City Insider - City v Macarthur FC - Friday 12 March

CITY INSIDER

MELBOURNE CITY FC vs MACARTHUR FC FRIDAY 12 MARCH, 2021 KICK-OFF 7.05PM

MELBOURNE CITY v MACARTHUR FC

CITY INSIDER FRIDAY 12 MARCH

CAPTAIN’S MESSAGE IT IS SAFE TO SAY THERE’S BEEN A FAIR BIT GOING ON SINCE WE WERE LAST AT AAMI PARK AND WE ARE VERY EXCITED TO BE BACK TONIGHT TO CONTINUE AN IMPORTANT RUN UP THE TABLE. Our last home match saw a strong performance from the boys against Sydney FC where we were able to take the points despite conceding a couple of late goals.

We shored this up a week later when we travelled to Western Sydney and were able to keep a clean sheet in what was a massive 0-2 win. Our backs were against the wall in this one and it was a great performance from the boys to come away with a very important three points away from home.

Credit to the boys, they didn’t let any of this get to them and we went out and did what we do best – play football.

The Derby last week was a historic occasion for the Club and we were all so proud to be apart of the biggest win in City history, the fact that it came in a Derby just made it even sweeter.

While that was a great result and we were very pleased with our performance, it is now in the past and our focus is well and truly on Macarthur tonight.

This will mark the first time we have ever faced the A-League’s newest team and the boys are keen to make sure we get off to a great start against our newest opponents.

Starting tonight, we play three home matches in a row and with them all coming against teams who are ahead of us on the table – they are going to be massive games and if we can continue our recent form, we’ll be very well placed to attack the second half of the season.

We can’t wait to hear and see you out in the stands not just tonight, but for all of these fixtures!

C’mon City!

Scott Jamieson Melbourne City FC captain

Together We Move

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MELBOURNE CITY v MACARTHUR FC

CITY INSIDER FRIDAY 12 MARCH

CITY LOOK TO MAINTAIN

THEIR BULL RUN

WITH A DISJOINTED START TO THE A-LEAGUE SEASON WELL BEHIND PATRICK KISNORBO’S MEN, MELBOURNE CITY WILL LOOK TO MOVE TOWARDS THE SUMMIT OF THE TABLE AGAINST NEWCOMERS MACARTHUR FC WHO HAVE PROVEN TO BE A WORTH ADVERSARY SO FAR THIS SEASON. Tonight we are set to host Macarthur FC at AAMI Park for what will be the first-ever meeting between teams.

We come into this clash high on confidence following a historic 0-6 Derby win that extends the team’s unbeaten run to three games.

Everyone was fighting to get their name on the scoresheet on Saturday, with Connor Metcalfe the only player to net twice, his brace separating goals to Jamie Maclaren, Florin Berenguer, Rostyn Griffiths and Stefan Colakovski.

While he may not have known a whole heap about it, Maclaren’s goal put him in the outright lead in the Golden Boot race as the attacker is now well and truly on track to receive the award for what would be a record third time.

It was a night that will live long in the memory of City fans, with a clean sheet capping off an impeccable performance from the team.

This marked a second clean sheet in a row and much of this goes down to just how settled City’s defence has been.

The injury-forced absence of Adrian Luna has seen a shuffle in midfield for the Club, with Rostyn Griffiths taking up the defensive midfield spot, allowing Metcalfe to push further up the pitch.

The central defensive partnership between Curtis Good and Nuno Reis has also been a massive factor and expect the pair to cause similar problems for the Bulls’ attackers tonight.

Tonight’s opposition, Macarthur FC,

DANGER PLAYER

have made a strong start to life in the A-League, currently occupying second place after 11 games.

However, the Bulls’ most recent result was a 2-0 defeat to Central Coast Mariners on Monday night, extending the gap between the two sides at the top of the table.

The two-goal margin didn’t quite reflect the disparity between the teams throughout the game, with both sides creating a comparable quantity and quality of chances, with the Mariners simply more clinical whilst also doing well to keep the Bulls out at the other end.

Tonight shapes up as a massive opportunity for us, with a win taking the side past Macarthur into second place with games in-hand on the teams around us.

SEASON STATS - MACARTHUR FC

A-LEAGUE PREVIEW

MATT DERBYSHIRE Like his club, this is Derbyshire’s first season in the A-League and the Englishman has been enjoying life in Australia to date.

