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Former Socceroo Steve Horvat has slammed Melbourne City's decision to appoint Bruno Fornaroli as captain this season, saying he is "definitely not" the best leader for the A-League club.
Horvat said Melbourne City has a discipline and cultural problem that needs to be eradicated if the club is going to attract supporters and achieve success.
"I think that was the worst decision they could have made in the off-season, making him the captain," Horvat told Grandstand.
"He's too hot blooded, too temperamental and that's not the type of leader you need in a club like this — you need a calming influence ... and I think that's been a real problem for this club this season."
City currently sits fourth on the A-League ladder with eight wins in its 21 matches.
But the club has managed just one win in its last five outings, culminating in a 3-1 loss to runaway leaders Sydney FC on Friday.
Speaking after the match, Horvat was blunt in his assessment of the Melbourne club's performance.
"The attitude and the mentality of the City players — it's not how you get bigger crowds in the stands, it's not how you get the crowd on your side.
"You give everything to the last minute of the game and try and get something out of it, if anything it's at least pride in your performance and that was really lacking."
Horvat, capped 32 times for Australia, also referred to a lack of discipline which had "haunted" the club in the second half of the season.
"We talked about it a few weeks ago when they had a number of players missing due to multiple yellow cards, they had Timmy Cahill with a red card the other week, you had [Manny Muscat] getting a red card [against Sydney]," he said.
"There's a lot of angst amongst the players in between themselves, a lot of arguing with the referee — these are all things that are a cultural problem and they need to eradicate that as quick as possible."
Coach John van 't Schip departed the club for family reasons in January with assistant coach Michael Valkanis taking over for the remainder of the season.
The club has taken 10 of a possible 24 points since then, but Horvat isn't blaming Valkanis for the current predicament.
"It's the people they've brought into the club, the players, the type of mentality they have in there," he said.
"[Sydney FC coach Graham] Arnold really hand-picked the players and the leaders he wanted to have.
"You've got guys like [Alex] Brosque, [Alex] Wilkinson that have come in, guys like [Danny] Vukovic — these are all leaders, experienced players with the right temperament and that's what makes you a great team."
Topics: a-league, soccer, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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