Archive for A-League
Sydney, Heart anchor table
The new Melbourne team, Melbourne Heart also have a single point to their name after a loss in round three.
Its early days in the new season but Perth Glory are flying and now sit on top of the table with seven points and they are the only team to have won twice so far this season.
The Glory next meet Heart at AAMI Park.
A quick look at the scorelines so far shows that 3-all is the most popular result at the moment with three matches having finished that way.
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 1 | 1 |
| 0 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 1 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 3 | 3 |
delicious
digg
Draws dominate A-League opening round
So the Central Coast Mariners were the only winners and their first half goal was enough to get all three points against new boys Melbourne Heart.
There was a contrast in the drawn matches with two ending goalless and the other two ending in high scoring 3-all draws.
The champions Sydney could not get a winning start as they defend their title.
However, should be happy that at last they managed to score against Sydney in a league match having failed to find the net in three attempts last season.
The North Queensland Fury got a last minute goal to secure a point in the other scoring draw of the round.
This week I will take a look at all the results for the Mariners from season 1 in the opening round:
| Match | Score |
|---|---|
| Perth Glory vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 1 |
| Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners | 1 - 0 |
| Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC | 0 - 1 |
| Newcastle Jets vs Central Coast Mariners | 1 - 1 |
| Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 2 |
| Melbourne Heart vs Central Coast Mariners | 0 - 1 |
So the Mariners have lost in the first round only when they have played Sydney FC and twice have opened the season in Melbourne and won.
Heart, Mariners kick off 2010/11 A-League season
The two teams are coached by coaches with no previous experience in the A-League and it will be interesting to see how the match will be approached.
Round one will also see the grand final rematch as defending champions Sydney FC take on runners up Melbourne Victory.
For the first time the A-League will have byes now that there is an odd number of teams and the first team to get the bye will be Wellington Phoenix.
Once again there will be a number of posts on the A-League this season in a season which looks very unpredictable especially with Heart looking good on paper but it has to be seen what they can do on the pitch.
Adelaide settles for Coolen
Adelaide who finished bottom in the A-League last season managed to reach the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League.
In the last six years Coolen has coached FC Twente, AGOVV Apeldoorn and RBC Roosendaal having retired from playing fifteen years ago.
Coolen's first match in the 2010/11 A-League season will be a home match against Newcastle Jets at the Hindmarsh Stadium.
Fury turns to Straka
Straka replaces inaugural coach Ian Ferguson who is now an assistant at Perth Glory.
Straka will be assisted at Fury by Stuart McLaren as they build a Fury side that has lost most if its players due to financial problems at the club.
The Fury just missed the finals by two points.
Now only Adelaide United are without a coach after Aurelio Vidmar left to join the Socceroos setup.
2010/11 A-League fixtures released
The 2010/11 season will kick off on the 5th of August and like last season there will be 27 rounds.
The last round in the home and away season will be played on the 13th of February with the Grand Final set for the second weekend of March 2011.
Having an odd number of teams means that in every round there will be one team without a match. So the Wellington Phoenix will only get their first match in the second round.
The full fixture can be found here.
The fixtures will be available on TipsChallenge during the 2010 World Cup competition.
Ferguson held a similar position at the Central Coast Mariners before he became the foundation coach at Fury.
Ferguson's Fury finished the season just outside the finals places despite anchoring the table for most of the season.
Although the team finished seventh, Fury conceded the most number of goals in the league and also the team had the worst goal difference.
Here is a quick summary of Ferguson's Fury for the 2009/10 season:Ferguson joins Perth Glory
| Ferguson's Fury | |
|---|---|
| Team | NQ Fury |
| Played | 27 |
| Points | 32 |
| Rank | 7 |
| Won | 8 |
| Drawn | 8 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | -17 |
| Clean sheets | 4 |
| Failed to score | 7 |
| Goals scored | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 46 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Gold Coast 0 - 2 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Scored 3 or more | 1 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 7 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 13 |
| Points | 21 |
| Won | 6 |
| Drawn | 3 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Goals scored | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 18 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 14 |
| Points | 11 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 7 |
| Goal difference | -15 |
| Goals scored | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 28 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 |
Victory tops second half performance
The second half ladder looks at the second half result only and the Victory collected 48 points in the second half.
For comparison the final A-League table is here. So here is the second half table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 48 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 39 |
| Gold Coast | 27 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 24 | 20 | 4 | 39 |
| Sydney | 27 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 39 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 35 |
| NQ Fury | 27 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 25 | -6 | 35 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 6 | 16 | 5 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 34 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 22 | -8 | 29 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 25 | -9 | 27 |
| Adelaide Utd | 27 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 20 | -7 | 25 |
Its interesting to see that the two bottom teams on this table finished in those same positions in the real table.
