New data reveals players most fouled, led by two South Americans… and a boy from the Central Coast of NSW, writes Tom Smithies. (Data relevant as of Friday 22/4, before the weekend commenced.)
Who’d be a creative genius? Not when you know the next kick to the ankles is just a matter of minutes away.
Throughout the history of football, the quickest way to deal with an opposition’s most dangerous player has been to foul them. So as the Isuzu UTE A-League goes down to the wire, it’s perhaps no surprise that the players getting hammered the most are by and large the competition’s creative souls. Literally, it’s crunch time.
An analysis of the most-sinned-against players in the competition, compiled by Opta for KeepUp, reveals that Ulises Davila gets fouled substantially more often than any other player (66 times in 20 games), as opposition defences look to any means to stymie his playmaking skills.
Davila is fouled 43% more than the next player on this black-and-blue list – incongruously, the Central Coast’s inoffensive-seeming young leftback, Jacob Farrell. Narrowly behind Farrell is Newcastle’s Brazilian playmaker Daniel Penha, ahead of Perth striker Bruno Fornaoli and Newcastle forward Beka Mikeltadze.
Wingers dominate the second half of the top 10, featuring the likes of Oliver Boumal, Craig Noone, Ben Folami and Gael Sandoval; all of them used to rough-house treatment to counter their speed and/or trickery. Nestled among them is another Macarthur figure, striker Apostolos Giannou, whose movement often takes him out of the penalty area and into places where defenders will take the risk of fouling him.
It’s not hard to see how frustration builds in players getting routinely taken out, no matter that in some ways it’s an occupational hazard. Penha lost his cool against Perth and flung out an arm, earning a red card and suspension in the process.
The hope of sparking a reaction is, of course, part of the motivation for fouling players with the ability to really hurt you in a football sense, and in the background always rages another debate – the degree to which the most skilful players are protected by the match officials.
A further breakdown of the data suggests they are being this season. More yellow cards were issued for fouls against Penha (15) than any other player, narrowly ahead of Davila (14). There’s always a suspicion that fouls high up the pitch are deemed worse than similar challenges further back, and the playmaking types ply their trade in more dangeous areas of the field.
But it’s surely not a coincidence that of the 10 players who “win” the most yellow cards, all are attackers with a penchant for running at defenders; the likes of Noone, Boumal, Lachlan Rose, Moresche and Elvis Kamsoba. Maybe the refs get as irritated as the fans when players trying to be skilful get summarily taken out.
As for the identity of the players doing the taking out – it’s predictable that the top four are all defensive midfielders, a role where the tactical foul is part of the job description. Newcastle’s Angus Thurgate tops the list of infamy with 45 fouls, ahead of Juande and Aiden O’Neill (Adelaide and Melbourne City respectively) on 44, and Western Sydney’s Keanu Baccus on 43.
Similar names pop up in the list of players accruing most yellow cards, though players like Jacob Tratt at Adelaide or Leo Lacroix at Western United might question why they have seven yellow cards but don’t make the top 10 list for number of fouls.
Defenders being more likely to get booked is part of that concept of there being more “dangerous” areas of the pitch. But unquestionably there is also a skill to getting away with persistent foul play; certain players just seem to be able to push the boundaries further. The arts of football cover a very broad spectrum.
