Wellington Phoenix forward Kosta Barbarouses has earned Player of the Month honours for January in the Isuzu UTE A-League, after a fan vote.
It’s the second month in succession Barbarouses has claimed Player of the Month honours, after four goals and two assists helped the Phoenix star win the December vote.
Barbarouses, who turned 34 this week, is enjoying a sensational campaign at the ‘Nix and with 10 goals to his name in 2023-24, is on track for his best-ever goals total in the league in a single season
His previous-best total of 15 came in the 2018-19 season at Melbourne Victory, including finals; Barbarouses has nine remaining fixtures in the regular season and a potentially deep finals run ahead to eclipse that figure.
Barbarouses played four games in January, scoring four goals and notching one assist.
His four goals came in the form of two braces, scored in a 2-2 draw with Adelaide United and a 4-3 win over Perth Glory.
SCENES! Victory defender scores in 95th AND 98th minute in incredible comeback win
ALW POTM: Special send-off for departing Western star with January Fan Player of the Month award
Barbarouses was adjudged A-League Men Player of the Month for January after a fan vote, leading a 10-player shortlist of nominees selected via the Opta Index.
The Opta Index is based on totals in a variety of statistics for each player. The index score uses subcomponents (such as shooting, passing, defending), corresponding to different qualitative aspects of a player’s performance.
These component scores are combined to create an overall rating for each player. The formula that works out the overall match rating have been developed by Opta’s own team of data scientists in conjunction with our award-winning Data Editorial team.
Barbarouses’ Opta Index of 77.3 was the fifth-highest in January; the Phoenix forward beat Danny Vukovic, Adam Taggart, Jamie Young, Daniel Penha, Joe Lolley, Terry Antonis, Ben Garuccio, Hiroshi Ibusuki and Ulises Dávila in the fan vote on A-Leagues social media to claim January Fan Player of the Month honours.
Phoenix keeper Alex Paulsen won the October/November Player of the Month award before Barbarouses went back-to-back in December and January.
PHOENIX BY THE NUMBERS: Will the Nix go on to claim historic A-Leagues crown? This is what the data says
BUY TICKETS TO WELLINGTON’S NEXT ISUZU UTE A-LEAGUE MATCHES