At this point it could be worthwhile maybe to look at the trend between winning at half time and winning the match in the end and the table below shows the trend for the 2009/10 season:
.
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 46 | 43.4 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 22 | 20.8 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 2 | 1.9 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 2 | 1.9 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 22 | 20.8 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 12 | 11.3 |
| Matches ending in result | 106 | 74.6 |
Basically in the majority of cases, the team leading at half time goes on to win at the end of the match.
In only four matches did teams losing at half time go on to win at full time.
There will another post later comparing the trends in the A-League with the trends in the English Premier League, Champions League and La Liga.
Phoenix first off the blocks
Considering just the first half result only, the Phoenix accumulated a total of 40 points going into half time, leading in nine matches and drawing in 13 others.
However, it should be pointed out that the team in seventh place Newcastle Jets is just five points behind.
The actual final A-League table is here and below is the first half table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 40 |
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 21 | 1 | 39 |
| Sydney | 27 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 38 |
| Gold Coast | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 38 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 37 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 36 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 23 | -4 | 35 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 17 | -1 | 32 |
| Adelaide Utd | 27 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 32 |
| NQ Fury | 27 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 24 |
I think a first half lead is very important in the A-League because in 68 matches a team winning at half-time went on to win the match.
This is 64.4% of the 106 matches that didn't end in a draw.
Back to the table, the North Queensland Fury went into half time behind in 13 matches and its therefore not surprising that the team only got 24 points in the half time table.
Victory shines on the road
For comparison the final 2009/10 A-League table can be found here. So here is the away table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 14 | 5 | 22 |
| Sydney | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 15 |
| Gold Coast | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 24 | -10 | 15 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 14 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 14 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 14 |
| Brisbane Roar | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 24 | -6 | 13 |
| Newcastle Jets | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 13 |
| Adelaide Utd | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 12 |
| Perth Glory | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 11 |
| NQ Fury | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 28 | -15 | 11 |
Victory also had the least amount of away losses losing just five matches. The most number of away losses who lost nine on the road.
The North Queensland Fury had the worst away form winning just two matches away from Dairy Farmers Stadium.
The Fury amassed 11 away points which is the same as Perth Glory and that was one point behind Adelaide United.
A closer look shows that five teams had just one more away win than Fury and three with two more wins.
Only two teams Victory and the Mariners had a goal difference of more than one goal away from home.
Sydney tops home form
In the next few posts I will present the first and second half tables and also the home and away tables just to wrap up the 2009/10 season.
For those who want to compare with the actual final table you can check here. So here is the final home table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 33 |
| Gold Coast | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 28 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 26 |
| Melbourne Victory | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 25 |
| Newcastle Jets | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 21 |
| NQ Fury | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 18 | -2 | 21 |
| Adelaide Utd | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 19 | -4 | 17 |
| Brisbane Roar | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 18 | -4 | 17 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 16 |
So the champions had the best home record winning 11 out of 14 matches.
Its interesting to that even though the Mariners have the worst home record they lost the same number of matches as Sydney and also Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Also its interesting to see two teams Sydney and Newcastle Jets never drew at home in the league matches the whole season.
Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix only lost just once at home but its the number of draws at home that drew them back.
Grand final: Victory vs Sydney
Sydney FC overcame the Wellington Phoenix 4-2 to get the right to face the defending champions at Etihad Stadium.
This will the third time that the Victory will be in the grand final but the first time they will face a team that is not Adelaide United.
For Sydney this will be the second time in a Grand final and also the first time away from home.
Sydney FC hosted the first A-League grand final which they won.
Below is a list of all the previous matches between Victory and Sydney FC in the A-League:
Previous Matches - Melbourne vs Sydney FC
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/7 | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 9 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 16 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 1 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2005/6 | 8 | Melbourne Victory | 5 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 15 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 7 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 12 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 21 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 1 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 9 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 17 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 10 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 3 |
| 2009/10 | 20 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 27 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 28 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | Sydney FC | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 29 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
Victory reaches Grand Final
Victory will meet the winner between Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix. The Phoenix got the right to enter the Preliminary Final after beating Newcastle Jets 3-1.
A draw was good enough for Melbourne after winning the first leg 2-1.
This will be the third grand final that the Victory will host at the Etihad Stadium.
Its interesting to note that all the finals matches so far that could enter extra time have reached extra-time.
Two have got to the penalties whilst the other two have been decided in extra time.
