John van’t Schip: City could not match Adelaide’s level

John van’t Schip: City could not match Adelaide’s level

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Melbourne City coach John van’t Schip was left disappointed after his side’s promising season came to a crashing end at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.

The Citizens were second-best all night and were outplayed for large periods as they suffered a 4-1 semi-final humbling to Adelaide United.

An impressive double from in-form striker Bruce Djite handed the Reds a warranted lead, but City winger Nick Fitzgerald halved the deficit only for the hosts to add two more late goals to seal their fate.

The Dutchman lamented his team’s inability to reach the level they are capable of, but also reserved praise for the Reds.

“Disappointing of course, you can’t say they [Adelaide] did not deserve it, they deserved the win, had the better play”, van’t Schip said after the match.

“We didn’t get to the level that we thought that we could, so yeah it’s disappointing we have to regroup and make sure we come back stronger for next season.

“We couldn’t get to that level that we hoped last week [against Perth Glory].

“We didn’t keep the ball good enough, we didn’t create, Bruno [Fornaroli] was isolated too much because we couldn’t get enough players around him.

“It was hard work but not enough play, and that’s credit to Adelaide that made it difficult, they had the better chances.”

When asked to reflect on the season as a whole, van’t Schip was satisfied with the transformation of his team’s playing style in comparison to last year.

“I think looking purely at the football, I think the team really improved compared to last year,” he continued.

“We played some very good football, we scored the most goals, we tried to entertain especially at home.

“So I think compared to last year we have surely have made steps, finished with a lot more points as well.

“But again we wanted to make the step and that was playing in the grand final and we didn’t succeed in that.”

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