Macarthur FC head coach Ante Milicic says Melbourne City’s hunger, fitness, mobility and positional fluidity makes them the benchmark side in the 2020/21 A-League campaign, after losing to Patrick Kisnorbo’s side 3-0 at AAMI Park on Friday night.
City dismantled the Bulls in a 15-minute first-half stretch to claim an impressive win and a third successive clean sheet on a run of four wins on the bounce, which has garnered 14 goals for and only two against.
Victory over the Bulls catapulted Kisnorbo’s side above Macarthur on the A-League table ahead of a clash with the league-leading Central Coast Mariners on Monday, March 22.
MW12 REPORT: Melbourne City 3-0 Macarthur FC
Tasting defeat at the hands of City left Milicic to realise his side are not yet ready to deal with Kisnorbo’s side in full-flight.
“Physically, they are at a different level than us,” Milicic told the press post-match.
“You see the speed they have all around he field, their repeat efforts… we came against a very good side that’s at the top of their game.
“On the night we couldn’t match them, and there’s no complaints.
A team with that hunger to score, to win, their fitness, their mobility, their rotations, I’d say it’s difficult for most teams in the A-League to keep up with that.
They’re the benchmark… and they should be.”
MW12 PREVIEW: Western United v Brisbane Roar
MW12 PREVIEW: Central Coast Mariners v Perth Glory
But Kisnorbo has a different outlook to that of the Bulls boss.
The City head coach may be more tentative to hand his side any premature plaudits remembering their predicament in late February, when everything looked a little less rosy for a City side sitting ninth on the A-League table after Matchweek 9.
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City had three wins and four losses on the board at that moment, after a 3-2 win over Sydney FC on February 23 put an end to a three-game losing run.
A little more than two weeks later, City suddenly look like Premiers Plate contenders – but Kisnorbo says his side are no benchmark for the other sides to follow.
“No, we go about the way we want to do things in our style, and the way we want to play is the way we want to play,” Kisnorbo said.
We’re no benchmark at all, we’re just a team that likes to play a certain way, and that (has) processes to do that.
“We try and improve week in week out and day in, day out in training.”
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“The players will be training on Monday,” Kisnorbo continued.
“There’ll be no rest. It’s four wins – it’s nothing… it’s our job.
“They’ll be training hard on Monday again, so there’s no point in getting carried away with anything.”
Next Matches
Macarthur FC v Western United
Saturday, March 20 2021
Campbelltown Stadium
Kick-off: 5.05pm AEDT
Match Centre
Melbourne City v Central Coast Mariners
Monday, March 22 2021
AAMI Park
Kick-off: 7.05pm AEDT
Match Centre
