Injuries, short breaks won’t affect City’s derby prep
Anna Harrington |
A-League Men champions Melbourne City are adamant a mounting injury toll and tight turnaround won’t stop them from firing in Saturday’s derby grand-final rematch against Melbourne Victory.
City are conducting a review into why they have had a raft of soft-tissue injuries for a second straight season.
Skipper Aziz Behich is the latest to succumb to a hamstring injury, while coach Aurelio Vidmar has conceded the club needs to “figure out a plan” for injury-prone Mat Leckie after another hamstring strain.
“The high-performance guys are looking deep into it, and look, there’s not one particular thing, it’s probably just a raft of things that has led to this,” Vidmar said of the injury review.
City only arrived back in Melbourne in the early hours of Thursday after their Asian Champions League Elite win over Machida Zelvia on Tuesday, which followed last Friday’s 0-0 draw with Brisbane.
“We’ll be as ready as we can be,” Vidmar said.
“We’ve lost a fair bit of quality sleep in that period, but our guys have not complained about it at all. They’ve got their head down.
“They understand what it is and prepare the best way we possibly can to put in a good performance tomorrow night.
“It’s a derby, so you have to be up for it anyway. We’ll be as fresh as we possibly can be.
“We’ll make some changes, obviously, like we did on Tuesday night and try to put the best team out on the park to perform well.”
Attacker Andrew Nabbout, who scored the winner against Machida on Tuesday night, is confident.
“No, we’re not tired. We’re ready for it,” Nabbout said.
“It’s a derby. You don’t need any motivation. It’s a derby.
“It’s a big one for our fans. It’s a big one for our club. It’s the first time, obviously, we’ve played them since the grand final. They’re going to be looking for revenge.
“And we’re ready for it – doesn’t matter who’s not there on game day. It just matters who’s in that change room and on the pitch, and the boys are fully aware of that.”
Victory coach Arthur Diles certainly isn’t expecting City’s fatigue to make life easier for his charges at AAMI Park.
“They come here with confidence and belief, and people forget what that does to the team,” he said.
“When you have a massive result, the flow-on effect of that is high confidence – and that happens all over the world.
“If it was that much of a disadvantage, all the clubs in Europe who play Champions League, who play every three days … they’d be losing on weekends, but that’s not the case at all.
“We’re definitely not looking at that as an advantage for us. That’s just part of the game. And they’ll be up for it, and we’ll be up for it.”
City goalkeeper Patrick Beach has earned a maiden Socceroos call-up, while defensive midfielder Kai Trewin was also selected for upcoming games against Venezuela and Colombia.
AAP
