As injuries mount at City, Behich rolls up his sleeves

As yet more injuries hit Melbourne City, Aziz Behich says those left standing have to roll up their sleeves and get on with things, keeping the season on track as difference-makers work to return.

At this point, saying Melbourne City has been hit with the injury bug this A-League Men season feels like underselling things. Losing yet another senior figure in Yonatan Cohen in their 1-1 draw with Central Coast on New Year’s Eve, it feels less like an injury bug at this point and more like an entire swarm descending, with a particular taste for those expected to score the goals for Aurelio Vidmar’s side this campaign.

City’s extensive injured list added another senior member on Tuesday when Cohen, just minutes after assisting Samuel Souprayen’s opener, was forced off just before halftime with a suspected MCL injury. Set to undergo scans on Thursday morning to assess the extent of the damage, the 28-year-old joined a cadre of difference makers on the sidelines for City, one already featuring Mat Leckie, Marco Tilio, Alessandro Lopane, Max Caputo, Jimmy Jeggo, Andrew Nabbout, and Jayden Necovski – the latter three lost to a season-ending injury.

Andreas Kuen was absent from the Mariners clash with a foot injury but, in some small mercy for coach Aurelio Vidmar, is expected to train this morning and, should he get through that unscathed, be available for Friday evening’s clash with Wellington.

In the face of these absences, City played five teenagers against the Mariners and had another two on the bench; debuting 17-year-old attacker Mikey Ghossaini and having another 17-year-old in Medin Memeti lead the line for the fifth time this season. And with reinforcement beyond Kuen not arriving in time for the Nix visit to Melbourne, these youngsters will once again be expected to help carry the load for a little while yet; 19-year-old Arion Sulemani, after not making the trip to NSW as the City staff manage his loads as he continues an arduous recovery from an ACL injury, in the mix to return.

“It's been a rough start for us as a squad,” City skipper Aziz Behich said. “It's a majority of our senior players [getting injured]. In saying that we've just got to pretty much roll up our sleeves and continue business as usual. Obviously, it gets difficult.”

“But the young boys that have had to step up and get a chance, you know, they're doing well, A lot's asked of them, but I think they've been great so far.”

Of course, if one were to go full Life of Brian and try to look on the bright side of all this, one could observe that even as their dressing room increasingly resembles a casualty ward, City’s season hasn’t been derailed. Far from it, in fact. In the tight confines of a ‘mid-table’ battle in which less than two games separate second from ninth, City sit in fifth position heading into 2025, just three points back of a three-way tie for second place and possessing a game in hand on one of those belligerents – fourth-placed Melbourne Victory – and two on another – second-placed Macarthur.

With Caputo, Leckie and Tilio – all players who were expected to start and provide a fair chunk of goals heading into the season – expected to make their returns in mid-to-late January, simply being able to maintain something resembling this position in the weeks ahead could be seen as a win for City, giving them something of a platform to build upon as their more experienced heads return to the side and the opening of the transfer window allows for the external bolstering of the squad– the latter something Vidmar confirmed was being looked at earlier this week.

“[Even with the injuries] if I look at the Auckland game and the Victory game, I think we could have taken maximum points -- especially in the first half of those games, we were pretty dominant.,” said Behich. “And then against Central Coast, conceding from a set piece was disappointing on our behalf.

“We're just trying to take a game at a time. We pride ourselves on work ethic and giving 100%. Attitude is the most important. If you have the right attitude, it doesn't matter who's out on the pitch. If you do the right job, you're going to get the reward for it. We're so close to just getting on a roll with three points, but we've got to get over that line.

“And once those boys come back, you know, it's going to be a big boost for us as a squad.”

Loaned to Saudi side Al Nassr during the January window last season, 2024-25 should mark the first full season that Behich has played in the A-League Men and with City in more than a decade, having left the club – back when it was known as Melbourne Heart – back in 2013 to sign with Turkish Süper Lig club Bursaspor.

Named captain following Jamie Maclaren’s move to India, the influence that the 34-year-old has had on the squad has been repeatedly praised by Vidmar throughout the season, saying that the work that he and his fellow leaders do in the dressing room has addressed issues or concerns before they grew to the point they needed attention from the coaching staff.

The veteran, however, doesn’t see himself as having done much different with the armband than he otherwise would have done.

“I think it's just the way I've been as a player throughout my career,” he said. “I just want to win. It's just a mentality. I've got a great change room, a great bunch of boys. There are no groups or egos or anything like that.

“I just sat the boys down from day one and just said if we want to succeed, we've got to all be on the same train. And if you're not on that along the way, you're going to get left behind. That was pretty much the message.

“We're all striving for the same thing in the end. We want to be there on the final day. That's what this club strives for, and what's expected.”

Header Image: Melbourne City