It was a long off-season, but for Melbourne City fans it was worth the wait as they rolled out perhaps the strongest Australian-made attack in the A-League’s history to launch the 2021/22 season.
A Socceroos 2018 World Cup front three started, while the league’s brightest attacking talent came off the bench and another breakout and finals star from last season remained an unused sub.
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Jamie Maclaren, Mathew Leckie, Andrew Nabbout, Marco Tilio and Stefan Colakovski form a diverse and extraordinarily exciting attacking quintet that gives coach Patrick Kisnorbo a host options, individually and collectively. And in a jam-packed six months, City will need each of them to contribute.
Save for out-and-out striker Jamie Maclaren, the other four are capable of playing at least three roles across the front and positional interchange and change of formations are all at the coach’s disposal should he want to tinker.
Kisnorbo, who is said to have worked the players hard in pre-season, opted for his seasoned front three for last Friday’s season-opener against Brisbane Roar, a laborious 2-1 win at AAMI Park, with Maclaren and Leckie returning from Socceroos duty less than 48 hours earlier.
The week prior, Kisnorbo relied on Tilio and Colakovski – who recently debuted for North Macedonia’s Under 21 side – to secure a 3-0 win over South Melbourne in the FFA Cup.
With City scheduled to play between 33-40 games in the next six months – assuming they play finals – which includes Asian Champions League and FFA Cup football, and Socceroos duty beckoning, Tilio and Colakovski will get chances.
That may even extend to Max Caputo who was 15 years and 10 months old when he made his A-League debut the final round last season and has not looked out of place in the senior setup. Caputo scored with a neat finish in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Zoran Markovski’s impressive NPL outfit Avondale.
Colakovski started and buzzed around in Saturday’s friendly, with Australian youth international Jordan Bos scoring the opener. Nathaniel Atkinson (right back), Raphael Borges Rodrigues, Jordon Hall and Anthony Lesiotis were the other Friday night subs who started, while Italian signing Manuel Pucciarelli was in the XI, pushing his claims to be included in the squad for Saturday’s visit to Adelaide United.
The confidence City has taken from last season’s maiden title win is evident, when Colakovski, Tilio and goalscorer and Joe Marston medallist Atkinson formed the front three.
Friday night’s goalscorers – Curtis Good and Connor Metcalfe – both missed the Grand Final due to Socceroos duty, underlining the enormity of City’s achievement and their 2021/22 depth.
Metcalfe and underrated Frenchman Florin Berenguer provide great support from midfield, as will ex Empoli midfielder/attacker Pucciarelli.
Kisnorbo still has two visa and roster spots left up his sleeve and City could wait until January to bolster, including a potential Asian signing to for Champions League purposes.
After going ahead two-nil on Friday night, it could be argued that City had the chance to go for Brisbane Roar’s throats. But the COVID-affected preparation undoubtedly contributed to rustiness.
Roar also deserves credit for wrestling control back and a most impressive second half indicates that Warren Moon’s side is every chance of qualifying for the top six, playing some decent football to boot.
In contrast to City, Roar’s side is bereft of stardust, after Scott McDonald departed at the end of last season, along with Riku Danzaki and Dylan Wenzel-Halls, who shared goalscoring responsibilities last season (16 between them).
Round 1 goalscorer Luke Ivanovic and youngsters Cyrus Dehmie and Rahmat Akbari and sub Alex Parsons showed they will have a big role to play. Roar will also be far more organised once captain Tom Aldred returns to defence, while Argentine Juan Lescano could be the difference.
Brisbane has another tough AAMI Park trip to face Victory on Sunday, before a December 4 home debut against Adelaide United.
