They were the top of the pile at the end of the 2021-22 season. Melbourne City also reached the Grand Final.
However, the premiers fell at the final hurdle – upstaged by Western United in the Isuzu UTE A-League’s big dance.
City are a team on a mission this season, fuelled by past pain following their 6-1 demolition of Macarthur FC at AAMI Park on Saturday.
The league leaders are eight points clear atop the summit.
“It does. Of course it does,” Andrew Nabbout told Paramount+ when asked if the Grand Final defeat provided motivation.
“We were gutted not to go all the way last season.
“We put in a brilliant performance tonight but we could’ve probably picked up a few more points the last couple of weeks.
It’s up to us now to keep the ball rolling and make sure we go all the way this season.
It was a masterclass from City against Mile Sterjovski’s visiting Macarthur.
Richard van der Venne was the architect with his hat-trick, while Jamie Maclaren also scored twice to add to Nabbout’s header off the bench.
It was a memorable outing for Dutch import Van der Venne, who celebrated his first top-flight treble in a devastating display.
Van der Venne opened the scoring following a sublime one-two with Valon Berisha and he was also on target two minutes prior to half-time before completing his hat-trick with a stunning volley 13 minutes from time.
“That was the most beautiful but I think the first one was the most important, but I’m still going for the last one,” Van der Venne told Paramount+.
Van der Venne’s wife, Carmen, was not at the stadium for Saturday’s game.
And when it was put to him that he continues to score when she is not in attendance, the Dutchman was in a joking mood.
“Stay at home,” he laughed.
City snapped their run of three consecutive draws to return to winning ways against a Bulls outfit that slipped to eighth in the standings.
“The last few games were draws but we had to win those. The only one in Brisbane was a hard one. We had to win the others,” Van der Venne said.
“We are on a good way. Most possession, most chances, expected goals etc. We have to go forward.”
Sky the limit for City?
Interim head coach Rado Vidosic declared there is no ceiling on Melbourne City and urged his charges to prove they are “unstoppable” as they storm towards the A-League Men Premiership.
After three consecutive draws, City hit their stride in ominous style.
City (31 points) are now eight points clear of second-placed Central Coast with a game in hand, while Mile Sterjovski’s Macarthur (18 points) sit eighth and two points outside the top six.
“We want to be better. We want to improve. We want to lift our standards and keep lifting our standards,” Vidosic told reporters.
“It’s up to players not to be complacent and take the next game as the most important game in their life.
“If we can manage that then there is no ceiling – we can keep improving.
Right now we talk about being unstoppable. So ‘what can we do to be unstoppable? How does that look?’
“So this was a good example of how that looks. Can we continue with that? Can we take it to the next level?
“We’ll find out next week, but this week was really, really pleasing.”
Jamie Maclaren scored in the third minute then had a penalty saved by Nicholas Suman in the 16th, but added his 16th goal of the season in the 88th.
But van der Venne was the star, scoring in the 33rd, 43rd and 77th minutes, with his third a stunning effort from long range.
Andrew Nabbout also scored in the 68th minute while former City man Moudi Najjar netted for Macarthur in the 72nd.
City brought out the party tricks, with their first two goals coming via backheel assists from Mathew Leckie and Valon Berisha while the “fantastic” van der Venne also pulled off a nutmeg in the lead-up to his first goal.
“To be an elite team, you need players to be able to make all the right decisions and we’ve been working towards that,” Vidosic said.
“It won’t work every every week but if you really want to empower them, you need to give them freedom and then we need to accept that sometimes it’s going to be mistakes, sometimes we’re going to cop the goal.
“But the more they have fun, the more they’re going to produce the goods.”
Bulls captain Ulises Davila came off with a corked leg in the 55th minute but Sterjovski expected him to face Wellington next-up.
Sterjovski wrote off his first defeat as a senior head coach as an important lesson but said he’d told his charges they couldn’t settle for that standard and needed to be better.
“We were outclassed, outmuscled,” he said.
“Melbourne City showed a lot of desire and they had a lot of quality. It’s a good lesson to learn coming into coaching.
“City was just too good today. They were on. And when they’re on, they’re very dangerous.”
