Leadership, resilience and a never say die attitude – character traits that were sorely missing from Melbourne City’s second half performance on Friday

The 1956 FA Cup final is remembered for Bert Trautmann’s heroics. The Manchester City goalkeeper made a string of late saves despite dislocating five vertebrae in the 75th minute. Was it ignorance that made him continue? Stupidity? Sporting mythology being what it is, Trautmann’s pain threshold has entered legend as an enduring testament of character.



Across town, the greatest individual performance in Manchester United’s modern era was delivered by Roy Keane when he dragged his team past Juventus in the 1999 Champions League semi-final despite knowing he would be suspended for the showpiece.

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“I did not think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I already had of the Irishman but he rose even further in my estimation at the Stadio Delle Alpi,” wrote Sir Alex Ferguson in his first autobiography. “The minute he was booked and out of the final, he seemed to redouble his efforts to get the team there. It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him.”

Leadership, resilience and a never say-die-attitude; character traits missing from Melbourne City’s second half performance on Friday night against the Newcastle Jets and arguably absent from the club since Melbourne Heart first took the field in 2010.

The post match assessment of Steve Horvat, former Socceroo and now ABC pundit, is hard to dispute following City’s implosion from a 2-0 half-time lead to a 3-2 home defeat. Horvat suggested that the Jets’ gutsy display showed “the type of character that you build a club on”.

He added in a series of tweets directed at City that, “money can buy you a lot of things, but it can’t buy a soul”.

As the tide turned slowly but surely City’s callow midfield was overrun. Industrious in the first half Stefan Mauk and Jacob Melling spent the second chasing shadows. Aaron Mooy, the league’s best player, wandered aimlessly. Ahead of them John van ’t Schip’s substitutions backfired. Behind them Paulo Retre was turned inside out by Enver Alivodic.



A game firmly in City’s grasp was prised off them with meek resistance. There was no character, no leadership.

Youth and inexperience are obvious retorts to Friday’s disintegration. City have a long and credentialed injury list, but the spine and guts of the team is not on it. The players of character a coach would turn to in times of trouble just don’t exist at the club. As both Heart and City they have never had an abundance of character. When the going gets tough City can expect to be found wanting.

For a club conceived as Heart there has always been a lack of ticker. Now in its sixth season, with the riches of the City Football Group behind it, this consistent oversight reflects poorly on the coaching and recruitment staff.

Scanning City’s squad, outside of a clutch of competent defenders there is only the 20-year-old Melling who shows any appetite for the muck and bullets approach required to dig out results when the chips are down. There are no abrasive mavericks to jumpstart a flatlining contest. Van ’t Schip is not and has never been spoiled for choice over the selection of a captain.

If he sees out the season the Dutchman will become the fourth most experienced coach in A-League history. He currently has a win ratio of 32%, the lowest of any manager with more than 100 appearances on the competition’s touchlines. The club he built and re-inherited has always been neat and methodical but lacking drive and a cutting edge. He has had enough time and resources to identify and remedy these inadequacies.

This column endorsed Scott Miller’s Novocastrian revolution last week and at AAMI Park the league’s youngest coach outperformed his vastly more credentialled opposite number with one half-time teamtalk and a single innocuous substitution. Mark Birighitti spoke afterwards in glowing terms of the “bollocking” Miller had given the Jets during the interval. Jason Hoffman celebrated Miller’s instinct in bringing on Cameron Watson, a defensive midfielder, despite trailing 2-0 and seemingly out of the game.

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Graham Arnold is an advocate of recruiting players of character and there’s no finer example than his two-club talisman Matt Simon. With Sydney FC and ten-man Central Coast Mariners locked at 1-1 substitute Simon scored twice to send the Sky Blues back to the top of the table. It was a fitting end to a rancorous week for the ex-Mariner, though his former side were done no favours by referee Adam Fielding.

Adelaide United’s frustrating start to the season continued with a 3-0 defeat away to Brisbane Roar. It was a familiar tale for winless United with poor finishing undoing typically attractive build-up play. In four matches Guillermo Amor’s side has only found the net twice, both own goals.

And on Sunday, Western Sydney Wanderers celebrated their first win of the campaign at a wet Pirtek Stadium. Dario Vidosic’s first half strike secured the three points with an understrength Perth Glory never seriously threatening an equaliser. Champions Melbourne Victory play Wellington Phoenix on Monday night to complete round four.