Melbourne City manager John van’ t Schip says his side had at least five good goal-scoring chances against Manchester City, underlining his need to find a new striker.
Both sides spurned golden chances to score before Samir Nasri smashed home a late winner in the sides’ friendly on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.
“Harry Novillo had two [chances] and of course Stefan Mauk, Wade Dekker and George Lambadaridis had chances,” van’t Schip told reporters after his side lost 1-0 to the EPL club.
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“So we had our chances and it [the game] was good for the physical preparation of our side.”
Speaking of Mauk, whose miss was glaring to say the least, van ‘t Schip could at least see the lighter side.
“I think Stefan will have a few moments in his bed in the coming nights and will think back to those moments… those are moments you hope never to happen.
“On the other hand Stefan made a great run into the box and the ball bounced a bit unlucky for him at the end and he still had time to stop it, but in the moment it bounced and he was unlucky but it was a good move.”
The City coach stressed the search for a striker was on in earnest with reports Uruguayan forward Bruno Fornaroli was poised to sign a deal with the Melbourne club (his Wiki page has him as a Melbourne City player).
“That’s one of the main things we’re still working on. We’re looking for that position and we know we have to get a player there that can help us make the next step,” he said.
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However van’ t Schip refused to confirm or deny that Fornaroli, 27, had signed a deal or was close.
“We’re not going into speculation but the moment we know we can bring it out to the press we’ll do it but till now there’s nothing done.”
City also trialled recently released Western Sydney Wanderer Jason Trifiro. The 27-year-old caught the eye against City after spending the last two weeks at the club.
“We have to see what’s possible,” said van’ t Schip. “But I was very happy with Jason’s performance and he was showing already in the last few weeks that he’s a good player and certainly a player that can play A-League football.”