He has been one of the key reasons why his team currently sit in second place on the table and have gotten off to an almost perfect start in their first season.

Derbyshire has netted seven goals in 11 appearances, the highlight being a hattrick along with an assist in a comprehensive 4-0 win against Adelaide a month ago.

14

15

GOALS SCORED

GOALS CONCEDED

5

2

GAMES WON

LEAGUE POSITION

A-LEAGUE LADDER

LAST RESULT

LAST CITY MATCH (FIRST MATCH VS MACARTHUR FC)

CENTRAL COAST

2

VICTORY

0

MACARTHUR FC

0

MELBOURNE CITY

6

A-League 2020/21 - Match Week 10 MOnday 8 March, 2021 Central Coast Stadium

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

A-League 2019/20 - Match Week 10 Saturday 6 March, 2021 Marvel Stadium

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

MELBOURNE CITY v MACARTHUR FC

CITY INSIDER FRIDAY 12 MARCH

GRIFF, GRAFT AND PLENTY OF LAUGHS

SINCE JOINING THE CLUB AHEAD OF THE 2018/19 SEASON, CITY’S ‘LOVEABLE LARRIKIN’ ROSTYN GRIFFITHS HAS BEEN ONE OF THE CLUB’S MOST CONSISTENT PERFORMERS AND HAS BEEN USED IN MULTIPLE ROLES. He splits his time between centre back and defensive midfield, looking equally as comfortable in both positions.

“In this team to be honest, I would rather play centre back,” he said, “I enjoy facing forward a lot more and enjoy being on the ball, some games I’ve had 100 or 90 passes.”

“In defensive midfield you’re not really getting those passes and spend a lot more time facing backwards, but at this stage, I really just want the team to do well so whatever the coach wants I’m more than happy to do,” Griffiths said.

His team first attitude is to be applauded and has clearly spread through the team who are currently on a three-game winning streak.

A hamstring injury to Adrian Luna has seen a shuffle in City’s midfield, with Griffiths stepping into the defensive midfield role and Nuno Reis slotting in at centre back.

The presence of Griffiths in midfield has allowed other teammates to benefit, notably Connor Metcalfe

who has been able to get forward more often and scored twice in the Club’s 0-6 record-breaking Derby win last Saturday.

Griffiths too was able to get himself on the scoresheet with a towering second half header to make it 0-3, and despite scoring just three times for the Club going into the game, he said he saw it coming.

“I knew that I was going to score, sometimes you just get the feeling and I even said it to my wife before the game,” Griffiths said.

He said the City fans were a big help on the night and that the noise well and truly helped spur the boys on to record the historic result.

“It was nice to play in a bigger stadium and get a bit of a bigger crowd than we are used to, I must say our fans were great,” Griffiths said, “You could hear them singing and chanting walking in as we were warming up and it really did just feel like a proper football match after everything we’ve experienced in the last year.”

Although now the focus is well and

truly on tonight, looking back to earlier in the week, Griffiths said spirits were very high following the Derby win.

“It’s probably the best feeling I’ve had in my time at the Club, the morale has been building over the last few weeks with our recent results and it was great to see the boys perform the way we did.”

Up next for City are A-League new boys Macarthur FC who have gotten their inaugural season off to a strong start and currently sit second on the table.

Griffiths said City will have to be wary of the experienced players they possess and pointed to the similar game style between teams leaving us set for a ripping contest.

“They like to try and pass it around the back a little more to keep possession whereas we’re a bit more direct in the terms of we have a lot of pace out wide and upfront.”

KEY STATS - ROSTYN GRIFFITHS A-LEAGUE SEASON 2020/21 MATCHES PLAYED

6

PASS SUCCESS %

91

SEASON GOALS

1

KEY PASSES

1

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 16

ADAM FEDERICI NICK SUMAN

2 3 6 7 12 13 15 23

JAKE MCGING ANTONY GOLEC ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC IVAN FRANJIC JAMES MEREDITH YIANNI NICOLAOU ALEKSANDAR SUSNJAR WALTER SCOTT