The Jets have bowed out after scoring just one goal in four hours of play in the finals.
Here is an update for the goal margins in the A-League so far this season:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 35 |
| 1 | 53 |
| 2 | 32 |
| 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 7 |
| 5 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 |
Penalties decide A-League finals
Gold Coast finished ten points ahead of the Jets and had home advantage and they couldn't use that to reach the next stage of the finals were they were going to host the match.
The Gold Coast/Jets match finished goalless but the first five penalties were all converted.
The Gold Coast then missed then missed the next two whilst the Jets missed just one to earn the right to play the Phoenix.
The Phoenix/Glory match finished one-all but the Glory managed to score just two penalties with the Phoenix not missing any and they will therefore host the next match against the Jets.
The Sydney/Melbourne and Phoenix/Jets matches will be played on the same day. The loser in the Sydney/Melbourne match will meet the winner of the Phoenix/Jets match.
Lets take a look at the goal margins for the 2009/10 A-League season up to the weekend matches. The zero goal margin matches were the draws and here is the table:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 34 |
| 1 | 53 |
| 2 | 31 |
| 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 7 |
| 5 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 |
4th vs 5th: Phoenix vs Perth Glory
The two teams have got contrasting home and away forms.
The Phoenix lost just one match at home and in the process accumulated 26 points.
The Glory have an even better home record also losing just one match and getting 28 points but unfortunately they are not playing at home in this match.
The Glory's away record was the second worst in the league winning just three matches away and they will need a huge improvement on that to beat the Phoenix.
Here is head-to-head comparison for the two teams:
| Perth Glory | Wellington Phoenix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | 27 | 27 | |||
| Points | 39 | 40 | |||
| Drawn | 6 | 10 | |||
| Won | 11 | 10 | |||
| Lost | 10 | 7 | |||
| Goal difference | 6 | 8 | |||
| Clean sheets | 9 | 10 | |||
| Failed to score | 5 | 6 | |||
| Goals scored | 40 | 37 | |||
| Goals conceded | 34 | 29 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 1.4 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.1 | |||
| Biggest win | Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast | |||
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 6 - 2 Perth Glory | Melbourne Victory 4 - 0 Wellington Phoenix | |||
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 5 | |||
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 4 | |||
| Home matches | |||||
| Played | 13 | 13 | |||
| Points | 28 | 26 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 5 | |||
| Won | 8 | 7 | |||
| Lost | 1 | 1 | |||
| Goal difference | 15 | 18 | |||
| Goals scored | 23 | 25 | |||
| Goals conceded | 8 | 7 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.9 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 0.5 | |||
| Away matches | |||||
| Played | 14 | 14 | |||
| Points | 11 | 14 | |||
| Drawn | 2 | 5 | |||
| Won | 3 | 3 | |||
| Lost | 9 | 6 | |||
| Goal difference | -9 | -10 | |||
| Goals scored | 17 | 12 | |||
| Goals conceded | 26 | 22 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 0.9 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 1.6 | |||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/8 | 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 4 | Perth Glory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 11 | Perth Glory | 0 | Wellington Phoenix | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 16 | Wellington Phoenix | 3 | Perth Glory | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 5 | Perth Glory | 1 | Wellington Phoenix | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 10 | Perth Glory | 2 | Wellington Phoenix | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 15 | Wellington Phoenix | 1 | Perth Glory | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 2 | Wellington Phoenix | 2 | Perth Glory | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 14 | Wellington Phoenix | 1 | Perth Glory | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 24 | Perth Glory | 2 | Wellington Phoenix | 0 |
3rd vs 6th : Gold Coast vs Newcastle Jets
The two teams have had very different seasons with the Gold Coast staying at the top for most of the season and the Jets only coming into contention towards the end the season after a series of five consecutive wins.
The wins took the Jets from near the bottom to as high as fourth but another loss of form meant they drifted down to sixth.
