Melbourne City defender Jason Hoffman, left, challenges Ali Abbas of Sydney FC last Saturday. Source: Getty Images
BILLIONAIRE owners, a high profile and top-class signings — they all should add up to a winning culture and therefore greater success on the football field. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way for struggling Melbourne City. Well, not yet anyway.
For whatever reasons — fear has been suggested as one — the team formerly known as Melbourne Heart can’t get it quite right in the A-League this season.
Tipped to be a major player after the City Football Group, owners of Premier League giants Manchester City, bought them, the Victorians have struggled to make an impact.
A paltry return of one win and three draws in their opening seven games has put pressure on coach John van ’t Schip and his players to turn things around, and quickly, leading to unkind comparisons to the mediocre results endured under the Heart moniker.
Last week’s 2-1 loss to Sydney FC brought much introspection, with van ’t Schip saying he believes his team is playing with fear.
“The belief is sometimes not there. Having a bit of fear. With fear, you’re never going to win games,” the coach said in a brutal assessment.
It is not a belief Jason Hoffman shares. Asked if it was wrong for people to think that because Manchester City bought the club that the team would inevitably win every game, the Melbourne City defender said he didn’t agree the ownership change had affected the mindset of the players.
“To be honest, I don’t think we are playing with fear,” Hoffman said. “Yes, there has been a lot of expectation on us but we are not feeling it.
“At the end of the day people will say positive and negative things about us regardless. As far as people outside club … whatever is said about us, good or bad, it is not affecting the playing group.
“We have high expectations anyway to play good football and get the right results. We have played some good football (this season) and we can be better.
“When we continue to get better then the results will come.”
Hoffman, a striker converted to right-back by van ’t Schip, said the players hadn’t dwelled on previous seasons, when the club had struggled for results, although he admitted one win from seven was “unacceptable”.
“We have a few new players this season and they have an extremely positive outlook on how things are going,” he said.
“If the players that were here last year, me being one of them, tend to drift into thinking about, ‘this is how things might have went last season’, then the new players have been excellent in trying to make sure the mentality is strong and that we move forward.
“Of course, one win in seven is nowhere near where we want to be as a club. There is a lot of responsibility on us. I feel we have not played anywhere near what we should and that is unacceptable.
“We have spoken about it and we are working hard to right things. We are not far off but (being) not far off isn’t quite good enough to come up as a response.”
Despite the team leaking silly goals, Hoffman said he was enjoying the switch to defender.
“I feel it has been a great move for me,” the former Olyroo said. “As a centre-forward I felt at times I was not getting the right results for the team. When you feel you are not contributing then you get down on yourself a little.
“One of my biggest attributes is getting up and down the line, so playing right-back gives me that option. I owe a lot to John van ’t Schip. He has given me a lifeline.”
source: theaustralian.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 