Brattan is kicking himself after beginning the season with all guns blazing for City, and has now conceded his form has dropped.

He still remains uncapped for the Socceroos after sitting on the bench against Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Jordan in 2015.

Brattan’s other call-up came in November 2016 to replace ruled out Massimo Luongo against Thailand after he was originally in the extended 30-man squad.

And as the Socceroos lock horns with Iraq and UAE towards the end of March, Brattan feels his personal form will have to change if he is even to be considered by coach Ange Postecoglou.

“No (I’m not playing well enough). I haven’t played well since that camp, so I’m not happy with myself at the moment,” Brattan conceded.

“I’m trying to change that, get back to the form I was in before the Socceroos camp, and first and foremost to help the team and I haven’t been consistent since that camp.

“I’m definitely looking in the mirror... ultimately I want to be there. At the moment I don’t deserve to be there.”

Brattan is fortunate enough to be playing alongside the all-time leading goal scorer of the Socceroos, Tim Cahill in club colours.

But the 26-year-old wants to rectify his game before consulting his peers.

“I know myself, of course Timmy is a fantastic leader and mentor,” he said.

“He’s been a Socceroos legend for years now (but)… I know my own game, better than anyone, I know what I can and can’t do. I’ll try fix it myself first and if I can’t then I’ll go elsewhere.

“I’m not getting in the right areas, I’m not getting the ball in the right areas.

“Not getting enough of the ball and that might be teams parking the bus, it might be me… I’m yet to work that out but hopefully it’ll change on Saturday night.”

It is the highly anticipated Melbourne Derby on Saturday night where City need to win if they are any chance to make the top two.

As it stands, City sit fourth on 26 points while Victory are second on 32 points, 11 behind undefeated Sydney FC who top the table.

Brattan still felt it was mathematically possible and wanted the club to make the AFC Asian Champions League (ACL) for the first time in history.

“You look at the club we’re trying to be and we’re trying to be the biggest in Asia, so we’ve got to be there to do that,” Brattan said.

“Of course (top two) is still possible, that’s what we’re going for. If we can’t win it we’re going for second place.

“We’re still going to try and win it, results have to fall in our way but I think we’re going to go play game by game and try go for three points each game.”