There was a ten point difference between the two teams but between a finals match anything is possible:
Here are some of the stats for the two teams for the season:
| Newcastle Jets | Gold Coast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | 27 | 27 | |||
| Points | 34 | 44 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 5 | |||
| Won | 10 | 13 | |||
| Lost | 13 | 9 | |||
| Goal difference | -12 | 4 | |||
| Clean sheets | 4 | 9 | |||
| Failed to score | 8 | 7 | |||
| Goals scored | 33 | 39 | |||
| Goals conceded | 45 | 35 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 1.4 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 | 1.3 | |||
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 2 - 0 NQ Fury Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Newcastle Jets Brisbane Roar 0 - 2 Newcastle Jets | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury | |||
| Biggest loss | Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast | |||
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 3 | |||
| Concede 3 or more | 6 | 5 | |||
| Home matches | |||||
| Played | 13 | 14 | |||
| Points | 21 | 29 | |||
| Drawn | 0 | 2 | |||
| Won | 7 | 9 | |||
| Lost | 6 | 3 | |||
| Goal difference | -2 | 14 | |||
| Goals scored | 20 | 25 | |||
| Goals conceded | 22 | 11 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 1.8 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 | 0.8 | |||
| Away matches | |||||
| Played | 14 | 13 | |||
| Points | 13 | 15 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 3 | |||
| Won | 3 | 4 | |||
| Lost | 7 | 6 | |||
| Goal difference | -10 | -10 | |||
| Goals scored | 13 | 14 | |||
| Goals conceded | 23 | 24 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.1 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.8 | |||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009/10 | 4 | Newcastle Jets | 1 | Gold Coast United | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 18 | Newcastle Jets | 3 | Gold Coast United | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 19 | Gold Coast United | 2 | Newcastle Jets | 0 |
Sydney crowned premiers
Sydney went into the match needing to win to leap their opponents and the home side was 1 up by half-time.
Sydney has now scored five goals against the defending champions with the defending champions failing to score a single goal.
In third place was Gold Coast who lost 2-1 to the North Queensland Fury. Gold Coast needed to win and Sydney to lose to get second place.
The Fury needed to win in order to avoid the wooden spoon in their first season.
Fourth place went to the Wellington Phoenix who beat the Central Coast Mariners 3-nil in what was Lawrie McKinna's last match as coach of the Mariners.
Perth Glory who have reached their maiden finals this season finished fifth when they beat Brisbane Roar 2-nil. The Roar finished second from the bottom to finish last of the three Queensland sides.
Adelaide's win over Newcastle Jets was not enough to avoid the wooden spoon. Once again like last season the side finishing bottom is going into the Asian Champions League.
So here is the final table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 27 | 15 | 3 | 9 | 35 | 23 | 12 | 48 |
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 47 | 32 | 15 | 47 |
| Gold Coast | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 39 | 35 | 4 | 44 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 37 | 29 | 8 | 40 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 40 | 34 | 6 | 39 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 10 | 4 | 13 | 33 | 45 | -12 | 34 |
| NQ Fury | 27 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 29 | 46 | -17 | 32 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 32 | 29 | 3 | 30 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 32 | 42 | -10 | 30 |
| Adelaide Utd | 27 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 33 | -9 | 29 |
Sydney, Melbourne fight for premiership
This will be the first time in the history of the A-League for teams to actually play for minor premiership in the last round of the season.
Sydney will need to win this match whilst a draw will do for the Victorians.
In their other two matches this season, Sydney won one of them 3-nil and the other one finished in a goalless draw.
Its important to note that the Victory failed to score against their rivals and that both matches were at the Etihad Stadium.
Victory are currently the form team having accumulated 12 points from their last six matches whilst Sydney have amassed 10.
Because of the significance of this match I will this week also give all the A-League results between the two teams from season one up to today below:
| Melbourne Victory | Sydney | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | LWWWLW | WDLWLW | |||
| Played | 26 | 26 | |||
| Points | 47 | 45 | |||
| Drawn | 5 | 3 | |||
| Won | 14 | 14 | |||
| Lost | 7 | 9 | |||
| Goal difference | 17 | 10 | |||
| Clean sheets | 9 | 10 | |||
| Failed to score | 6 | 9 | |||
| Goals scored | 47 | 33 | |||
| Goals conceded | 30 | 23 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.3 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 0.9 | |||
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 4 - 0 Gold Coast Melbourne Victory 4 - 0 Wellington Phoenix Melbourne Victory 6 - 2 Perth Glory | Melbourne Victory 0 - 3 Sydney Sydney 4 - 1 NQ Fury | |||
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners | Perth Glory 2 - 0 Sydney Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets | |||
| Score 3 or more | 8 | 6 | |||
| Concede 3 or more | 4 | 1 | |||
| Home matches | |||||
| Played | 14 | 13 | |||
| Points | 25 | 30 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 0 | |||
| Won | 7 | 10 | |||
| Lost | 3 | 3 | |||
| Goal difference | 10 | 10 | |||
| Goals scored | 28 | 21 | |||
| Goals conceded | 18 | 11 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | 1.6 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 0.8 | |||
| Away matches | |||||
| Played | 12 | 13 | |||
| Points | 22 | 15 | |||
| Drawn | 1 | 3 | |||
| Won | 7 | 4 | |||
| Lost | 4 | 6 | |||
| Goal difference | 7 | 0 | |||
| Goals scored | 19 | 12 | |||
| Goals conceded | 12 | 12 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 0.9 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 0.9 | |||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/7 | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 9 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 16 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 1 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2005/6 | 8 | Melbourne Victory | 5 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 15 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 7 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 12 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 21 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 1 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 9 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 17 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 10 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 3 |
| 2009/10 | 20 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
McKinna to step aside for Arnold
McKinna has been coach of the Mariners from the beginning and he will now take the role of football operations manager.
