Melbourne City will be looking to make their first A-League grand final on Friday night when they lock horns with Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium in a sell-out semi-final clash on Friday night.
City will go into the game without suspended Harry Novillo, whose two-game ban was upheld during the week. Ivan Franjic, who did not play last week, has also been ruled out of the clash with a hamstring injury. Excluding those two key outs, City have a clean bill of health. Despite concerns over his fitness after an early mark against Perth Glory, Anthony Caceres is fit and ready to fire.
Pressure is on City to start bringing silverware into their trophy cabinet. This time last year, they fell short in their semi-final derby encounter with Melbourne Victory, who went on to win the championship.
With the club proving to be the entertainers of the competition this season, coach John van’t Schip believes City have stepped up their performances this season compared to last. Yet the Dutchman was insistent City need to underline their improvement with trophies.
“I think we’ve had a big impact this season comparatively to last year and that’s how we have to look at it. In the end, we want silverware,” van’t Schip said.
“Without looking at results, I think we have improved very well, we made some big steps. Played some good games, scored a lot of goals. Individual players really stamping on their marks of making big improvements.
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“It’s also about remembering the way we have played. That what the club wants, to play exciting football and give the people something when they come to the stadium.
“I think we’ve delivered that, now we’re in a special part of the competition. We want to do the same, we want to combine it with the results, that’s always the difficult thing. We want to be exciting and get results otherwise it’s boring.”
City will be out for a dose of revenge on Friday after United ended their hopes of winning the premiership in the final round at AAMI Park, courtesy of a 2-0 away win.
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More spice will be added via former City man Stefan Mauk, who was involved in a physical tussle with his former team mates two weeks ago. The melee which broke out at half time is the reason Novillo is suspended.
Van’t Schip was hopeful his players would concentrate on performance rather than mind games.
“The boys can’t get involved with things that could potentially rule them out of the game. It’s nothing new, but of course in the end something we will address, but not make a big thing of it,” he said.
“They have to use the positive energy, perform well and make sure they don’t get themselves into a costly situation, something we don’t want to think about before the game.
“It’s about putting those emotions into an energy that’s positive.”
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