4 5 8 10 21 22 29

BENAT ETXEBARRIA MARK MILLIGAN DENIS GENREAU LOIC PUYO JAKE HOLLMAN LIAM ROSE ANTONIS MARTIS

9 11 14 19 27 31 33

MILISLAV POPOVIC TOMMY OAR MOUDI NAJJAR MICHAEL RUHS MATT DERBYSHIRE LACHLAN ROSE MARKEL SUSAETA

HEAD COACH: ANTE MILICIC

MACARTHUR FC

MELBOURNE CITY v MACARTHUR FC

CITY INSIDER FRIDAY 12 MARCH

CITY W-LEAGUE LOOK

FOR LIFT-OFF

AFTER A COUPLE OF FALSE STARTS, WE FINALLY TOOK W-LEAGUE ACTION TO THE SOUTH EAST LAST NIGHT WHEN WE FACED WESTERN SYDNEY AT FRANK HOLOHAN RESERVE – THE HOME OF DANDENONG CITY SC. At the time of writing, this match was still to be played and the City women will see a quick turnaround from last night’s fixture to again be in action on Sunday.

Newcastle awaits and it will be the first meeting between teams this season, with the clash scheduled for February having to be postponed due to Melbourne’s snap five-day lockdown.

As has been the case for City, this season hasn’t gone to plan for the Jets who have recorded two wins from their nine matches so far in season 2020/21.

That being said, they do come into Sunday night in good form, defeating Perth 0-4 away from home on Monday night thanks to a Sunny

Franco brace and goals to Rhianna Pollicina and Lauren Allen.

City will have to be wary of these attacking threats and given finals are now officially out of the equation, Rado Vidosic could look to give further opportunities to youngsters.

We have seen 16-year-old defender Naomi Chinnama break into the starting line-up in recent times while 20-year-old Tori Tumeth has been a mainstay of City’s backline for much of the season.

We could see more of the likes of Lia Muldeary, Sarah Cain and Margot Robinne, especially given the added factor of a very short turnaround between games.

With just three games remaining this season for City, Vidosic will be hoping

his squad can continue to improve and finish off on a strong note and take as many points as possible from its remaining fixtures.

Despite plenty of strong performances, City’s biggest issue for much of the season has been putting the ball into the back of the net so Vidosic will be hoping to see a big improvement in that area.

Sunday’s fixture will be played at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex (the home of Bentleigh Greens) and tickets are still available and can be purchased through Ticketbooth.

DANGER PLAYER

SEASON STATS - NEWCASTLE JETS

W-LEAGUE PREVIEW

TARA ANDREWS The 26-year-old attacker has enjoyed a strong season at the Jets and currently finds herself sitting in fourth place in the Golden Boot race, with a game in hand on two of the three players ahead of her.

She has been playing in the W-League since the 2009/10 season and is genuine scoring threat to any defence.

Andrews has found the back of the net five times in nine appearances and will be looking to cause plenty of problems for what could potentially be a very young City defence.

2

16

GAMES WON

GOALS CONCEDED

14

7

GOALS SCORED

LEAGUE POSITION

W-LEAGUE LADDER

LAST RESULT

LAST TIME WE MET

PERTH

0

MELBOURNE CITY

2

NEWCASTLE

4

NEWCASTLE

0

W-League 2020/21 - Match Week 11 Monday 8 March, 2021 Dorrien Gardens

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

W-League 2019/20 - Semi Final Saturday 18 January, 2020 AAMI Park

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

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MELBOURNE CITY v MACARTHUR FC

KID’S ZONE

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE SPOT THE 4 DIFFERENCES IN THE PICTURES

CITY INSIDER FRIDAY 12 MARCH

PRESENTED BY

LOTUS)LIVING

meet the team NAME: Stefan Colacovski AGE: 21 POSITION: Forward NATIONALITY: Australian PREVIOUS CLUBS: Pascoe Vale JUNIOR CLUB: Pascoe Vale FAVOURITE FOOD: Kebab

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HEAD TO OUR ONLINE INTERACTIVE WORD SEARCH TO COMPLETE THIS WEEK’S CITY CROSSWORD!

GRIFFITHS DERBY SIXNIL ASSIST GALLOWAY

BERENGUER FUTURE ULTRA LOTUS LIVING

FAVOURITE TV SHOW: Game of Thrones XBOX or PlayStation: PlayStation IF I WASN’T A FOOTBALLER I’D BE: A Teacher FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATION: Gold Coast

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