In what is starting to become a bit of a theme this season, Melbourne City has again dropped points after being held to a frustrating draw.
After leading twice, City couldn’t get the win against an Adelaide United side that refused to give in. The 2-2 scoreline gave City their fourth draw of the season.
Here are three things we learned:
The arrival of Mathew Leckie
Well, it has finally happened: Matty Leckie put in a performance to be proud of last night, playing with real attacking threat and securing two assists.
After a disappointing start to his time at City, the Socceroos winger will be happy to have put in a performance that City fans were expecting of the big-name signing.
If these attacking moves and crosses can become more consistent then City will be a frightening goal threat through the rest of the season.
The curious case of Tom Glover
The form of our number one continues to be confusing.
Despite making several great stops last night, including a saved penalty, Glover's error-prone streak showed itself again, as mistakes once again cost us points.
For Adelaide’s first goal, Glover got caught in two minds and wasn’t sure how to deal with Craig Goodwin’s cross. He dived at it and pushed it straight into the path of George Blackwood who was able to tap home with ease.
For the second goal, Glover seemed to make a terrific save, but rather than pushing the ball wide, he lobbed it straight back into the danger area, where Hiroshi Ibusuki was waiting and able to equalise for the Reds.
At what point does Glover sit on the bench? Whilst he has been terrific across his first two seasons with City, his campaign this year has gotten off to a very ordinary start, and has cost us points on a number of occasions.
Play to the whistle
For the fourth time this season City have been held to a draw. This is frustrating in itself, however the thing that makes it worse is that City was in a winning position in each of those games and fell short of securing the three points.
In Round 2, the last time we played Adelaide, City were 2-0 up before late goals saw us leave with just the one point. In the Christmas Derby City lead in the 63rd minute after an inspiring fight back, but conceded late to end up with a 2-2 draw. Last weekend against Western Sydney, City were 3-2 up after an hour, but once again failed to secure the win. After a similar situation last night, questions should be asked about our inability to see out wins.
The COVID situation within the team has obviously cost several players a fair bit of match fitness, but silly mistakes have consistently happened in the final half an hour of the game.
Is it just early season stutters caused by a disrupted schedule, or is there a mentality issue within the squad at the moment? City will need to turn it around, and fast.
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