Thursday’s A-League 2016 Round 6 match is between Melbourne City and Newcastle Jets. The opening kick off is set to commence at 19:52 local time with the game to be played at AAMI Park. The home team Melbourne City are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Melbourne City and Newcastle Jets.
Melbourne City are coming off a 1-0 loss to the Roar and remarkably didn’t have a single shot on target. This was partly down to their ineffective build-ups and a solid Brisbane defence.
Both Brisbane and Perth have shown the rest of the league how a compact and organised defensive structure and counterattacking style can prove very successful against City.
So the question is, which teams will employ a similar style and how will City solve the problem?
After going the first three rounds unbeaten, the Jets have now suffered back-to-back defeats.
The problem they face at the moment is they’ve been outclassed and dominated in those matches as well as their 2-2 draw against the Wanderers in round 3.
Newcastle will need their leading men to step up and steady the ship once again with Nigel Boogaard (pictured below) and Morten Nordstrand the most experienced in the squad.
KEY BATTLE: Bruno Fornaroli v Nigel Boogaard
Fornaroli won’t be happy with the way things went up in Brisbane so he’ll be hungry to add to his goal-scoring tally against the Jets.
Boogaard will have his work cut out and the Uruguayan should come out on top.
The verdict
City have been strong at home and mixed some impressive performances with some mediocre displays. The home advantage will be too much for the Jets and City will win comfortably.
Unibet Odds: Melbourne City 1.38 Draw 5.00 Newcastle 8.00
Tip: Melbourne City
Teams:
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (gk), 2.Manny MUSCAT, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Neil KILKENNY, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Bruce KAMAU, 12.Nick FITZGERALD, 14.Daniel ARZANI, 17.Tim CAHILL, 18.Paulo RETRE, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI (c), 27.Fernando BRANDAN.
Newcastle Jets squad: 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Mateo POLJAK, 9.Aleksandr KOKKO, 10.Wayne BROWN, 11.Labinot HALITI, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 16.Nicholas COWBURN, 18.MA Leilei, 19.Morten NORDSTRAND, 20.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 23.Devante CLUT, 27.Caio DE GODOY, 28.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 40.Jim FOGARTY (gk).