Melbourne City are unbeaten through 18 games this season and cruising towards the Premiers Plate – but are the league leaders heading toward the finals with an obvious weakness that could prove costly to their Championship pursuit?
No team has beaten Michael Matricciani’s side in 2024-25 – but several opponents have managed to hurt City by pouncing on loose passes in defence and converting turnovers into goals.
The trend has not yet led to a City defeat this season, with the Premiership favourites recording 11 wins and seven draws from 18 games to sit five points clear at the top of the table.
But an errant back-pass from Bryleeh Henry against Canberra United in Round 17 did turn a potential three points into just one for City, who led 1-0 before Aideen Keane’s 81st-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at McKellar Park.
Keane’s late equaliser prevented City from carving out a seven-point lead at the top of the table. Instead, they lead rivals Melbourne Victory by just five points, with Victory holding a game in hand over the league leaders.
After the 1-1 draw, City captain and centre-back Rebekah Stott was asked about the defensive lapses.
“I think you can spin it in a positive way, teams aren’t really hurting us from playing through us,” Stott said.
“Yes, obviously we want to clean that up. I think it’s just being able to constantly stay in the game and stay switched on. And yeah, I think by the end of it, by the end of the season, I think we can, we can definitely clean that up something in our control.”
Stott’s words ignited a heated debate on this week’s episode of Dub Zone, in which A-Leagues commentator Teo Pellizzeri and Sydney FC legend Teresa Polias clashed in regards to “spinning” City’s defensive flaw into a positive for the club, or a genuine point of concern to address in quick time before finals.
“I don’t even think it’s spin,” Pellizzeri said. “It’s been two months since a team has scored against Melbourne City doing the following: not (making) a defensive or goalkeeping error, and the shot was taken from inside the penalty area. They’ve only conceded five goals this season that weren’t direct mistakes of their own.
“Only three times this season have we seen the opposition score (against City) with a shot from inside the penalty area. That was the result of actually their build-up play: Alana Jancevski in the first Derby, and Michelle Heyman (two goals against City in December).
We’ve seen a couple of bangers, Mackenzie Hawkesby and Lucy Johnson for Sydney. That’s it. Every other goal City has conceded is self-inflicted, and it says to me that (it’s) fine margins, they might be only a few degrees of improvement away from just not conceding again.
“I actually think Stotty is kind of right. I think they’re super close to potentially winning out the rest of the season, if they can just make a few little tweaks.”
“But they haven’t (made tweaks),” Polias replied.
“It’s still six games (to go), still finals,” Pellizzeri added. “They’ve still got to juggle the Champions League… but I really do think that they are super close to working it out. And as much as I may have previously argued that it would cost them a Grand Final, I actually think that Stotty is right. She makes a very good point.”
Breakout Wanderers star following lead of Young Matilda’s leap of faith
Sienna Saveska is flourishing in her return season at Western Sydney Wanderers, and her form in attack has been likened to that of a fellow CommBank Young Matilda who took major strides forward as a player after a major career decision.
In February, Kahli Johnson secured an overseas move from Western United to Canadian club Calgary Wild.
The transfer was sealed during the 21-year-old’s third season at Western after 48 appearances in Green and Black. Johnson made the move to Western after just five appearances at Sydney FC – a gamble that paid off for the young forward who thrived at Western.
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Western Sydney forward Saveska is currently on a similar trajectory to Johnson, having moved back to Wanderland for the 2024-25 campaign after playing just four games for Sydney FC in her only season at the club.
The 18-year-old has seven goals and one assist to her name in 17 games this season, having made just 11 appearances at two seasons prior split at both the Wanderers and Sydney FC.
In Round 17, Saveska returned to the Wanderers squad for a 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners, after a blistering PacificAus Sports Four Nations Tournament campaign with the Young Matildas, in which she scored six goals in three games – including goal of the tournament.
Assessing Saveska’s productive 2024-25 campaign, Pellizzeri and Polias suggested Saveska has followed Johnson’s lead in prioritising match minutes when tossing up her next move after one season at the Sky Blues.
“Saveska only came off the bench because of Young Matildas,” Saveska said. “She scored a hat-trick in that third and final game, just after we recorded last week, so in ripping form, but even off the bench, she’s able to impact the contest.
“I feel as though some of the kids that don’t get much game time, they’ve seen what Kahli Johnson did, and they’re saying it’s going to be me.”
“These are great examples,” Polias replied. “And you know Saveska for her to make that mature decision, a hard decision, to go back to the Wanderers, it’s absolutely paid off because she needed the minutes.
“She’s a fantastic player, and her being out there helps apply her trade and get better and better, and she’s worked wonders for her team on a national level as well.”
Fresh injury concern for Matildas hopeful
Hearts were in mouths on Friday afternoon when Central Coast Mariners star Isabel Gomez went down in midfield clutching her knee.
The 22-year-old only recently returned from a right knee injury which kept her sidelined for three months; she suffered the injury against Melbourne Victory in November, just days after receiving her first senior Matildas call-up.
Gomez returned in Round 16, coincidentally in the Mariners’ next clash with Victory, and played 59 minutes in the 2-0 loss.
Last Friday night, Gomez played 83 minutes in her side’s 2-1 loss to Western Sydney – a game in which she scored her third goal of the campaign – before committing to a challenge on Wanderers winger Holly Caspers and suffering what appeared to be an injury to her left knee.
“This is a player who was in the Matildas, got injured in a tackle from Ellie Wilson from Melbourne Victory during Unite Round,” said Pellizzeri.
“We saw the heavily bandaged right knee, but Teresa, this concern was her left knee.”
“It’s really concerning,” Polias replied. “They just got her back, she’s a player that goes out in every game and exerts herself so much in every game, she gives everything and perhaps the body is overcompensating a little bit.
“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious and they’re just wrapping her in cotton wool to ensure she stays on the pitch for the next rounds.”
