Melbourne City coach Rado Vidosic believes the side’s patchy form in recent weeks is in part due to key absences in the playing group.
City were held to a 1-1 draw against Macarthur FC on Sunday night meaning the side have won just two of their last five games.
Bulls’ forward Jason Romero gave Melbourne City an early lead to chase before Jonathan Aspropotamitis’ own goal in the second half restored parity.
It was a frustrating night for the Melbourne club, who had two penalties overturned by VAR, as well as a series of missed opportunities throughout the match.
The result means City sit only four points ahead of second-placed Adelaide United, but still with a game in hand. It also extends a run to eight games in a row without a clean sheet – their last one dating back to late January in a 0-0 stalemate with Brisbane Roar.
The side are currently without star attacker Mathew Leckie and midfielder Richard van der Venne, who have been sidelined through injury, while defender Thomas Lam is suspended.
Vidosic was forced to name a youthful bench against Macarthur including teenagers Emile Peios and Patrick Hogan. He elected to only make one substitution throughout the match coming in the 83rd minute when defender Callum Talbot replaced by Scott Galloway – the most experienced player on the City bench.
Despite praising his team for their attitude during the game, Vidosic felt missing players across the squad is having an impact on results.
“Once everyone comes back, I think we are going to be a little bit better or at least you’ve got people to bring on or rotate,” Vidosic explained.
“I’m very proud of my players and I think they gave everything. They dug deep but unfortunately, we just weren’t clinical enough in front of the goal.
“But other than that, you can’t question the effort, intensity of the game and the willingness to play the right way.
“At the moment we’ve got these 11 players that we are using, and we are stretched to the limit, but they’ve been fantastic for us these last few games.”
It will continue to be a stretched squad for City for the foreseeable future according to Vidosic, making it a tricky next couple of rounds for reigning premiers. The team still have a raft of challenging matches to come starting with finals hopefuls Newcastle Jets this Sunday.
Feature image credit: Melbourne City
Enjoy this content? Support The Football Sack
Due in part to COVID and lack of current sponsorship we are at risk of not having the funds to continue running The Football Sack. If you enjoy our content and support our work in training talented young writers, please support us with a donation. If every reader contributed just $3, our funding would be covered for over ten years.
| DONATE |