His departure means that only Melbourne Victory's Ernie Merrick will remain the only surviving foundation coach from season 1.
McKinna's Mariners have had an interesting season nearing the top of the ladder at one stage and then plummeting down but after winning against the Newcastle Jets the team will no longer finish bottom of the table.
Here is a quick overview of the Mariners season with just one game to go:
| Category | McKinna's Mariners |
|---|---|
| Played | 26 |
| Points | 30 |
| Won | 7 |
| Drawn | 9 |
| Lost | 10 |
| Goal difference | 6 |
| Clean sheets | 9 |
| Failed to score | 10 |
| Goals scored | 32 |
| Goals conceded | 26 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners NQ Fury 1 - 5 Central Coast Mariners |
| Biggest loss | Central Coast Mariners 0 - 3 Melbourne Victory |
| Scored 3 or more | 5 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 3 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 13 |
| Points | 16 |
| Won | 3 |
| Drawn | 7 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | 1 |
| Goals scored | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 13 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 13 |
| Points | 14 |
| Won | 4 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 7 |
| Goal difference | 5 |
| Goals scored | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 13 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
Sydney beats Perth to stay on track
Round 26 started with three teams with a chance to land the minor premiership but now only two teams, Sydney and Melbourne Victory are left in the running.
Sydney had to win in order to still have a chance of overhauling Melbourne whom they meet in the final round of the season.
Gold Coast United who started the round in contention lost to their bogey team Wellington Phoenix and now the best they can get in their debut A-League season is second place.
Brisbane Roar's chances of reaching the finals ended with a loss to Adelaide United who were already out of the finals.
Brisbane joins the Central Coast Mariners and North Queensland Fury who are also out of the finals.
In the postponed match between the Mariners and the Newcastle Jets, the Mariners won 3-nil which means they can no longer bottom of the ladder.
The Mariners now have 30 points and Adelaide can only get to 29 points if they also beat Newcastle Jets in the last round.
With no draws in the last two rounds lets take a look at the number of draws each team has had after 26 rounds of A-League football:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington Phoenix | 26 | 8 | 10 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 26 | 5 | 9 |
| Adelaide United FC | 26 | 9 | 8 |
| North Queensland Fury FC | 26 | 10 | 8 |
| Brisbane Roar | 26 | 8 | 6 |
| Perth Glory | 26 | 5 | 6 |
| Gold Coast United | 26 | 5 | 5 |
| Melbourne Victory | 26 | 6 | 5 |
| Newcastle Jets | 26 | 4 | 4 |
| Sydney FC | 26 | 0 | 3 |
Sydney in crunch match against Glory
A minor premiership means the team will represent Australia in the Asian Champions League and so its pretty important to Sydney as it also to Gold Coast United and Melbourne Victory the other two teams who can win it.
However, if Perth Glory wins their last two matches and Sydney loses both theirs then the Glory side will secure third place on the ladder which will be handy going into the finals.
Glory are currently fourth on the ladder and to be guaranteed of that fourth place the Glory needs at least four points from their last two matches and so a draw may not a very bad result in this encounter for them.
Sydney has the second best home form having collected 27 points at home this season whilst Glory's away form is the second worst and in order for Glory to get a result that will have to be changed.
Both their previous two matches this season were played at ME Bank Stadium and the home team came out with four points. In those two matches Sydney failed to find the net.
So here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Perth Glory | Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 4 | 3 |
| Played | 25 | 25 |
| Points | 36 | 42 |
| Drawn | 6 | 3 |
| Won | 10 | 13 |
| Lost | 9 | 9 |
| Goal difference | 5 | 9 |
| Clean sheets | 8 | 10 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 9 |
| Goals scored | 36 | 30 |
| Goals conceded | 31 | 21 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| Biggest win | Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets | Melbourne Victory 0 - 3 Sydney Sydney 4 - 1 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 6 - 2 Perth Glory | Perth Glory 2 - 0 Sydney Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 5 |
| Concede 3 or more | 1 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 12 |
| Points | 25 | 27 |
| Drawn | 4 | 0 |
| Won | 7 | 9 |
| Lost | 1 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 13 | 9 |
| Goals scored | 21 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 13 |
| Points | 11 | 15 |
| Drawn | 2 | 3 |
| Won | 3 | 4 |
| Lost | 8 | 6 |
| Goal difference | -8 | 0 |
| Goals scored | 15 | 12 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 12 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 0.9 |
Round 25: Home teams take advantage
Most of the victories in this round were also very significant as they meant reaching the finals for the first time for Perth Glory, for example.
