Melbourne City will continue its busy schedule on Sunday evening when it faces Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium in Round 2 of the A-League Men’s season.
City arrived in Adelaide on Friday afternoon following another important AFC Champions League win away from home.
Here are a few of the biggest storylines going into our second match of the ALM season.
Carrying the momentum
The ALM season got off to a tough start with a late penalty seeing Western United claim all three points at AAMI Park last weekend.
Thankfully Rado VIdosic’s team didn’t have to wait long for a chance to bounce back, off to Thailand the next day to prepare for an ACL Matchday 3 clash against Buriram United.
We may not have had our Head Coach on the sidelines due to a bout of sickness, but with Petr Kratky steering the ship – plus the help of Scott Jamieson and Mike van Houten – your City boys pulled out a professional 2-0 win.
It was a slow start in tricky conditions but after Jamie Young pulled off a big save in the 12th minute to keep scores level, it was virtually all City from there.
Alessandro Lopane bagged his second goal for the club to open scoring, before Jamie Maclaren stepped up with a Captain’s goal, smashing home a first-time volley from the edge of the area – both coming from pinpoint Marin Jakolis crosses.
City never really looked troubled across the remainder of the contest after those two first half goals, with Curtis Good and Samuel Souprayen doing a good job of mopping up everything at the back.
Vidosic – who will return to the sideline on Sunday – now has the challenge of transferring that form over to the league, with a tough away trip in Adelaide to come.
An opportunity for a long-overdue win in Adelaide
City fans won’t need much reminding of our record in Adelaide, and it doesn’t make for pretty reading.
It’s coming up to five years now since we last won across the South Australian border, with former Captain and now Assistant Coach, Scott Jamieson in the line-up, joined by current A-League Women’s Head Coach, Dario Vidosic down the left-hand-side.
A popular away trip for City fans given the short flight, those travelling over will be hoping that Sunday is finally going to see a reversal in fortunes for their team.
There were plenty of promising signs in Thailand mid-week from the likes of Hamza Sakhi, Lopane, Jakolis and another substitute cameo from Leo Natel, who will all be looking to back it up this weekend.
While it’s only the early stages of the season, three points on the road this Sunday will be all City is hunting after a disappointing result to open the domestic season last weekend.
An unchanged XI for Adelaide?
We may be eight competitive games into the new campaign but we’re still yet to see a consistent XI settled on.
This is in part due to the injury absence of Mathew Leckie – who remains sidelined for Sunday – but the main area of change has come in the back four.
Following a strong performance on Wednesday where his team held a clean sheet, Vidosic could make the call to stick with the same XI.
This saw a centre back partnership of Souprayen and Good, with Nuno Reis the preferred option at right back.
The warm conditions in Thailand saw all five substitutions made, including Tolgay Arslan who was replaced at half time after a heavy load in our last two fixtures.
City fans will be hoping that’s nothing too serious, while there is also another cloud over Callum Talbot who was replaced in the 82nd minute grabbing his hamstring after entering the pitch 20 minutes earlier.
Both have been named in the squad and are expected to be available for selection come Sunday, but there will be plenty of interest when the XI drops at 6pm (AEDT).
Match Details
A-League Men: Round 2
Adelaide United v Melbourne City FC
Sunday 29 October, 7:00pm KO (AEDT)
Coopers Stadium
Live on Paramount+
