Melbourne City coach John van’t Schip believes a lack of patience when in possession prevented his side from claiming maximum points against Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
City twice took the lead against Glory but was ultimately held to 2-2 draw despite Kenny Lowe’s side being reduced to 10 men in the second half when young defender Jacob Collard was sent off for a second yellow card.
Van’t Schip looked to exploit the extra player advantage by employing David Williams on a wing, but City failed to find the winner that would have lifted the club to second on the Hyundai A-League table.
10-man Glory earn gritty point against City
“In the second half there were moments where we were not in precision,” van’t Schip said.
“Our wing backs were not high enough. They were too deep and we started playing too direct into Harry Novillo, Bruno (Fornaroli) and Aaron (Mooy) when they were up against five or six Perth players.
“I think we should have played a bit more patient in the build-up and had more players around them…and there were a few times we could have done better in (not) playing that first ball too quickly.”
Mooy was the most dominant player on the pitch, setting up Erik Paartalu for the opener and executing a perfect one-two with Fornaroli to score his seventh goal of the season early in the second half.
But van’t Schip felt his side did not do enough to support the 25-year-old midfielder and forward pair Fornaroli and Novillo.
“We could have been more dangerous if we had gone with more numbers around the front three,” van’t Schip said.
“Aaron scored a goal and he had an assist…he’s important for the team, but he’s doing his job for the team like everybody is doing their job. Today it didn’t result in what we wanted and that was the three points, so we have to move on and learn from this game.”
Van’t Schip said he would restrict some players to light duties on the training track this week in a bid to keep them as fresh as possible for the club’s next stretch of games, particularly goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.
The former English Premier League stopper was involved in two heavy collisions with Glory pair Josh Risdon and Mitch Oxborrow and was noticeably limping to collect the ball at times.
City hosts Wellington Phoenix next Monday before heading north to tackle league leaders Western Sydney the following Friday, with Connor Chapman (knee), Ivan Franjic (thigh) and Stefan Mauk (Olyroos) to come under consideration for one or both matches.
Van’t Schip was also hopeful of potentially adding some new names to his roster before either clash as the club continues to size up its options during the January transfer window.