The Glory scored the highest number of goals when three first half goals were enough to dispatch once table toppers Central Coast Mariners.
Mariners are now in real danger of finishing bottom of the ladder after dropping to second from bottom place.
Wellington Phoenix also won against Adelaide to set themselves on course for the finals as well whilst Gold Coast United needed just one goal to claim second place on the ladder on goal difference behind Melbourne Victory.
The Phoenix needs at least two points to be sure of a maiden finals place.
Brisbane Roar kept themselves in finals contention with a crucial win over Sydney FC.
In the last match of the round the North Queensland Fury are also in the finals hunt after a win over Newcastle Jets.
Below are the second half scorelines for the A-League matches this season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 34 |
| 0 - 1 | 18 |
| 0 - 2 | 6 |
| 0 - 3 | 3 |
| 1 - 0 | 19 |
| 1 - 1 | 18 |
| 1 - 2 | 3 |
| 1 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 9 |
| 2 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 3 |
| 4 - 0 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
Its interesting to see that in 34 of the matches, no goals were scored in the second half.
Mariners faces Glory test
The Glory lie fifth on the table now and with just two matches to go after this match, a win for the Glory will mean that the Mariners will have a very slim chance of reaching this year's finals.
The Glory have never been involved in the finals and they have a very good chance this season and a win here will almost assure their maiden finals appearance.
The Mariners lead the pack of teams just outside the finals places and a win for the Gosford based team is just as important and lose this match and the finals dream is nearly over.
Against the Glory the Mariners face a team that has lost just once at home this season whilst the Mariners have lost six on the road.
So here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season.:
| Central Coast Mariners | Perth Glory | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | LLLDDD | WLWDLW |
| Played | 24 | 24 |
| Points | 27 | 33 |
| Drawn | 9 | 6 |
| Won | 6 | 9 |
| Lost | 9 | 9 |
| Goal difference | 5 | 3 |
| Clean sheets | 8 | 8 |
| Failed to score | 10 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 28 | 33 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 30 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners NQ Fury 1 - 5 Central Coast Mariners | Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets |
| Biggest loss | Central Coast Mariners 0 - 3 Melbourne Victory | Melbourne Victory 6 - 2 Perth Glory |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 11 |
| Points | 13 | 22 |
| Drawn | 7 | 4 |
| Won | 2 | 6 |
| Lost | 3 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -2 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 13 |
| Points | 14 | 11 |
| Drawn | 2 | 2 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 6 | 8 |
| Goal difference | 7 | -8 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 15 |
| Goals conceded | 10 | 23 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.8 |
Sydney regains top spot
The previous leaders the Gold Coast could only manage a one-all draw against the Central Coast Mariners and now trail the leaders by just one point as they currently lie third.
In second position at the moment is Melbourne Victory who beat bottom club Adelaide United 2- nil with a goal in each half.
There was a key win for Perth Glory who beat the Wellington Phoenix 2-nil at the ME Bank Stadium and that win means the Perth side now sit in fifth place ahead of the Phoenix by two points.
The Phoenix have a game in hand against Victory and after that match is played on Australia Day it will become very clear where they stand with Glory but they look set for the finals.
The team in seventh position - Mariners are four points adrift which means after round 25 the the teams in the first six places will still be in those top six places.
The Queensland battle between North Queensland Fury and Brisbane Roar finished one-all and the two teams still have a slim chance to make it to the finals.
This week I will take a look at the first half scorelines so far this season and here they are:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 33 |
| 0 - 1 | 18 |
| 0 - 2 | 5 |
| 0 - 3 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 30 |
| 1 - 1 | 14 |
| 1 - 2 | 2 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 6 |
| 2 - 1 | 4 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 2 |
| 4 - 1 | 1 |
So its not surprising to see that going into half-time the most popular scoreline is a goalless draw. However, of the 33 matches that went into the break goalless only seven finished that way.
Queensland battle: Fury vs Roar
A win for the home team will see them leapfrog their opponents but the highest position they can attain is seventh, just outside the finals places.
