This game was probably the best reflection of what a club with owners can achieve and those without can’t.
When the line-ups came out, it’s fair to say that many, if not all Glory fans were feeling nervous.
With Melbourne City’s team consisting of the likes of Tolgay Arslan, Matthew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren, Hamza Sakhi and Marin Jakoliš, it was looking pretty grim.
City showed their class from the off. They dominated possession in those early stages and were moving the ball around nicely, with the Glory happy to sit off.
Yet it was Alen Stajcic’s side who took the initiative and caused City the most problems to begin with.
Callum Talbot was adjudged to have been the last man, and the referee at the time decided to give the fullback a red card, which was correctly downgraded to a yellow upon a VAR review.
However that following free-kick, City gave away a penalty following VAR stepping in again to find that Matthew Leckie had his arm in an unnatural position as it made contact with the ball from Mark Beevers’ header.
Yet it looks like the Glory have developed a bit of a voodoo from the penalty spot, with Salim Khelifi smashing his penalty against the post.
City took the lead almost 20 minutes later, as VAR found that Johnny Koutroumbis had pulled back Tolgay Arslan in the box. At the game, it appeared to be an extremely soft call.
Arslan put away his penalty with real composure.
Fortunately for the Glory, Aurelio Vidmar’s side would be the architects of their own downfall minutes before half-time as a sloppy pass from Alessandro Lopane saw Adam Taggart pounce, take the ball past Jamie Young and tap the ball home.
It was great awareness from the skipper, who read the pass well and finished cooly.
That goal was a big spark, as that gave the Glory more energy and urgency going forward, and at the ground, a bit more of an impetus to go on with things in the second half.
In the initial phases of the second half, we probably didn’t see much of the Glory’s attacking drive.
City were slowly but surely growing in more confidence and eventually, they found the breakthrough via Matthew Leckie’s header.
His leap towered over Mark Beevers and the header gave Cameron Cook, who had been one of Glory’s standout performers during the game, no chance.
City had a little bit more control from there, and it was not long after that when Alen Stajcic emptied the bench.
Experienced forward David Williams came on, as did Mustafa Amini who made his return from injury. Bruce Kamau made his 150th appearance in the A-Leagues and young guns Daniel Bennie and Jarrod Carluccio were also summoned.
Amini’s introduction gave the Glory a bit more control in the midfield and it was certainly pleasing to see him back in the side, as he was sorely missed.
From around the 75th minute onwards, Glory carpet bombed City’s goal. Plenty of crosses and long balls.
Adam Taggart had some great opportunities, chances that he fashioned at times out of nothing, and he was close on a few occasions.
However, despite what looked like a grandstand finish, the game ended with somewhat of a whimper.
So to conclude, going back to my original point, this game highlighted what good owners can do to a club.
The quality of Melbourne City’s squad was next level. Tolgay Arslan, for instance, was unbelievable and ran the show.
Meanwhile, for the Glory, it’s a really difficult situation and it just emphasises the key points made by Far Post Perth member Neil Sherwin as to why it’s so imperative new owners are sought out for the club for any real progression to occur.
I could analyse and give my opinion all day on the tactics and data from the game, but the bottom line is real change and improvement need to happen and can’t until new owners are in.
From there, it’s somewhat of a pointless exercise to blame whoever over the outcome of not just today’s game, but the others as well.
This is honestly a terrible position for any football club to be in. The players, staff and importantly the members and fans don’t deserve this.
The sooner new owners are found, the better.
As a final takeaway, shoutouts to both Adam Taggart and Cam Cook, who both put in huge shifts and were excellent.
Newcastle away is up next for the Glory. It’ll certainly be a tough test and will no doubt be interesting to see how the players respond heading into this clash.
