Week one of Hyundai A-League season 2012/13 featured some fascinating battles, as the teams got to know each other once again. What do the numbers reveal?
Week one of Hyundai A-League season 2012/13 featured some fascinating battles, as the teams got to know each other once again.
Most of the games were quite evenly matched with individual errors and defensive lapses ultimately deciding who got the points in the opening weekend. Let-s look at some of the interesting figures to come out of the opening weekend.
Victory v Heart
The hype around Ange Postecoglou-s system at Victory was outshone by the sheer competitiveness of John Aloisi-s Heart in the Melbourne derby.
Passes completed: Victory 470 / Heart 166; accuracy: Victory 83% / Heart 65%.
Tackles: Victory 25 / Heart 45; effective: Victory 63% / Heart 73%.
Yellow cards: Victory 1 / Heart 4
Postecoglou-s methods are obviously having an effect on the Victory squad, who outpassed their opponents by a clear margin.
But Archie Thompson-s comments that Victory were bullied off the park are backed up when you see how hard Heart pressed and harried Victory.
Almost double the number of tackles and four yellow cards shows just how committed Aloisi-s troops were to not giving Victory time on the ball.
Anyone looking to get some early points of Postecoglou-s side while they-re still settling down would do well to study Aloisi-s tactics.
Wellington v Sydney
With all the attention on Alessandro Del Piero, Phoenix stuck to their system and their guns to get a deserved win over a slightly confused looking Sydney FC.
Shots on goal: Phoenix 10 / Sydney 1
Effective tackles: Phoenix 70% / Sydney 89%
Passes complete: Phoenix 202 / Sydney 393; accuracy: Phoenix 75% / Sydney 83%
Crosses: Phoenix 20 / Sydney 7; corners: Phoenix 8 / Sydney 2
The numbers suggest that Sydney were competitive, making plenty of effective tackles and passes, but just not attacking enough – but that-s pretty obvious to anyone who watched the game. This suggests that the foundations of a system are there but the outcome isn-t.
Phoenix dominated the corners and crosses, as expected, but it would be interesting to get more detail to compare the two teams- movement in the final third.
Ian Crook said his side need more time to gel but the difference between shots on goals alone says that Sydney weren-t a threat in this game. Can they turn that around against the Jets in week 2?
Glory v Brisbane
This was a real battle between two of the teams expected to challenge for honours at the end of the season.
Fouls conceded: Perth 18 / Brisbane 12
Tackles: Perth 23 / Brisbane 20; effective: Perth 79% / Brisbane 63%
Passes: Perth 248 / Brisbane 366; accuracy: Perth 75% / Brisbane 80%
Glory had their game plan set-out and they weren-t going to let Brisbane over-run them, instead focusing on making tackles (only a minor amount more than Roar, but noticeably more effective), and predictably conceding a few more fouls.
Brisbane, however, received four yellow cards to Perth-s three, suggesting that perhaps Rado Vidosic-s side were frustrated by Glory-s tactics.
On a side note, Brisbane made more than 100 passes than Perth – but also a great deal fewer than Ange Postecoglou-s new team. Does this signify the difference between Vidosic and Postecoglou or simply a result of Ian Ferguson’s successful strategy? This weekend’s clash between Roar and Victory should reveal much more.
