Recipients of a bye last week, Mombaerts’ second-placed City welcomes a Glory unit languishing at the bottom of the A-League table this Friday night at AAMI Park in round nine’s opening match. 

It marks the second time Glory have been forced to make the trek across the Nullarbor to Melbourne in just seven days after going down 1-0 to Melbourne Victory at the same venue in round eight.

Though out-possessing, out-passing, out-shooting and out-crossing Victory that night – Head Coach Tony Popovic declaring his side dominated the contest – Glory were nonetheless ineffectual as they looked to break down their opponent's defences.

Victory were seemingly content to sit off and allow the visitors to have the ball and, combined with a Robbie Kruse masterclass, the strategy proved enough to secure three points. 

However, despite Victory’s win playing into the emerging trend of defeating Glory by reducing their ability to get forward in transition and forcing them to play through a block, don’t expect to see the same from City this Friday. 

A constant proponent of a high possession, high-pressure style that he has declared to be ‘the CFG style’, Mombaerts says that his side will be looking to take it right to their opposition on Friday night. 

“We never change our style,” the Frenchman said. “When we try to set up our style, we try to keep our offensive options and to play a press.

"We know that it will be a tough game because Perth are a good team. They don’t have the results but it’s also the beginning of the season.

“We keep our idea, we keep our philosophy and try to do as we have done before. Try to have possession, try to use good possession – not to have possession to say we have possession.

“We try to break and create opportunities and also be careful about transition because they keep a lot of the time, three players in front.

“Yes, we have to be well organised but it’s usually the same, so all A-League games are specific and it’s always a tough game.”

As for what Mombaerts considers good possession?

“Dominating games is not the main goal,” he explained. “Yes, you can dominate sometimes and not win.

"Sometimes, some teams don’t have possession because… we need to have possession to win but some teams – we have a good example – at eye level that France for example, they don’t need to have possession to win.

“Possession, it’s a good thing if when you’re in possession you can create opportunities and you can score. But if you create opportunities and not score it’s not the same – it’s a big problem.”

Despite losing their place at the top of the heap to defending champions Sydney FC while on their bye, City are riding high under their new gaffer.

With 16 points after seven rounds, the club is enjoying one of their best-ever starts - as City or Heart - and cannot fall below second-place on the table regardless of the result against Glory. 

Glory’s season, though, sits in stark contrast to their Premiership-winning campaign from a season ago. 

With just a solitary win to their names, the pressure is on Popovic and his squad to begin to pile up some points before their season begins to truly slip away. 

City will welcome back Connor Metcalfe and Richard Windbichler – the latter restricted to starting on the bench – for the clash but will have to wait another week for Florin Berenguer after Mombaerts indicated he remained unavailable despite starting for City’s Y-League.