Melbourne City will be desperate for a return to form on Monday night when we face Western United in an away fixture at AAMI Park.
An extended break following our last match will have Aurelio Vidmar’s squad fired up and ready to fight for a crucial three points early in the campaign.
Here’s what to look out for!
BOUNCING BACK
There’s no doubt our last time out was one to forget.
While it meant little in the context of the night, City should take some confidence out of an improved second half performance.
Yonatan Cohen put in another strong display in his second match for the Club, forcing the save that would ultimately end in Andrew Nabbout tapping home his first goal of the season from close range.
The introduction of Zane Schreiber for the second half helped swing momentum in City’s favour, while Andreas Kuen’s 30-minute cameo on City debut showed some positive signs.
Both will be pressing their case for inclusion into the starting XI this week, which could open the door for Kai Trewin and Nathaniel Atkinson to slot back into their preferred defensive roles as we saw in the second half last weekend.
ANOTHER HOLE TO FILL
Frustratingly for Vidmar, he’ll be without Aziz Behich for the next two games due to suspension after a moment our skipper would like to forget.
It means at least one change to the XI will be required and there are a handful of different options which could be tried.
The most like-for-like replacement is Harry Politidis, although Vidmar may opt for a more experienced option given the 22-year-old has only two A-League starts to his name.
Samuel Souprayen has the versatility to slide out to the left-hand side, while Nathaniel Atkinson has also played on the left of defence on several occasions.
TAKING OUR CHANCES
The season started perfectly for your City boys with Marco Tilio netting in just the second minute.
Since then though, Nabbout’s Derby goal is all we have to show from virtually two full games – so Vidmar will be eyeing an increase in attacking output on Monday night.
There have certainly been chances, but with some new faces in the attacking half of the pitch – things haven’t fully clicked just yet.
Cohen has been one of City’s best through the first two rounds and will be eyeing his first goal for the Club, while Tilio and Nabbout will both be hungry to add to their tally.
Western comes into Monday off the back of consecutive 1-1 draws, so will be just as hungry to claim an important three points in the early stages of the season.
FIXTURE DETAILS
A-League Men: Round 3
Western United v Melbourne City FC
Monday 4 November, 7:00pm
AAMI Park
