By Anthony Colangelo
A bullish Scott Jamieson says Melbourne City have the cattle to cover for injured striker Ross McCormack as his side prepares to face a resurgent Melbourne Victory in the "Christmas Melbourne Derby" at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
McCormack and City will learn on Monday night if the Scottish striker needs knee surgery after he was injured in City's 3-1 loss to Sydney on Friday. If he requires surgery he could be out for up to three months and if he doesn't, then two to four weeks out is a best-case scenario. He was cleared of serious ACL damage on Sunday.
McCormack is on loan from Aston Villa as injury cover for Bruno Fornaroli who is still at least five weeks from playing. City's attacking stocks have been depleted with McCormack and Fornaroli's injuries, plus the departure of Tim Cahill and Fernando Brandan, who the club announced on Monday would return to Argentina.
Brandan, joined Melbourne City on a loan deal in July 2016 but hasn't played since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament at training last March.
Departing: Winger Fernando Brandan will return to Argentina.Credit: AAP
Brandan made 19 appearances for City and scored three goals.
Jamieson told reporters on Monday that City didn't lack players who could replace their absent attacking stars, despite McCormack having scored half of City's goals this season.
"The flipside is we've got youngsters coming through now. With Nathaniel [Atkinson] coming through, [Daniel] Arzani coming on the pitch, it's exciting for the Melbourne public.
"For youngsters to see that one team is giving youngsters a fair chance and an opportunity, if they want to choose one team in Melbourne it's Melbourne City."
Strong performance: Nathaniel Atkinson has impressed in his two appearances. Credit: AAP
Atkinson has impressed since playing 90 minutes as a winger on debut two weeks ago, while Arzani – an attacking midfielder – has shown his talents despite minimal game time over the past two seasons.
Striker Braedyn Crowley is in strong National Youth League form, scoring five goals in his past two games, including a hat-trick in the 9-2 derby drubbing of Victory youth in early December.
"He [Crowley] is one of those players I don't like to play against but I like to have him on my team. He's a player that you know his elbows, arms, legs will go flying and he'll kick you and that but he can also score a goal.
"If I had the chance to pick a team I'd give him an opportunity because with his record in the youth team, with the way he trains he has no fear, he is definitely an option we can use upfront," Jamieson said.
Bruce Kamau – who has missed the last three games through injury – declared himself fit for selection for the derby.
"I have never really played upfront but if that's the role for me on the weekend I'd be happy to do that," the winger said.
Meanwhile, Victory coach Kevin Muscat said Sunday night's 2-1 away win to Brisbane Roar should remind the league his chargers are a good side. That's despite a patchy and underwhelming season.
"One thing tonight showed me and two weeks ago in Wellington showed me is that there's a good football team. We're a good football team," Muscat said.
"We've got to find that consistency ... we'll start working on making sure we have another positive week and the messages we get to the players about how we can be better and for longer because I thought we were much better this week than we were last week and the result looked after itself."
-– With AAP