Mentality driving City's ALM premiership push
Aurelio Vidmar feels Melbourne City's mentality has been "perfect" in recent weeks. And now, with his side still not out of the premiership race, he wants to see that continue against Brisbane.
Still in the hunt for the A-League Men premiership and winners of four of their last five games, Friday evening’s clash with Brisbane is the type of fixture that Melbourne City should be winning. They’re in form and targeting silverware, after all, while the Roar are rooted at the foot of the table and coming off a 5-1 home thrashing at the hand of Macarthur last week. As much as he’s quick to acknowledge the potential dangers the Queenslanders possess, Aurelio Vidmar knows this. But he’s confident if his side has the right mentality, they can beat anyone.
Continuing to find form at the right time of the season, City comfortably downed Central Coast 1-0 at AAMI Park last week – Medin Memeti scoring the only goal of the game in the 29th minute as his side denied Mark Jackson’s side a single shot on target as they recorded a first win over the Mariners since 2022.
While most of the discussion surrounding table-topping Auckland being overhauled in the season’s final month has centred on Western United – which is understandable, given their red-hot form and that they will host Auckland in Tarneit on the final day of the season – it was a win that means City retain a faint but still tangible hope of securing what would be a fourth premiership in five seasons.
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Every member of the top six having now played 22 games, Vidmar’s side sits on 40 points with four games to go, six back of Auckland and one adrift of second-placed United. And whereas Steve Corica’s side, while still premiership favourites, need to travel to face Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory, and United in the season’s final month, City host three of their four remaining games in Melbourne – albeit they also face the task of travelling to Western Sydney.
Vidmar is confident that his side has what it takes to win four games on the bounce, which they’ll definitely need to do if they're to vault themselves to the league’s summit in the coming month and, given the way John Aloisi has his United side playing, probably need to do to retain a strong chance of finishing second and, assuming the Kiwi side takes out the Premiers’ Plate, secures a berth in next season's Asian Champions League Elite.
And that starts with being ruthless and downing the Roar on Friday.
“Like last week, [Brisbane is] a tricky game for us,” said the coach. “They're the towards the bottom of the table [but] I think some of the football they play is really positive and they've probably been on the end of some results that they probably didn't deserve.
“It's a tough game. We have to, as always, play at our very best to take the three points.
“We have to take those chances. But, for me, it's always been that our mindset, the way we prepare, has to be at a very, very high level.
“Because when our mindset is in the right spot, then we generally get the right result. If we're a little bit off, then we'll have some difficulties.
“But I can say, right throughout the whole season, but especially these last probably four or five games – the mindset, the mentality has been perfect and we've got the right results because of that.”
City will be without defender Samuel Souprayen for Roar’s visit after he suffered a calf strain in their win over the Mariners, with it hoped the Frenchman will be fit to return for next week’s trip to Western Sydney. Kai Trewin, who played in a more advanced midfield role last week, will likely shift back to partner Germán Ferreyra.
Absent since early March with a calf injury, Mat Leckie will return via the bench for the fixture, depending on how he pulls up from City’s final training session before the game. After netting his fourth goal of the campaign against the Mariners, meanwhile, Memeti will retain his place in the attack.
“It's always difficult to change your team when you're winning – winning form is always good form,” said Vidmar. “[Memeti] has played quite well in the last two games, and scored. And for players who are scoring and are in form and feel confident it'd probably be the wrong decision to take him out of the team.”
Now, if winning form is indeed good form as Vidarm puts it, then there is probably no more in-form men’s player at Casey Fields than Andreas Kuen.
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Grabbing seven assists in addition to two goals in his first season at the club, just two of City’s six losses this season have come with the Austrian attacker in their starting lineup – with the three-game losing run the side went on in January and early February coinciding with a hamstring injury that forced him to the sidelines.
Now back healthy and given the opportunity to play regular minutes with the likes of Marco Tilio and Max Caputo, who were injured during his early-season run, plenty is expected of Kuen in the season’s final weeks. And after joining on a two-year deal from Greek side Atromitos last August, Vidmar thinks there’s plenty more to come.
“He's got a good eye for goal,” said the coach. “He's got a good eye for a final pass. We are more creative when he's on the pitch, that's obvious. He probably could have had a couple more goals for himself.
“To be honest, the first year for foreigners is generally the hardest. They're coming here to completely different surroundings. The football’s the same but it's also very different. Because it's a very physical game here. He initially had to get used to the big whacks from behind and not getting a free kick, where he'd played previously just a little brush on the shoulder, and you'd go down and you get a free kick. It's not like that here. He's had to learn to adapt to those moments.
“He's had a pretty good year and I think he's going to be much, much better next year with another preseason under his belt.”
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