a big result in our first meeting against Macarthur thanks to a strong performance across the pitch from the boys. We are excited to get back out there tonight to take on the Mariners who we know will be another big challenge. They currently sit on top of the table, but we believe if we are out the top of our game, we have what it takes to beat them. It’s been a high quality A-League season so far and we have some big fixtures to come. First up against the Wanderers on Friday night and then a match against Western United, which although it’s technically an away game at AAMI Park, it would be great to see a big City crowd there to cheer us on! I also must say a big congratulations to W-League captain Emma Checker who on Friday night made her 100th appearance. It is a massive milestone to achieve and its also great to see the girls getting wins in their last couple of games after putting in a lot of hard work this season. All of us boys wish our W-League side all the best in their final game of season on Thursday night! Enjoy the match tonight City fans, we hope to hear you making plenty of noise! C’mon City! Scott Jamieson Melbourne City FC captain
Together We Move
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MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
CITY INSIDER MONDAY 22 MARCH
CITY LOOK TO
MAKE IT FIVE IN WHAT IS SHAPING UP TO BE ONE OF THE GAMES OF THE SEASON, MELBOURNE CITY WILL LOOK TO CONTINUE THEIR CLAIMS AS CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS AS THEY FACE THE SURPRISE PACKETS OF THE LEAGUE, CENTRAL COAST MARINERS IN A MOUTH-WATERING CONTEST AT AAMI PARK. We will be looking to make it five wins on the trot tonight when we take on Central Coast Mariners. Over the course of this win streak, we’ve scored 14 times while managing to pick up clean sheets in our last three matches. It is shaping up to be an absolute cracker of a contest with the in-form team of the A-League coming up against the table-toppers. Although we still sit six points behind the Mariners on the table, we do still have two games in hand so a positive result tonight will put us right in the mix for that top spot. Our resurgence in form has been led by star striker Jamie Maclaren who has scored seven times and provided three assists over the current run of wins.
He has had plenty of mates though, with the return from injury of Andrew Nabbout and shift of Rostyn Griffiths into midfield also key factors in why we haven’t dropped a point in six weeks. The Mariners reversal in form has been one of the major talking points of the season as they have gone from the doldrums of the ladder last season to now sitting on top. They have scored the most goals of any team in the A-League, with Alou Kuol (seven) and Matt Simon (six) leading the way. That being said, we are just two total goals behind them this season, and given the way the team has been playing as of late, you’d expect that total to continue to rise as those games in hand are made up.
Although we have seemingly been scoring for fun in recent weeks, the defensive performances have been just as impressive with three consecutive clean sheets and keeper Tom Glover having faced just three shots on target in that period. Curtis Good has been as consistent as ever while Nuno Reis has settled in nicely with his addition to the back four allowing Griffiths to flourish in the number six role. We’ve already seen one meeting between teams this season and we’ll be looking for a better result than that night back in Round 6 when our early 0-2 lead went up in flames as we finished with ten min and the home side got the three points.
DANGER PLAYER
SEASON STATS - CENTRAL COAST
A-LEAGUE PREVIEW
MATT SIMON The play of Matt Simon has been one of the big factors in this, with the 35-yearold leading the way for his younger teammates. The Mariners striker has started in all 12 of his teams’ fixtures and has bagged six goals and also picked up two assists. City’s defensive partnership of Curtis Good and Nuno Reis has been exceptional recently, and they’ll need another big game tonight if City are to win it’s fifth match in a row.
1
8
LEAGUE POSITION
GAMES WON
22
13
GOALS SCORED
GOALS CONCEDED
A-LEAGUE LADDER
LAST RESULT
LAST TIME WE MET
CENTRAL COAST
2
CENTRAL COAST
3
PERTH
2
MELBOURNE CITY
2
A-League 2020/21 - Match Week 12 Sunday 13 March, 2021 Central Coast Stadium
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
A-League 2019/20 - Match Week 6 Wednesday 3 February, 2021 Central Coast Stadium
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
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MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
CITY INSIDER MONDAY 22 MARCH
PASSING THE BUCK
RECRUITMENT IS NORMALLY CONSIDERED A LARGELY ON-FIELD DOMAIN BUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DES BUCKINGHAM’S ARRIVAL AT MELBOURNE CITY FC OVER THE OFF-SEASON CAN NOT BE UNDERSTATED. The Englishman arrived in Melbourne with a wealth of experience in assistant roles at Oxford United, Wellington Phoenix and Stoke City, capped off by management stints with Wellington and within the New Zealand Football youth ranks. Now providing touchline counsel to City manager Patrick Kisnorbo, Buckingham says the pair have inherited a solid foundation from which to continue building on the team. “The club’s gone through a big change over the last 18 months,” he said. “Erick Mombaerts came in last year and implemented a really clear way of trying to play the game … PK and myself are fortunate to take that on this year and try and add to what people have seen last season.” This capacity of the team to ignore outside criticism and focus its attention internally has aided its recovery from that early form slump, with the side now on a fourgame winning run.
There’s been no magic pill to explain this turnaround in form, with Buckingham instead championing team values of hard work, accountability and togetherness. “We’ve got three clean sheets in the last three weeks and that’s been a collective effort,” he explained. One player in particular who embodies these values – and who has the recent form to show for it – is Andrew Nabbout, and Buckingham praised the winger’s professionalism and willingness to raise the standards of others. “He’s always the first one in and he’s almost recruited a little club with him,” Buckingham said. “When you’ve got players who are driven, they can take others with them.” Having worked with New Zealand Football’s U20 and U23 sides, Buckingham also knows a thing or two about youth development and likes what he’s been seeing from youngsters in the A-League this season.
