Melbourne City defender Michael Jakobsen says the recently crowned Westfield FFA Cup champions have the game plan to replicate their recent triumph over Sydney FC on Friday night.
The Dane has played a major role in City’s impressive week, playing a man of the match role against Brisbane and going close to the Mark Viduka Medal on Wednesday night for his defensive work rate and his match-saving clearance in the dying stages of the match.
John van’t Schip’s side are readying themselves to once again take on the league leaders, this time at Allianz Stadium, with the defender confident they can go back-to-back against the unbeaten Sky Blues.
“I think it’s going to be tougher,” he said.
“They want revenge after the defeat of course. They’re at home so they are going to come out 100 miles an hour. It’s going to be a very tough match but I’m looking forward to it. I think we need to step up and play an even better game than we did in the Cup Final.
“We believe in ourselves and in the way we play. We’re going to give them a hard time again and we’ll do everything we can to get the win.
“We are looking at ourselves and the way we play and hopefully it will be enough to win the game. Of course [winning the cup final] is a good sign and as we said before, they haven’t lost so far this season in the league so hopefully we can give them their first loss.”
Jakobsen’s start to the season has gone relatively under the radar, playing a starring role in the morphing City backline and the former Danish international is enjoying every minute in Melbourne, enjoying the professional environment at CFA Melbourne.
“I’m very happy with the quality within the group and the way we train,” he said.
“The set up here is fantastic, better than what I’ve been used to so it’s been a very good experience. I’m just looking forward to getting more games in my legs and hopefully win a lot more games.
“In Scandinavia, it’s not that common you only play with three at the back but when I was in Spain, we did it a bit so it’s not brand new for me.
“When I came here, I was open for new adventures and to try new things so for me, it’s perfect to try and play that way and it suits me quite a lot. It is a challenge when you play with three, it’s sometimes four anyway, but it is quite easy.
“Everybody is coming together as a group and we’ll perform better and better during the season as well. It will make everybody’s performance better including me as well so it’s going to be a long season and I’m sure that everybody is going to get better.”
Jakobsen and City will now prepare to take on Sydney FC this Friday night at ANZ Stadium as they’ll look to inflict the Sydneysider’s first loss in the league this season. See the match on Fox Sports 505 and SBS VICELAND, kick-off 7.50pm.
