Did your team deserve the points last weekend? The numbers tell another side of the story.
Did your team deserve the points last weekend? The numbers tell another side of the story.
Adelaide United v Perth Glory
Possession: Adelaide 49% / Glory 51%
Tackles: Adelaide 25 / Glory 23; effectiveness: 69% / 62%
Total shots: Adelaide 15 / Glory 14; on target: 10 / 8
Completed passes: Adelaide 309 / Glory 326; accuracy: 83% / 84%
Crosses: Adelaide 9 / Glory 20; corners: 6 / 16
What to say about a game Adelaide should have had well and truly wrapped up before a late Perth rally?
The numbers say the Reds were on top, but only just: more tackles, made more effectively, which means they were better at disrupting Glory on the ball. And Kossie-s men had more shots, more of which were actually on target.
But perhaps these figures say more about Perth. Glory came pretty close to their hosts on most of the key indicators but were three goals down just after the restart. Ian Ferguson-s men have been there or thereabouts all season – but often drawing or losing by one goal.
If Glory want to at least match last season-s run to the GF, they need to get on top of their opponents. The visitors had twice as many crosses and corners – why didn-t they stick any of them away?
Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners
Possession: Victory 49% / Mariners 51%
Total shots: Victory 17 / Mariners 13; on target: 4 / 7
Tackles: Victory 29 / Mariners 11; effectiveness: 97% / 92%
Completed passes: Victory 471 / Mariners 397; accuracy: 87% / 89%
A fascinating game between the two best sides in the competition. Victory looked to have the better of the attacking play but the Mariners proved yet again they have the self-belief to withstand and come back.
Melbourne had more shots but the Mariners got more on target. Interestingly, given the criticism of the Victory defence, Ange Postecoglou-s men made more than double the number of tackles than the Mariners.
We don-t have the stats to see where on the park these were made but anyone watching saw how little time they had on the ball at the back, and it illustrates that Postecoglou told his team to pressure the Mariners to stop them playing out from defence.
Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar
Possession: Jets 46% / Roar 54%
Total shots: Jets 17 / Roar 7; on target: 7 / 2
Completed passes: Jets 203 / Roar 396; accuracy: 75% / 84%
Tackles: Jets 50 / Roar 35; effectiveness: 83% / 85%
Crosses: Jets 11 / Roar 19
This was an impressive performance from the Jets, even if it was only because they had a clear game plan for once.
Pressure, pressure, pressure. Gary van Egmond knew Brisbane liked to move the ball around but also recognised the Roar lack the incisiveness of old. As a result Brisbane were pinned inside their own half and failed to make any meaningful incursions into Jets territory.
The Jets had more than double the number of shots and made a massive 50 tackles, while the Roar made almost 200 more passes than their hosts and only managed two shots on target. That pretty much sums it up.
Wellington Phoenix v Western Sydney Wanderers
Possession: Phoenix 52% / Wanderers 48%
Total shots: Phoenix 9 / Wanderers 17; on target: 5 / 8
Completed passes: Phoenix 316 / Wanderers 259; accuracy: 79% / 76%
Tackles: Phoenix 37 / Wanderers 28; effectiveness: 95% / 85%
Crosses: Phoenix 25 / Wanderers 19
Goalkeeper saves: Phoenix 5 / Wanderers 0
Yet again, Wellington started the better but faded as they failed to make an impact on their opponents and ultimately paid the price.
These numbers suggest Phoenix saw more of the ball in terms of possession, passes, tackles and crosses – but what did they do with it?
The Wanderers had loads more shots on goal, and pushed Mark Paston into action, while Ante Covic has little to do.
Westpac used to be a fortress but rarely has a team had such an easy ride as Western Sydney last weekend.
* We chose not to look at the Sydney FC v Melbourne Heart stats, as the two were evenly matched and little could be drawn from the numbers.