“The players on this side of the world are capable, not just of competing but winning. “We’ve seen that at club level and I think we’ll see that on the international level as well when they go to age group tournaments and hopefully the international stage with seniors.” As for his side’s own rising stars, Buckingham is effusive in his praise of their hunger to work for firstteam opportunities. “Those guys who didn’t play the last game Friday night against Macarthur, they drove [to AAMI Park] and we didn’t leave the stadium until 10 o’clock at night but they were at Casey Fields at 9 in the morning to make sure they could get a game in their legs and get 90 minutes so that they could prepare themselves.” Now with a blockbuster clash against the Mariners on the horizon, Buckingham, Kisnorbo and their high-flying City side aren’t backing down at the prospect of a heavyweight fight.
KEY STATS - MELBOURNE CITY A-LEAGUE SEASON 2020/21 LEAGUE POSITION
5
GAMES WON
6
GOALS SCORED
20
GOALS CONCEDED
12
MATCH SQUADS
HEAD COACH: PATRICK KISNORBO
A-LEAGUE
1. TOM GLOVER
2. SCOTT GALLOWAY
3. SCOTT JAMIESON
4. NUNO REIS
7. ROSTYN GRIFFITHS
8. AIDEN O’NEILL
9. JAMIE MACLAREN
10. FLORIN BERENGUER
11. CRAIG NOONE
13. NATHANIEL ATKINSON
14. NAOKI TSUBAKI
15. ANDREW NABBOUT
16. TARAS GOMULKA
17. STEFAN COLACOVSKI
18. CONNOR METCALFE
19. BEN GARUCCIO
20. ADRIAN LUNA
22. CURTIS GOOD
23. MARCO TILIO
33. MATT SUTTON
35. RAPHAEL BORGES RODRIGUES
36. KERRIN STOKES
37. BERNADO OLIVEIRA
38. JORDAN BOS
42. AHMED TALEB
1 12
MARK BIRIGHITTI ADAM PEARCE
3 5 15 21 23 25 27 32
JACK CLISBY STEFAN NIGRO KYE ROLES RUON TONGYIK DANIEL HALL MATTHEW HATCH LEWIS MILLER MAXIMILIEN BALARD
7 8 11 14 18 22 26
STEFAN JANKOVIC OLIVER BOZANIC DANIEL DE SILVA DANIEL BOUMAN GIANNI STENSNESS MICHAL JANOTA JOSHUA NISBET
12 19 29 30 31
MARCO URENA MATT SIMON ALOU KUOL JORDAN SMYLIE DAMIEN TESKENIS
HEAD COACH: ALEN STAJCIC
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
CITY INSIDER MONDAY 22 MARCH
CITY W-LEAGUE LOOK
TO FINISH STRONG
MELBOURNE CITY FC WILL BE LOOKING TO FINISH ITS W-LEAGUE SEASON ON A STRONG NOTE WHEN IT TAKES ON PERTH GLORY AT FRANK HOLOHAN RESERVE ON THURSDAY NIGHT. Melbourne City FC will be looking to finish its W-League season on a strong note when it takes on Perth Glory at Frank Holohan Reserve on Thursday night. After a slow start to the season due to a numbers of factors, the biggest being the struggles to get players in due to quarantine requirements, City has turned things around in recent fixtures. Although number one keeper Teagan Micah has been missing for City’s last couple of matches as she battles a knee injury, City has been able to grind out clean sheets in both of its last two matches. After spending the last few seasons seeing her time at the Club mostly focussed on a coaching role for her younger teammates, Melissa Barbieri
was thrust back into the thick of the action and has now become the oldest player to ever play in the W-League. She looks like she hasn’t missed a beat which has allowed City to continue on even though its been without Micah – who is right in the mix for Matildas selection. Chinatsu Kira has been dangerous since joining the Club but has looked particularly good over the last few fixtures. She has been a key part in City recording back-to-back wins and scored her first goal for the Club in last Sunday’s victory over Newcastle. Alex Chidiac is another who has been flourishing over City’s recent run of good form, after joining the squad late due to quarantine
requirements after returning from Spain. She was at her creative best last Friday night and was one of the big reasons why City were able to pick up the win in captain Emma Checker’s 100th game. Chidiac may not have scored herself but she caused plenty of problems for the Glory defence all night and provided the assist for Dobson’s winner. We hope to see a similar result this Thursday night when City’s W-League wraps up at Frank Holohan Reserve against the same opponent. Tickets are still available and can be purchased from Ticketbooth. Get down to support your City women for one last time this Westfield W-League season!
DANGER PLAYER
SEASON STATS - PERTH GLORY
W-LEAGUE PREVIEW
HANA LOWRY The 17-year-old is in her second W-League season and has put together a string of solid performances to be one of the shining lights in an otherwise disappointing season for Perth. She’s appeared in all 10 of Glory’s fixtures and started in all but one of these. Lowry is just as dangerous pushing forward as she is in the middle of the park, having made seven key passes this season and found the back of the net twice.
2
0
LEAGUE POSITION
GAMES WON
6
24
GOALS SCORED
GOALS CONCEDED
W-LEAGUE LADDER
LAST RESULT
LAST TIME WE MET
PERTH
0
PERTH
0
MELBOURNE CITY
1
MELBOURNE CITY
1
W-League 2020/21 - Match Week 5 Friday 19 March, 2021 Dorrien Gardens
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
W-League 2020/21 - Match Week 5 Friday 19 March, 2021 Dorrien Gardens
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
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MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
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CITY INSIDER MONDAY 22 MARCH
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