W-League Melbourne Derby Wrap-Up: A Horrid Afternoon

The search for a first win of the season goes on for our W-League side as the City girls went down in emphatic fashion to arch-rivals Melbourne Victory to the tune of six goals to nil.

Here's what we learned from today's disappointing performance:

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Outplayed, out-pressed:

Almost throughout the entirety of this match, the Melbourne Victory team was pressing like there was no tomorrow and we simply couldn't cope with it.

It was too much to play through and the pressing undoubtedly forced us into errors that made it extremely difficult to get any fluidity into our game - an issue that will be discussed in its own right later.

All of that is something that the team and head coach Rado Vidošić must address urgently for better results to be achieved.

This squad is still getting to know one another

It was always expected that this new City outfit was going to take a bit of time to jell given that almost all of our superstar players from last season's Championship-winning squad have moved on. That said, if this current team wants to avoid finishing in the lower regions of the ladder, then that jelling-process needs to be expedited.

In today's horrid loss, there didn't seem to be any cohesion right across the pitch; the number of passes played in front of a player that wasn't anticipating it or behind a player that had mistimed their run was excruciating to watch as an observer.

With the kind of quality that we're used to slowly returning to the team with the additions of Alex Chidiac and Chinatsu Kira, team cohesion and tactical familiarity now seem the most pertinent issues if we're to turn our form around.

Our strikers could be set for a tough season

Regardless of the personnel, if we continue to have our striker so isolated throughout the season, then we're going to struggle to score goals. You had to feel for Harriet Withers today, as she tried very hard to make things happen with her pace both centrally as a striker and in wide areas as a creator, but the Queensland product had very little support.

Melbourne City will have a chance to redeem themselves in seven days time as a second consecutive Melbourne Derby awaits. In order to avoid another horrific scoreline, City will have to produce the exact opposite sort of display that they dished up today, in just about every way possible.