Vidmar wants more ruthless attack against Roar, confident of avoiding rollercoaster results of 2023-24

Not of the view that their ladder position accurately reflects their attacking prowess, Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar has emphasised the need for his side to be more “ruthless” as they travel to face Brisbane Roar. He cautioned, however, not to expect the two side’s meetings to be marked by the wild swings that saw City down the Roar 8-1 in Melbourne last season, only to then lose to them 5-1 at Lang Park 44 days later, emphasising his side were a more united group.

After an extended spell on the sidelines thanks to a league-wide pause for the international break that was then followed by a bye during Unite Round, City saw a nascent two-game winning run snapped against Western Sydney last week, drawing a blank as they were downed 2-0 at AAMI Park.

A trip to Queensland on Friday evening now awaits as they attempt to get back on the horse. And while the winless, bottom-of-the-A-League Men opposition doesn’t present as the most intimidating of hosts, memories continue to linger of the last time these two sides met at Friday’s venue, where the hosts raced to a 5-0 lead within 46 minutes – wunderkind Thomas Waddingham netting a brace – before triumphing 5-1.

The second in what became a five-game losing run for City, just how the Roar managed to engineer such a result after being smashed 8-1 less than two months prior left many scratching their heads. But speaking on Thursday, Vidmar says that he didn’t envision his side demonstrating the same Jekyll and Hyde-like nature this time around.

“That was absolutely two sides of our culture,” Vidmar said of the previous season’s meetings. “Two sides of our group at that stage, that was very clear. It wasn't a real united group last season, to be honest, And that was a reflection of those games 100%.”

After the surprise sacking of Rado Vidošić, Vidmar took over three weeks into 2023-24 and while he was able to lead them to a finals berth, their sixth-placed finish was their lowest since 2013–14 and their elimination finals exit their earlies since 2018–19.

Nine players subsequently left the club in the offseason as part of a squad overhaul before the club “reluctantly agreed” to a petition to mutually terminate the contract of reigning player of the season Tolgay Arslan a week into the preseason.

“Absolutely, the culture has changed,” said Vidmar. “We've got a new captain [Aziz Behich]. He's on top of almost everything. So the spirit is high. We've had a very, very consistent, tough pre-season that has put us in a pretty good position.

“Physically, some of the data that's come out of our games have been the best that's been here for the last two or three years. So that's all well and good, but in the end, performances at a high level and winning is the most important. But we've put ourselves in a position to do that.”

Avoiding a five-game losing run to start their 2024-25, Roar picked up their first points after the campaign last week in a madcap 4-4 draw with Macarthur – Ben Halloran inducing Tomislav Uskok into turning the ball into his own net in the 93rd minute to secure a point.

Vidmar did earmark that there would be some changes to his side that lost to the Wanderers but confirmed he would remain without Mat Leckie (described as being a week or two away by their coach), as well as Marco Tilio (projected as being a couple of weeks out) and Max Caputo (said to be sidelined for another month).

“[Brisbane’s] position on the table is not a true reflection of how they've been performing,” said the City boss. “They took Sydney a long way, they took Adelaide a long way again; both of those games could have gone anyway.

“They're a very good attacking side, they can score a couple of goals very, very quickly; we saw that last week away to Macarthur, scoring four goals. So they're a team that has a lot of good scoring potential.

“It’s absolutely a game that we certainly have to be on our toes [for]. Lang Park is never the easiest place to play. It's a challenge, one that we're loving and hopefully, we're able to play at our very best after last week's lacklustre first half [against Western Sydney]

“The second half was more what we do on a daily basis, on a consistent basis, so that's what we have to do right from the very first minute.”

And improving on this ‘lacklustre’ opening stanza, in the coach’s eyes starts with being more ruthless, both with and without the ball, in the final third.

“That was the work and the discussion that we've had this week, about being more aggressive with our pressing and our work off the ball and then just being more ruthless in front of goal,” he said. “Because we had enough chances to probably score a couple of goals [against Western Sydney]. And although we lost the game 2-0, that for me, definitely wasn't a true reflection of our performance.

“We get the ball [into the final third] pretty well most of the time and then it's just about being the person to take responsibility. And it's not about being selfish. It's about reading the moment. The moment now is, do I need to make a pass? Or the moment now is, do I need to take a shot? So just trying to define those moments for the individual players.

“We've got guys who play those positions that are not renowned goal scorers. We've got wingers who do score goals but you don't have a Jamie Maclaren, for example, who in any of those moments can just sniff something and bang, out of nothing, produce a goal. Or in recent times with Andrew Nabbout playing as a number nine.

“Some of those moments where you need a little bit of a composed head. For guys who've been there many, many times, that comes easy. For the ones who are just learning the game like an Arion Sulemani or a Medin Memeti, it's just going to take a little bit of time. But the pleasing thing is, those guys are getting there.

“Part of goal scoring is even if you miss multiple chances, the trick is to keep going in there. And that's sometimes the hardest part because after a couple of chances you've missed, you fear going back in there in case you miss again. The mental side of the game as a striker is very difficult. You have to be so resilient and so strong mentally to go 'You know what, I've missed? It is what it is. I'm waiting for the next action and the next ball, and I have to be there again.'

“And in time, all those guys will get better. When Max [Caputo] comes back, he's a guy who can score goals, so that should improve. The more games they play, the more [the young strikers will] grow.”

Header Image: Melbourne City