Melbourne City head coach Aurelio Vidmar labelled his side negative and poor after they were comprehensively beaten by Perth Glory at AAMI Park.
The defending Isuzu UTE A-League Champions found themselves 2-0 down after 22 minutes thanks to a brace from Glory star Tom Lawrence, who would later go on to seal his hat-trick in the 80th minute.
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City winger Andrew Nabbout scored a late consolation goal for the home side in the 93rd minute, however Vidmar’s men were well beaten at AAMI Park and he didn’t hold back when analysing the performance in his post-match press conference.
“We started poorly,” said Vidmar, when asked for his assessment of his side’s display. “Attitude, behaviours, it definitely wasn’t us.
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“And then when you give them a two-goal head start after 20 minutes, it becomes very difficult.
“We’re just negative with what we’re doing with the ball at the moment.
He continued: “When I talk about our behaviours, you know. what made us good last season, and I know that’s last season and I don’t want to dwell on last season, but what’s made us solid up to this point is all those behaviours – all those things that we’re looking for in the game.
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“Aggressive when we don’t have the ball, moving the ball quickly. That just wasn’t evident in the first half.
“And then you’ll have a look at the second half. Why is it so different in the second half than the first half? So (we’re) gonna find a way to get through that.
“(The) second half was obviously more what we’re like, you know, a lot more dangerous going forward. So it’s a little bit of everything.”
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Whilst they did find the back of the net late in the clash at AAMI Park, Sunday’s defeat to Perth Glory was the sixth league game in a row where City have now failed to score more than once in a game.
Furthermore, City have scored multiple goals in just two Isuzu UTE A-League games this season, and Vidmar concedes it is a problem.
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“There’s probably another five or six clubs who struggle to score goals at the moment. We’re one of them. Of course, last year was very similar, although, you know, lot of games we won one nil, or, you know, we got a late goal to make it two nil.
“So it probably wasn’t as highlighted as much. But now, when you’re not scoring, it becomes open to everyone.
“It’s clear we’re probably moving the ball way too slow. Way too slow.
He continued: “In our last couple of games, every time we move the ball quickly with fewer touches, we’re getting the ball into into the box and trying to create something.
“But when you look at tonight, at least in the second half, we had guys who were committed to making forward runs, and then you expect the person on the ball to make the right decision at the right time, and we did create more of those moments in the second half.
“So we just have to get back into training and keep working on it.”
