Melbourne City sticking with game plan despite FFA Cup disaster
Melbourne City might have been picked apart by Adelaide United in a 4-0 FFA Cup final demolition job, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to tear up their game plan and start again.
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Melbourne City defender Harrison Delbridge declares his team must trust its game plan, despite last Wednesday’s FFA Cup final mauling at the hands of Adelaide United.
City has been in recovery mode since the 4-0 loss, ahead of tonight’s tough test against Western United at GMHBA Stadium.
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Delbridge said they had come too far during an impressive pre-season to panic.
“Very very disappointing, but now we’ve got to shift focus back to the league starting with Western United,” Delbridge said.
“The group is so disappointed. Now it’s about the reaction. We’ve got a long season ahead of us and we’re not going to start to doubt our style of football.
“What we’ve built during the pre-season is something we can rely on and trust and one game’s not going to change that.
“Sometimes football’s harsh like that when it’s not your night — one thing goes wrong, a few things go wrong, we were up against it at the end.
“They were better than us on the night but it doesn’t mean we’ll change the system we’re playing.
“We’ve gone in, had a look at the game and we’ll look to shore up a few things.”
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Delbridge, who has starred this season, had a tough night against Mark Viduka medallist, and rookie sensation Al Hassan Toure, with City coach Erick Mombaerts even changing his defensive formation.
“He (Toure) was all over the place, athletic, good on the ball. Strong, finished his chances. Good on him. He didn’t catch us unaware, he just made the most of his opportunity. He’s a talent,” he said.
“It wasn’t our night. Few mistakes, we had early chances, we didn’t get our rhythm.”
Originally published as Melbourne City sticking with game plan despite FFA Cup disaster