Melbourne City Youth coach Joe Palatsides was pleased by his side’s 4-1 home victory over Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday, stating the team was slowly adapting to the club’s philosophy.
Another positive for City was the number of first team fringe players and squad members returning from injury that played out large portions of the contest, with most – bar Connor Chapman who was substituted early with another injury scare – getting through unscathed and impressing throughout the contest.
Following their 3-1 away loss to Adelaide last week despite periods of dominance, the dismantling of Western Sydney was an encouraging sign for the City coach.
“We actually had a really good first half in Adelaide but couldn’t sustain it so this week we were looking to improve, we’ve only really had the boys together for a month so really we wanted to get a few games and see how much we could improve them,” Palatsides said.
“Today I though that all the little things we discussed before the game – pressing well, and transitioning moments where we want to get the ball back as soon as we lose it – they [the players] really applied themselves to that so at the end of the day, when we do the little things well and then we score four goals, it’s pretty pleasing.”
18-year-old Marc Marino – who has started a number of senior games on bench – scored a brace, with Palatsides pleased by the more experienced youth players’ contribution to the match.
“Today we had quite a few young senior boys in the squad, and they’re all in contention for a starting line-up [in John van ‘t Schip’s team],” he said.
“So Ben Garuccio, Stefan Mauk, Ross Archibald, Connor Chapman and Marc Marino, they’re all here to keep in good condition.
“Marc did his job by scoring two goals and he could have had a couple more, which is excellent. The other boys contributed well today, which is pleasing to see all the boys putting their hands up and saying that they’re ready to go.”
The former defender was also satisfied with the progress of players returning from injury, with Jonatan Germano putting in a shift at right back, Garuccio contributing on the left, and Chapman playing a cameo at the centre of defence.
While the team was forced to play the final 15 minutes with ten men after Chapman was taken off with a suspected muscle injury, Palatsides was quick to downplay the incident, assuring the substitution was precautionary.
“Jonatan, Ben Garuccio and Connor Chapman were always going to be given limited appearances today – they’re all coming back from injuries so we wanted to make sure we take care of them, and I think they showed all of them are in good condition,” he said.
“[Chapman] felt tight but he said he was fine to continue, but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk so I made the decision to take him off and we played with 10 men the last 15 minutes.
“If we let them [Western Sydney] back in the game, so be it, but the main objectives today are to develop the boys and also make sure they come off the park nice and healthy.
Melbourne City Youth’s next game is against the FFA Centre of Excellence at Broadmeadow’s Valley on Saturday.