Melbourne City’s supreme quality in the final-third paved the way for a 4-2 win against Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium last night.
Bruno Fornaroli helped himself to a brace, with Aaron Mooy and Erik Paartalu adding their names to the scoresheet.
City’s ruthless opening period made it a relatively simple contest after the break. Adelaide’s desire to push men forward of the midfield zone opened up large chunks of space for the visitors, which Fornaroli and his supporting cast exploited.
Formations
Djite’s return took pressure-off Adelaide’s midfielders to run beyond one another, which has seen Amor’s side punished on the counter attack this season.
Paartalu’s return to the side gave City a genuine holding midfielder, something van’t Schip has sacrificed in recent games in favor of Jacob Melling. As such, Aaron Mooy operated in an advanced midfield role, which will be delved into later.
Paartalu v Carrusca
Perhaps the best indication of Paartalu’s dominance in central areas, despite Adelaide enjoying more possession, is seen below.
The danger associated with Carrusca operating where the Argentine is at his best was nullified by City’s industrious and intelligent midfield. City were stretched at various points throughout the match, and perhaps rode their luck at times. However, Paartalu’s defensively minded positioning means he never roamed too far from Patrick Kisnorbo and Connor Chapman, thus limiting the space Adelaide were able to find in dangerous central areas. The midfielder’s work-rate was exemplified as he made six interceptions throughout, more than any other player.
Aaron Mooy’s well-rounded at No.10
Generally operating as a box-to-box type, Mooy was able to roam more freely in between the lines of Adelaide’s midfield and defence, to devastating effect.
After providing the sumptuous ball in for Paartalu’s opener, he benefited from the Adelaide midfield’s failure to track his forward run, latching onto Jacob Melling’s lay-off to blast home from 16-yards.
Mooy was given a free-role, with Paartalu and Melling doing much of the defensive work in deeper areas.
Adelaide were unable to get to grips with the positions that Mooy was taking up and after halftime, were forced to commit numbers forward, which showcased the midfielder’s quality in transition.
Malik and McGowan’s continued positional struggles
Much of Adelaide’s focus in a defensive sense would have surrounded the clever movement of Fornaroli. The Uruguayan’s versatility allows him to be able to adequately hold the ball up with a defender on his back, as well as being able to run into channels to create space for team-mates.
Osama Malik’s transformation from holding-midfielder to central-defender looked to be paying dividends under Josep Gombau in season 10, but he is beginning to struggle under Guillermo Amor.
What the 25-year-old lacked in natural defensive instincts, he made up with clever distribution and ball retention. The quality with ball at feet has not diminished, although the inability, thus far, to pair with Dylan McGowan effectively this season has seen a host of presentable chances fall to opposition forwards.
Throughout the match, Fornaroli found space to run off the shoulder of the central pair and get one-on-one with goalkeeper John Hall on two occasions, scoring once.
No substitute for direct running mixed with accurate passing
Harry Novillo’s A-League season was less than a minute old when he picked out an excellent diagonal ball to the feet of Fornaroli inside the penalty area for City’s third goal. While that pass was a lesson in precision, his second telling involvement of the contest showcased his aggressiveness when running at opposition defenders.
Novillo’s ability to beat a fullback on either side forces midfielders to double-up, which can leave the zone unprotected. This facet of his game will be evident in van’t Schip’s 4-3-3, a formation that looked to suit the strengths of Novillo last season.
Adelaide United conclusion
Amor’s task at hand just grew a little bigger. While his side created a host of chances, generosity in defence always ensured this match was beyond reach of the hosts.
As mentioned earlier, positional deficiencies in defence are ensuring that Adelaide are more regularly punished than their opponents whenever overloads can be created.
Djite’s presence helped the midfielders to get forward in support, and while the striker did not find the back of the net, more solace can be taken from his 60 minute cameo than the 240 A-League minutes that preceded it.
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Melbourne City conclusion
Crisis? What crisis? van’t Schip’s clever use of Mooy in a free role helped set up a counter-attacking second-half, allowing City to indulge as the hosts pushed for a result.
Paartalu’s positive performance in holding midfield could allow, with some fine tuning, the team’s wide men to attack with less defensive responsibility. Melling’s work-rate could be a key cog of this system as the season develops.
In the defeat last round, van’t Schip did not react quickly enough to Ben Kantarovski’s move forward as an unorthodox supporting striker. Adelaide’s method to pressurise the central zone in an attempt to force the result was far less organised, leading the Dutchman to introduce Novillo, a decision that decided the match.
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