City had a campaign filled with turmoil, with coach Joyce seen as the main culprit by many. Things started to go wrong after just 4 rounds when the team’s superstar in attack Fornaroli refused to travel for an away game after being told that he won’t start. From that point on until the end of the season he was banned from the first team by the manager, which exposed the lack of cutting edge in City’s squad with Fornaroli not playing.
City were so short on forwards in November and December that half a dozen times right-back De Laet had to start as false nine. Expectedly this brought problems and not enough goals, but at least defensively City were very strong and this was what kept them in the top 6.
Only Glory had more clean sheets and better defensive stats than City, with Schenkeveld, De Laet and Delbridge the 3 main pillars at the back for Joyce’s team.
To address the issues in attack Joyce brought strikers Harrison and Maclaren to the squad in early February and they both scored 5 goals each in the second part of the season.
Still the slow ball movement and the lack of creativity in attack were issues that Joyce couldn’t sort out and City missed out on home advantage in the play-offs, only to lose dramatically 0:1 in the Elimination Final vs. Adelaide, with Joyce sacked right after the game.
