Melbourne City head coach Aurelio Vidmar did not hold back when discussing his side’s performance following their 4-1 loss to 10-man Adelaide United in the Isuzu UTE A-League on Friday night.
City found themselves two goals down inside the first 15 minutes thanks to strikes from Ethan Alagich and Luka Jovanovic at Coopers Stadium.
CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE ISUZU UTE A-LEAGUE
A red card shown to Dylan Pierias for violent conduct opened the door for the reigning champions before half-time and they appeared to get themselves back on course through Japanese attacker Takeshi Kanamori’s stunning strike, however the home side would have the last laugh in Round 5.
MATCH REPORT: Academy graduates demolish reigning Champs as Reds record win for the ages
A brilliant goal from substitute Ryan White followed by a late fourth from fellow sub Jay Barnett sealed an emphatic win for the hosts, leaving Vidmar far from impressed.
“I thought (the way) we started off the first 10 minutes was fine, but then they started to take a bit more of a grip, and we were poor,” said Vidmar when speaking to Paramount+.
“I think we’ll recall around about round three or round four last year against (Melbourne) Victory, where we had a real terrible first half, and tonight’s performance was atrocious.
“It’s not what we stand for. Our behaviours weren’t in the right spot tonight, and they thoroughly deserved it, to be honest. For them to score two goals against us tells you that we absolutely were miles off it.
“So full credit to Airton and the Adelaide team, they deserved the game, we deserved what we got.”
He went on to say: “Tonight was not there, and we have a lot of pride in what we do in terms of that area, and we did that last season, and we’ve done that so far this season.
“But tonight, we were miles off. I’m not pointing the finger at anyone. This is a group situation, this starts with me.
TEAM NEWS: Ins & Outs Round 5: Victory star ‘touch and go’ for Big Blue, Socceroos back from US tour
“Hopefully it’s a bit of a ‘draw a line in the sand’ moment for us tonight because this is unacceptable.
“I didn’t have to say much in the changing room anyway, Aziz (Behich) already got in there before I did.
“Probably the only saving grace for us now is that we’ve got to back up on Tuesday night.”
The result sees Vidmar’s side suffer their first loss of the campaign whilst also slashing their defensive record this season, a tally which previously stood at one goal conceded from four games.
“We needed more drive in that second half. You know, we got the ball into the wide areas, kept moving it,” he said.
BIG NEWS: The Isuzu UTE A-League is no.1 on a global list of 50 competitions
“We were crossing the ball for no reason, because they went to a back five in that second half, and we just played into their hands.
“And that wasn’t the message at half time. We brought in the full backs Peter (Antoniou) and Shillo (Harry Shillington) to give us a little bit more drive in the wider areas, and to a certain extent we did.
“But there was absolutely zero quality in the front third for us tonight. Absolutely zero.”
Next up for City is a crucial AFC Champions League Elite clash with Malaysian champions Johor Darul Ta’zim at AAMI Park.
