Win up to Melbourne City’s young brigade

MELBOURNE City will continue their search for an A-League scoring formula without Bruno Fornaroli (right) when they travel to Adelaide this weekend.

City have scored in just two of their past five matches and are desperate to find a forward-line connection against United.

Last week against Perth, City troubled the league leaders but didn’t have a shot on target.

Unfortunately for City, coach Warren Joyce reported no sign of the change in attitude he wants to see in his proven scorer.

“No, there’s been no difference,” Joyce said.

Joyce said he wouldn’t look to field the Uruguayan in the City’s youth team, as he did with Curtis Good last month, saying he didn’t think “things like that help senior players”.

City must wait until the January transfer window to ponder replacements for Fornaroli, so it’s up to Joyce’s next-gen brigade to find the goals.

Riley McGree, whose form has the 20-year-old in Asian Cup calculations, 21-year-old Lachlan Wales and teenager Nathaniel Atkinson are likely to continue in Adelaide on Sunday.

“You want competition for places, don’t you,” Joyce said.

Frenchman Florin Berenguer was unlikely to be seen until the new year with a calf injury.