Similarly the highest position the Roar will get to if they win would be seventh and a loss could see either team anchor the table or be second from the bottom.
Fury has had better form over the last six matches collecting seven points whilst the Roar who have lost their last three matches have accumulated six points.
In their previous matches the Fury drew its home match whilst the Roar won the match at Suncorp.
So here is the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Brisbane Roar | NQ Fury | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | LWWLLL | WLLWDL |
| Played | 23 | 23 |
| Points | 26 | 25 |
| Drawn | 5 | 7 |
| Won | 7 | 6 |
| Lost | 11 | 10 |
| Goal difference | -7 | -17 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 6 |
| Goals scored | 30 | 24 |
| Goals conceded | 37 | 41 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix | Gold Coast 0 - 2 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Gold Coast 5 - 1 Brisbane Roar | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 1 |
| Concede 3 or more | 6 | 7 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 10 |
| Points | 14 | 14 |
| Drawn | 2 | 2 |
| Won | 4 | 4 |
| Lost | 7 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -5 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 13 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 13 |
| Points | 12 | 11 |
| Drawn | 3 | 5 |
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Lost | 4 | 6 |
| Goal difference | -2 | -13 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 19 | 26 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 2.0 |
Gold Coast regains top spot
This was the third match this season that the Gold Coast had beaten Sydney by a one goal margin. The first two matches finished 2-1 and 1-nil respectively but they were both at Skilled Stadium.
Melbourne Victory went back to winning ways after beating Perth Glory 6-2. Victory had lost their last two away matches and were slipping away from the top position and the big win was also good for goal difference which could be handy at the end of the season.
Elsewhere there were wins for Wellington Phoenix who beat North Queensland Fury and also Newcastle Jets who won away to the Brisbane Roar.
The only draw of the match was in the match between Adelaide United and the Central Coast Mariners. It was one all draw.
Adelaide still anchor the table and their next match will be a catch up round 19 match against Perth Glory.
After taking a look at the first half table last last week, this week I will show the second half table and here it is:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 39 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 22 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 20 | 12 | 8 | 33 |
| Gold Coast | 23 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 33 |
| Sydney | 23 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 30 |
| NQ Fury | 23 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 22 | -6 | 30 |
| Newcastle Jets | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 16 | -2 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 28 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 23 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 27 |
| Brisbane Roar | 23 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 22 | -8 | 23 |
| Adelaide Utd | 22 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 16 | -6 | 18 |
Roar chance against Jets
The Roar were on a good run until they lost the Gold Coast United and this could be a chance to go back on track.
The Jets were also on a very good run but they have lost their last two away matches. They lost 4-nil to Perth Glory and then in the last round 2-nil to Gold Coast.
The match against the Roar gives them a chance to reverse those away losses.
Jets are currently fourth and a win will help them cement fourth place whilst the Roar are seventh and a win could see them in fifth position on the table.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Newcastle Jets | Brisbane Roar | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 4 | 7 |
| Played | 22 | 22 |
| Points | 31 | 26 |
| Drawn | 4 | 5 |
| Won | 9 | 7 |
| Lost | 9 | 10 |
| Goal difference | -7 | -5 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 5 |
| Failed to score | 7 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 28 | 30 |
| Goals conceded | 35 | 35 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 2 - 0 NQ Fury Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Newcastle Jets | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix |
| Biggest loss | Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets | Gold Coast 5 - 1 Brisbane Roar |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 4 |
| Concede 3 or more | 4 | 6 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 21 | 14 |
| Drawn | 0 | 2 |
| Won | 7 | 4 |
| Lost | 4 | 6 |
| Goal difference | 1 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 18 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 17 | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 11 | 10 |
| Points | 10 | 12 |
| Drawn | 4 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 5 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -8 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.9 |
Perth holds Sydney to stay in the hunt
The draw means Sydney increase their lead at the top to four points after Melbourne Victory lost their second consecutive match. With just five rounds to go Sydney are in the right place at the right time.
Victory lost 3-2 to ten men Newcastle Jets and are now four points adrift of Sydney and just a point ahead of third placed Gold Coast United.
Adelaide got a valuable point against Gold Coast but they remain anchored to the bottom of the table.
Wellington Phoenix are up to fifth place on the table after beating Brisbane Roar 3-1 at home. This was the Roar's second consecutive loss after losing to the Gold Coast in the last round.
