Simon’s making a comeback

After a number of recent hamstring and ankle injuries, Kyah Simon’s proved that she’s back and ready to go.

The striker had her name on the scoresheet in less than five minutes – a low and hard strike into the bottom corner.

She scored her second goal of the game just before the half time whistle, taking a penalty after Sham Khamis fouled Claire Emslie for the second time.

Simon set up a number of chances for Melbourne and created her own goal scoring opportunities on multiple occasions.

It was Simon’s pass that found Emslie before she was fouled in the box and awarded the first penalty of the match.

The 28-year-old has been rewarded for her hard work by being named in the Matildas squad for the Olympic qualifiers that was announced earlier in the week.

As cool as you like by @KyahSimon 😎 #MCYvCBR

📹 @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/rVQyanO402

— Melbourne City FC 🏙️ (@MelbourneCity) January 9, 2020 ">

 

Canberra’s defence couldn’t keep up

Canberra’s defensive problems were exposed against a high-quality Melbourne City team in tonight’s game.  

There were multiple times where players were left unmarked in the box or were too slow to close down crosses and mark up the runs of Melbourne’s attacking players.

Melbourne easily beat Canberra’s defence through one v ones and spilt passes, with United’s defenders often slow to recover.

A leaky Canberra defence left Sham Khamis exposed on two occasions, where the keeper had no choice but to foul Claire Emslie and concede both penalties.

Canberra found themselves too deep in some instances and too high on others – they couldn’t seem to work out how to get out of their half and create their own opportunities.

Conceding four goals pushes Canberra’s goal difference to minus six – their defence will need to be better in the following weeks if they want to make it into the top four.

Stats in favour of City

The statistics were heavily in favour of Melbourne City tonight.

Four goals to nil is a statement, but the other match statistics show a more telling story.

Melbourne City had 18 shots to Canberra United’s seven.

It’s not only Canberra’s defence that’s struggling, but they also found it extremely difficult to break down Melbourne’s stoic defence.

City had 62% possession and played 200 more passes than their opposition (546 to 334 respectively).

It’s difficult to score goals without having the ball long enough to create attacking chances.

Canberra found themselves down 3-0 in the first half, whilst City haven’t conceded a goal in over 400 minutes.

These statistics show just how good a side Melbourne City really is. They’re going to be hard to beat if they can keep up their goal scoring glory and dazzling defending. 

🏁 FULL TIME

City claims 7️⃣ wins on the trot, consolidating top spot on the ladder.#MCYvCBR #WLeague pic.twitter.com/otWMJbT4JQ

— Westfield W-League (@WLeague) January 9, 2020 ">