After Melbourne City’s first game of season ended in a respectable 1-1 away draw to Sydney FC, we dissect some of the main points from the contest:
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Bad Luck Brian is a meme…
That perfectly sums up Tando Velaphi. After seemingly pinning down a first team spot for the first time since his Perth Glory days by deposing Andrew Redmayne, along came Thomas Sorensen.
But it’s difficult not to play a keeper you’ve brought in from the Premier League, regardless how little they’ve played in the past three seasons. And despite a good showing in the FFA Cup, Velaphi had to settle for a spot on the pine as Sorensen started the first A-League game. He showed signs of rust – expectedly – early, misjudging a cross and spilling the ball, but he did produce a couple of great saves to deny Rhyan Grant and George Blackwood. Couldn’t do much to prevent the goal either.
They say don’t work with kids or animals…
But by putting his faith in a front third that included two debutants in Wade Dekker and Hernan Espindola – with Stefan Zinni also coming off the bench – John van ‘t Schip’s faith in youth paid off. With a team lineup that many would have expected to lose against the might of Sydney, who themselves had Filip Holosko [ caps for Slovakia] and Milos Ninkovic [] make their debut, City’s kids held their own, with Wade Dekker in particular impressing. His good work for the first goal not only extended to putting the ball in the back of the net, but he also won the ball off Faty.
On that point, is the gap between A-League and NPL really that great?
Just months ago, Dekker and Espindola were playing against the likes of Bulleen in the NPL 1. Then they were facing off against last year’s A-League Grand Finalist. While not all in the NPL harbour realistic A-League ambitions, there’s little doubt the top end of the league wouldn’t match it with the A-League when placed in the same environment.
If a player takes down another player without winning the ball…
It’s generally a foul – therefore a penalty when committed in the box. But when Janjetovic took down Robi Koren in the area, the referee waved play on. The ball may have seemed lost to the byline, and the official post game explanation from the referees was “that the contact was simultaneous and instigated by Koren”, but had that happened anywhere else on the pitch, it’s difficult to fathom a foul wouldn’t have been called. At that point, City may have had the opportunity to go two goals ahead.
Making his marquee
There was little chance Mooy wasn’t going to feature in this game at some point, despite playing a full 90 minutes in Jordan less than 48 hours prior. While John van ‘t Schip may not have wanted to bring on his marquee man as early as the 57th minute – with the game’s momentum shifting in Sydney’s favour – he introduced the marquee to wrestle back the ascendancy. His impact was understandably limited, especially failing to find his range from set-pieces, despite the undoubted talent City’s blue-chip midfielder possesses.