Melbourne City is back in A-League Men’s action on Friday night, an away trip to Brisbane next up on our fixture.
Aurelio Vidmar will be hoping for a quick response from his squad following a ‘lacklustre’ first half against Western Sydney last weekend.
Here are the key storylines heading into Friday night football.
CHANGES TO COME?
Speaking with media on Thursday, Aurelio Vidmar hinted that we would likely see a few changes to the XI that took to the pitch last time out.
“I’m inkling on making a couple of adjustments throughout the group,” Vidmar said.
While yet to start a senior game, Arion Sulemani is now back to full fitness which gives City another option up front after Medin Memeti performed valiantly in the role across our last two games.
“Medin’s a 17-year-old young man who is still learning the game and has had a massive load already across pre-season and what he’s been expected to do early in his career. There’s a consideration for a change-up there this weekend.”
Elsewhere in the squad, Germán Ferreyra and Jimmy Jeggo could both provide added experience should Vidmar be looking to make a change in either defence or midfield.
STAYING PERFECT ON THE ROAD
While it’s of course still early days in the 2024/25 A-League Men’s season, our record on the road remains unblemished.
Putting our ‘away’ win over Western United at AAMI Park to one side, we’ve had two impressive performances on the road to take all three points home from Newcastle and Perth.
A Marco Tilio goal just moments into our season opener against the Jets ultimately proved the difference in Round 1, before our most recent interstate trip saw a dominant 5-0 win over the Glory prior to the international break.
With away wins few and far between last season, going three wins from three outside of Melbourne would be a massive confidence builder for Vidmar’s squad to start this season.
ANOTHER CHAOTIC GAME?
Last season’s two meetings against Brisbane couldn’t have panned out any more differently.
There were a staggering 15 goals scored across the two fixtures, although just two of those went the way of the away side on the respective nights.
A Jamie Maclaren hattrick headlined a then Club-record 8-1 win in December last year, with a late link-up from Max Caputo and Ben Mazzeo also providing a highlight.
While not quite as heavy a scoreline, the reverse fixture in Brisbane less than two months later was one to forget.
Plenty has changed since that night though with there likely to be anywhere from 8 to 10 changes to our starting XI.
While Vidmar played off the likelihood of there being another huge scoreline in the fixture, we’ll certainly be aiming to break the trend of away teams struggling to find the net.
FIXTURE DETAILS
A-League Men: Round 7
Brisbane Roar v Melbourne City FC
Friday 6 December, 7:35pm KO (AEDT)
Suncorp Stadium
Watch live via Paramount+
