Melbourne City are more focused on fixing their own early-season problems than gaining Grand Final revenge on Sydney FC, according to Scott Jamieson.
Veteran defender Jamieson admits last season’s beaten finallists, who fell to a Rhyan Grant extra-time winner in August 2020, need to find a solution to their malaise ahead of Tuesday’s clash against the A-League Champions – after City opened the new campaign with two wins and four defeats from their six games.
Returning to action after a five-day state lockdown, City and the other Victorian clubs – Melbourne Victory and Western United – are all playing catch-up following slow starts to the season, but Jamieson insists his teammates’ minds are completely locked on finding an answer to their own struggles.
“I don’t call it pressure but there’s definitely is a sense of disappointment, below standards that we’ve set and we looked to have before the start of the season,” Jamieson said.
“It’s a sense of reality for us that we haven’t performed as well as we’ve wanted to and the expectations we’ve given ourselves, we’ve fallen short.
“I’m not really worried about Western United or Melbourne Victory and where they are in the table. It’s more of a sense that we’ve fallen short of what we expected of ourselves and what an opportunity to try to turn the tide and beat the current Champions.”
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It will be 16 days since Patrick Kisnorbo’s side last ran out in an A-League encounter when they take to the Marvel Stadium pitch on Tuesday, where Sydney FC have a quick 72-hour turnaround following a 0-0 stalemate against Brisbane Roar on Saturday after Grant struck the woodwork twice and Bobo came close.
City’s last appearance was a disappointing 1-0 reverse against the Newcastle Jets on Saturday, 7 February and Jamieson revealed his team have spent much of their extended break between matches working on self-improvement – and the 32-year-old believes the group are better off it.
“If you watched our games you’ll probably see there’s been to many mistakes from us as individuals and then collectively we haven’t cleaned those mistakes up,” said Jamieson.
“The game against Newcastle, we probably had enough chances to win the game, so finishing is probably something we’ve worked on.
“It’s probably a blessing that we haven’t played a game in two weeks.
“It feels like an eternity since we lost against Newcastle so any lingering self-doubt that might have come into a game if you play three days later, isn’t going to be there at the moment.”
Match details
Melbourne City v Sydney FC
Tuesday 23 February, 2021
Kick off: 7.05pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast: FOX Sports
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
Match Centre
SCHEDULE: A-League 2020/21 Fixture Updates: Matchweek 11 – 14
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