Vidmar looking to kickstart a City run with Bulls fixture

With a series of make-or-break fixtures on the horizon, Melbourne City boss Aurelio Vidmar admits his side needs to "get our skates on" and secure a positive result against Macarthur on Friday.

Sitting seventh on the A-League Men table on the eve of their round 19 trek to face Macarthur this Friday evening, it’s inaccurate to say that the 2023-24 season’s trajectory is an unprecedented one in Melbourne City’s history — but it is turning into a bit of an unwelcome blast from the past. 

The last time a City side found itself in this position at this point of a campaign was 2013-14, the first following their transition from the Melbourne Heart branding to the petrodollar-backed City Football Group moniker and despite the presence of Aaron Mooy, Damien Duff, Josh Kennedy, and, briefly, David Villa.

Even if they went into finish fifth that season, they’re the kind of historical parralels one never enjoys hearing as a fan, especially when one has been somewhat spoiled by a run of success that has delivered three straight Premiers’ Plates in recent years. 

So it’s no wonder that City boss Aurelio Vidmar admits that his side needs to “get our skates on” if they’re going to start moving up the ladder and avoid another unwanted comparison – it being the 2013-14 season being the last time a side bearing the Heart/City badge failed to play finals football. 

Yet with fourth-placed Macarthur FC waiting in Campbelltown on Friday night and top-of-the-table Wellington, second-placed Central Coast, and a Melbourne Derby amongst the challenges that await in the weeks that will follow lacing up those skates and ensuring that finals football is once again on the menu at City is easier said than done — even if the Mariners coming AFC Cup fixture against Odisha might force the rescheduling of the two side’s fixture.

“It’s a challenging month. It's certainly been a challenging season,” said Vidmar. 

“And the next month is certainly going to be crucial in terms of where we're going finishing up and up in the ladder. [Macarthur] is certainly a big game for us.”

After a 5-1 pantsing at the hands of Brisbane Roar three weeks ago threatened to send them into a tailspin, City has somewhat steadied the ship across and prevented a freefall down the table the past fortnight with draws against Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC. 

Neither point, however, was harvested in a manner that was all that convincing, albeit Vidmar believes that the second half of the draw against the Sky Blues –  who in his opinion have improved into one of the best sides in the competition under Ufuk Talay – demonstrated signs of the aggression, desperation and willingness to take risks that the side needs. 

This, he hopes, can be built upon in the meeting with Mile Sterjovski’s Macarthur — especially with City running out of time to string some form and results together to get up the table. 

“[They have some] really nice players, really team players and a solid defence,” said the City boss. “We've seen that over the weeks and from the beginning to where they are now that they've certainly grown.

“They’ve had a lot of those games in the AFC Cup, where they've had pretty decent wins. Without a hell of a lot of pressure, they seem to have done it pretty easily. 

“I think they're a pretty good team, well coached and they've got some decent assistant coaches there as well.”

The Bulls attack, of course, is highlighted by the presence of Mexican playmaker Ulises Dávila and French striker Valère Germain, who has scored five goals and registered three assists in his last five A-League fixtures and enters in contrasting form to City talisman Jamie Maclaren, who hasn’t netted since his hattrick against Roar in late December. 

“I think [Germain] is underrated, definitely,” said Vidmar. “He gets into positions where generally a lot of the central defenders, or any of the defenders, don't really like to go in.”

Providing a timely boost for City will be the return of Tolgay Arslan from a three-game suspension, with Vidmar saying the extra work the German had done on the training track should aid him in slotting straight back in and contributing. 

Mat Leckie and Marco Tilio pulled up somewhat sore from the draw against the Sky Blues and were to be assessed in City’s final training session on Thursday, albeit their coach didn’t strike too concerned a tone. Unfortunately, 18-year-old attacker Ben Mazzeo will likely require surgery on his syndesmosis and is likely done for the season. 

Nonetheless, with Arslan slotting back into a midfield mix that already contains Leckie – who Vidmar envisions using centrally given City’s wing depth – Jimmy Jeggo, Steven Urgakovic, Terry Antonis, and Alessandro Lopane, there’s quite a logjam for Vidmar to deal with – and that’s before the winger stocks of Tilio, Andrew Nabbout, Marin Jakoliš, and Léo Natel. 

“When everyone's fit, it's extremely, extremely difficult, isn't it?” said the coach. “So just got to manage it. 

“We've already spoken about how there's going to be times where we're going to be sharing the load. I've already spoken about that to the players and they have to accept it. No one's ever happy when they're sitting on the bench or not playing but it's all part of what team dynamics is all about. 

“When they're playing, they’re expected to play at a certain level and then guys coming off the bench [need] to give us that extra little bit of injection that we need. So everyone has a role to play, everyone has a big part to play whether it's you know, whether it's 100 minutes or 20 minutes. They've all got a role to play.”