After watching Melbourne City put his team to the sword, Macarthur FC coach Ante Milicic has labelled last season's grand finalists as the A-League's "benchmark".
City leapfrogged Macarthur into second place with their fourth win on the bounce on Friday night, with all the goals in their 3-0 victory scored in a scintillating 13-minute burst.
"I can watch the game as many times as I want but I know what I saw with those first two goals and then after that," Milicic said.
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"A team with that hunger to score, to win, their fitness, their mobility, their rotations. I'd say it's difficult for most teams in the A-League to keep up with that.
"They're the benchmark – and they should be.
"The way I analyse the upcoming opponents, and (how I saw) Melbourne City – particularly their last three games – we knew that this would be a difficult game for us and it proved to be just that."
After several years of leading the way in terms of facilities and resources, City kicked on playing-wise last season and have further built their squad this year.
(Mike Owen/Getty Images)
"I know their resources, they've got (great) facilities, they've got a great squad, they've recruited well, they have the staff," Milicic said.
"As I said, they're the benchmark on and off the field, the way that they're run.
"So it's no surprise for me from the outside to see the football that they're playing."
Patrick Kisnorbo's team trail leaders Central Coast – their next opponent – by six points but in their past four games, City have scored 14 goals and conceded just two.
"We're no benchmark at all," Kisnorbo said.
"We're just a team that likes to play a certain way, that's got processes to do that, and we try and improve week in, week out and day in, day out in training."
Kisnorbo took over from Erick Mombaerts after last season and said he was building on what he'd learned from the experienced Frenchman.
"I will not go away from the style at all," he said.
"It's just us trying to be better at it consistently, week in, week out, but the players train it day in, day out.
"So, we're always trying to learn and we're always trying to improve.
"I'm just grateful that I had a coach and a mentor in Erick that could help me along the journey, but I'm forever trying to learn and be a better coach and improve the football of the team."
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