"They've got their floaties on" -- City teens to experience Melbourne Derby deep end
Injuries still buffeting his attack, City coach Aurelio Vidmar is set to throw 17-year-old Medin Memti and 19-year-old Arion Sulemani in at the deep end of the Christmas Derby.
At some point in almost everyone’s life, they encounter the paradox of experience; of needing experience before you’re given the chance to do something but being unable to build said experience because nobody will give you an opportunity because you don’t have any. And while it’s not exactly the type of career path you’d find advertised online, football is no more immune to this phenomenon than any other, with coaches worldwide so often preferring older, more seasoned heads in the bigger moments. Yet in this year’s Christmas Derby, depleted attacking stocks mean that Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar will have no choice but to turn to 17-year-old Medin Memti and 19-year-old Arion Sulemani in one of the A-League Men’s biggest fixtures.
Understandably, most of the build-up to this season’s traditional Yuletide clash between City and Melbourne Victory has been dominated by Patrick Kisnorbo’s sudden decision to quit as coach of the latter to pursue an overseas opportunity; the 43-year-old informing the club of his decision on Sunday, the decision made to immediately part ways undertaken by the club on Monday, and Arthur Diles announced as interim on Tuesday.
Indeed, against this backdrop, it almost felt like those at Casey Fields have taken on something of a supporting role, intrinsically linked to the story but reacting, rather than driving it. And given how loathe football departments can be of any perceived distractions, that focus has been elsewhere has probably been a welcome development, to say nothing of the destabilising effect that their one-time coach and captain’s exit is likely to have on Victory. But there’s still plenty riding on this game from a light blue perspective, too.
Becoming the first side to take points off Auckland FC after playing out a 2-2 draw with the Kiwis last week, City will head to AAMI Park on Saturday evening fourth on the A-League Men table, with the potential to vault above their bitter foes come the end of the evening. To do that, though, not only would they need to take all three points but they would also need to win by two goals or more – Victory entering the contest on 16 points to their 13 and a goal difference of eight to six but having scored 12 goals to their 14 overall. Doable, but it would also represent a not insignificant turnaround from round two of the campaign when they were rather comfortably dispatched 3-1 in the season’s first derby: Andrew Nabbout netting a second-half goal after a first-half blitz saw Nishan Velupillay, Nikos Vergos, and Ryan Teague had their side race to a 3-0 lead inside the opening 25 minutes.
Absent since picking up an injury with the Socceroos during the November international window, Velupillay will be back for Victory this week, a welcome addition to the squad in a week defined by a major departure. There will be no Nabbout for City, however, nor will there be a Marco Tilio, Mat Leckie, or Max Caputo – the side’s envisioned starting quartet at the start of the season all out with injury, the former for the season with an ACL injury and the latter three likely until the new year. Imports Yonatan Cohen and Andreas Kuen should be better for the extra months they’ve had Down Under since that clash (the Austrian quietly beginning to emerge as a Johnny Warren Medal contender) but up top, this wave of injuries means that a teenager, be it Memti, who scored against Auckland, or Sulemani leading the line. Sink or swim.
“We looked at some other options but it probably doesn't suit us at this stage,” Vidmar said. “So we've had to throw them into the deep end; they've got their floaties on.
“Medin was under 18s, 21s and then a dozen NPL2 and Arion has come back from a 12-month knee reconstruction, so he's trying to find his feet as well. They have zero experience, and the only way they can get that is by having more and more game time. Regardless if you're playing Perth, Brisbane, Newcastle or a Derby, that's what it is and if you're selected, then you need to be as ready as you can be and give the maximum.
“For me, not just with the young kids, but everyone, if I see that you are busting your butt and you're putting in a massive effort, you can make a million mistakes. But if your effort is there, I can never question that, and that's all you ask. If you've got that work ethic, if you put the time into your game and we can see that you're rolling up your sleeves and doing the work I'm never going to say anything. You can have a poor day, but at least you're trying to redeem yourself. You're trying to fix your mistakes. You're not dropping your head, you're positive, and you're moving forward. That is more than good enough for us.”
Up the other end, there’s another question confronting Vidmar.
21-year-old Patrick Beach has been backed to start in goal by the coach and the club this season and, as one would expect with any young custodian, there have been some moments to forget. Teague’s goal in round two’s meeting came when the Olyroos keeper was charged down and caught in possession inside his penalty area and last week, what should have been a relatively straightforward save of a Neyder Moreno free kick instead flew right through his arms, gifting Auckland a 95th-minute equaliser.
As he had done all season, Vidmar, himself a former coach of Australia’s junior national side, backed his young keeper in the wake of the latter incident, saying that the club had made the decision to go with a young keeper and recognised that the long-term benefits of doing so would be accompanied by some short-term trade-offs. Nonetheless, he stopped short of backing Beach to start in this week’s Christmas Derby amidst that defence and, when questioned directly on if it would be the youngster or veteran former number one Jamie Young in goal on Friday, he didn’t commit to either. He did confirm, at least, that the final decision will be his, in close collaboration with goalkeeping coach Sander Krabbendam and was effusive about his young keeper’s potential.
“[Beach has been] excellent [in training], he's been great. James Nieuwenhuizen [City’s 20-year-old third-choice] has been great. Jamie Young has been great,” said Vidmar. “They don't miss a beat through the training week generally.
“We'll keep saying it, when you've got a young keeper, you're going to go through periods where they're going to make mistakes. Even if you have a senior keeper, they make mistakes as well. If we look back to last year when Jamie came here, Jamie cost us a couple of goals as well. That's all part of it. [Auckland keeper Alex] Paulson last week, he's still young but he's one of the best keepers in the competition, and he had a little error as well. Just things happen. You don't want them to happen, but things do happen.
“The good thing about our three guys, and pleased with them, is they are confident. Doesn't matter what happens. And they acknowledge mistakes, they put their hand up, which is important, and they get on with it, and they're super keen to improve daily.
“We always want the finished product straight away. We want the 17-, 18- or 19-year-old to have a faultless game. It just doesn't exist. So you have to go through a little bit of pain, but we see an incredible upside to Patrick and an incredible upside for James Nieuwenhuizen. I know Jamie's the other spectrum, obviously, but those two guys, my god, they can have super careers, and we have a bit of pain at this early stage and take it from there. So full steam ahead for us with those guys.
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