All the Small Things: City prepare for Auckland test

Aurelio Vidmar hasn't needed to sweat the small things much in 24/25. His playing group have done that for him, aiding his efforts to prepare for a visit from ALM leaders Auckland FC this Sunday.

Maintaining consistency has been one of Aurelio Vidmar’s most consistent themes since landing at Melbourne City three weeks into last season, both on matchday and the training track. And as A-League Men table-toppers Auckland FC prepare to visit AAMI Park on Sunday, he says his efforts in his first full season are being aided by a playing group taking it upon themselves to jump on little things before they can become something more.

Coming off the back of a disappointing 2-0 loss to Western Sydney, City travelled to Queensland last week and rebounded convincingly last Friday, racing to a two-goal lead over Brisbane inside the opening 20 minutes before easing to a 4-1 win.

In concert with Wellington’s 2-1 loss to Auckland the following day, the win vaulted Vidmar’s side into fourth on the table heading into round eight, with a win on Sunday able to move them within a point of bitter foes Melbourne Victory ahead of next week’s Christmas Derby.

Taking the points, however, will be easier said and done given that they’ll need to come against an Auckland outfit that has set multiple records in winning all six games they have so far played in their first year of existence and who have only conceded a single goal – last week against Kosta Barbarouses – during this stretch.

Yet at the same time, this weekend will mark a major test of the newcomer's bonafides; it serving as the first time that Steve Corica’s side will have travelled to Australia to play a ‘true’ away game against a top-six side – their only other trip across the Tasman, a 1-0 win over Macarthur, taking place during Unite Round.

And they’ll also be facing a playing group that, in Vidmar’s eyes, has made his life much easier in 2023-24. Last week, the coach flagged that an improved culture would help City avoid the pratfalls that saw them lose 5-1 to the Roar at Lang Park the previous season and, on Friday, he said much of that improvement was player-driven.

“It's not the work that I've done, it's actually the work that the players have done,” he explained. “There's more honest conversations, there's more accountability within themselves. Anyone will tell you when, when their peers are driving all those behaviours, it makes the life of a coach much, much easier. They're more honest with each other, they're more at each other about wanting to be better all the time. And that has to always be driven by your captain, vice-captain, and your leaders around the group. We had that, but not to [this] extent.

“The small little details, if it gets pushed aside and it's not dealt with straight away, then in time, in a week, or two weeks, the issues just become much greater and then it's very, very hard to change. In a football club, there is always something happening every single day. But all the players are onto it. They want to do well. The more you can just concentrate on coming to training, doing your job, and being in good form without all the side distractions, the better you're always going to be. There are hardly any side distractions that sometimes are energy-sapping.

“The culture that has been set here for years and years has been excellent. It has been excellent but there are times when things aren't going well for whatever reason and that's when you need to keep it together. That was our focus through the pre-season; making sure that when something pops up, you deal with it straight away and when it's dealt with within the peers, then the job is much easier.”

Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge confronting Vidmar and his side on Sunday will be figuring out a way past Auckland's defences; Corica’s side breaking Preston’s national league record for the longest time without conceding to start a season last week and leading the league clearances and possession won in the final third this season, as well ranking highly in interceptions and successful tackles.

A defence manned by Nando Pijnaker, Dan Hall, Francis De Vries, and skipper Hirkoi Sakai has given up just 5.5 expected goals this season (only Victory, with 4.5, has allowed fewer), while goalkeeper Alex Paulsen has already established himself, again, as the league’s standout keeper – the newcomers move to drive forward the change in loan regulations that allowed them to bring in the Bournemouth keeper already paying dividends.

And with Max Caputo, Mat Leckie, and Marco Tilio still unavailable, the former targeting a return in early 2025 and the latter two, while not ruled out of the Christmas Derby, are much more likely to feature against Central Coast on New Year’s Eve, Vidmar will once again have either 17-year-old Medin Memeti or 19-year-old Arion Sulemani this week.

“We're going to persist with the kids, " said Vidmar. “They're still learning, they're very inexperienced, but the only way you can get experience and live those moments is by actually being in those positions more often than not. It's going to be a combination of Medin and Arion and we'll see who's actually suited for this game.

“Last week, Arion's starting debut wasn't easy but we want to be aggressive. He's come off an ACL [in February 2023] so he hasn't had a lot of football in the last 12 months, either.

“We're always mindful, I'm always a little bit mindful of the very young boys like Medin, who is 17 years of age, that if you give him too much too quickly, then he can potentially have a setback somewhere down the track. So a little bit mindful of that. So if they're sharing the load, then they share the load.”

One thing the City boss was careful to do, or, to be more accurate, was careful not to do, was provide Corica with any further bulletin board material after the Auckland boss flagged that Wellington boss Giancarlo Italiano’s remarks his side was “there for the taking” and “very lucky the past four games,” served as fuel last week.

“A little bit of theatre is always nice, isn't it?” Vidmar laughed. “You've got to respect all the teams. It doesn't matter where you're sitting on the ladder, anyone can beat anyone on any given day. They're doing a great job. Steve's a great coach. He's had a lot of success in Sydney, he's put something else in his locker with being able to set up a new team, and done very well. So they're top for a reason. Going to be a big challenge for us. But we're in pretty good form and we'll see who's going to come out on top on Sunday.

“I think we've been pretty consistent throughout our season. There was that little hiccup [against Western Sydney] after our three-week break.

“But all I can see and all I can be confident in is that we're just consistent through our week through training and trying to be as super consistent as we can during our games.”

Header Image: Melbourne City