This week I will show a first half table so far this season. This table considers only the result up to half time and after the next round I will take a look at the second half table.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 22 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 32 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 32 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 17 | -1 | 31 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 30 |
| Gold Coast | 21 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 30 |
| Brisbane Roar | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 26 |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 19 | -4 | 26 |
| Adelaide Utd | 21 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 24 |
| NQ Fury | 22 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 19 | -11 | 18 |
Sydney finishes year on top
Sydney's cause was helped by Melbourne Victory's loss to bottom team North Queensland Fury.
Adelaide on the other hand will finish the year at the bottom of the ladder.
I think they will hope that the New Year will bring them goals. Adelaide has scored the least number of goals so far having only scored 16 goals. All the other teams have scored more than 20 goals each.
After going for four rounds without a loss, Newcastle Jets suffered a heavy loss against Perth Glory.
Glory won 4-nil after scoring three goals in the first half.
The other match was the M1 derby between Gold Coast United and Brisbane Roar where the Roar lost 5-1 despite scoring first. The match was one-all at half time.
There is still one more match in this round and that will be the New Year's eve match between the Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix.
Queensland battle : Gold Coast vs Brisbane
Both teams are coming off wins and they have both accumulated ten points from their last six matches with three wins, two losses and one draw.
The difference could be that the Roar has won its previous two matches and Gold Coast hasn't.
In their previous two encounters at Suncorp Stadium the Gold Coast came on top and this will be a final chance for the Roar to get something from their near neighbours.
A win for the Gold Coast will keep them in third place whilst a win for the Roar could take them as high as fourth on the table.
Here is the rest of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Brisbane Roar | Gold Coast | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 5 | 3 |
| Form | LWDLWW | WDLWLW |
| Played | 20 | 19 |
| Points | 26 | 30 |
| Drawn | 5 | 3 |
| Won | 7 | 9 |
| Lost | 8 | 7 |
| Goal difference | 1 | -2 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 6 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 6 |
| Goals scored | 28 | 27 |
| Goals conceded | 27 | 29 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 0 - 3 Central Coast Mariners | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 2 |
| Concede 3 or more | 4 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 9 |
| Points | 14 | 19 |
| Drawn | 2 | 1 |
| Won | 4 | 6 |
| Lost | 6 | 2 |
| Goal difference | -3 | 8 |
| Goals scored | 13 | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 10 |
| Points | 12 | 11 |
| Drawn | 3 | 2 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 2 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 4 | -10 |
| Goals scored | 15 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 21 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 2.1 |
Jets notch four wins in a row
The four wins means the Jets have moved from bottom of the table to fourth place in around five weeks and they now look certain of securing a finals place.
Whilst the Jets have been in ascendancy, the same cannot be said for Perth Glory who are now in seventh place after losing to the Gold Coast United 2-nil.
The Glory have lost their last two matches and they have won just once in their last six matches.
The two top teams could not be separated after the match between Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC ended in a goalless draw. This was the sixth goalless draw this season in the A-League.
Elsewhere in the round, Adelaide United drew Wellington Phoenix and the Central Coast Mariners lost to Brisbane Roar at home.
This week I think it will interesting to take a look at the A-League form table and here it is:
| Team | P | W | D | L | For | A | GD | Pts | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle Jets | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 15 | WLWWWW |
| Melbourne Victory | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 11 | LWWDWD |
| Brisbane Roar | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 10 | LWDLWW |
| Gold Coast | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 10 | WDLWLW |
| Central Coast Mariners | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 7 | WWDLLL |
| Sydney | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 | LLLWWD |
| Perth Glory | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 6 | DWDDLL |
| Wellington Phoenix | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 6 | DWLDLD |
| NQ Fury | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 6 | LWLWLL |
| Adelaide Utd | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 5 | LDLLWD |
So the form team is the Jets and Adelaide with just five points from the their last six matches anchor the table.
First vs second: Victory vs Sydney
Victory is on a good run at the moment having won 13 points from its last six matches compared to only 9 for Sydney but Sydney has won its last two matches.
In their last match at the Etihad Stadium Sydney came out victors with a 3-nil win over their rivals and it was then Victory's biggest loss at home.
A win for Victory will open a six point gap at the top and a draw will still keep the Melbourne outfit in first place.
Sydney can take pole position if they win by two goals or more.
So here is the rest of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Melbourne Victory | Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 1 | 2 |
| Played | 18 | 18 |
| Points | 34 | 31 |
| Drawn | 4 | 1 |
| Won | 10 | 10 |
| Lost | 4 | 7 |
| Goal difference | 8 | 7 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 6 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 18 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 4 - 0 Gold Coast | Melbourne Victory 0 - 3 Sydney Sydney 4 - 1 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners | Perth Glory 2 - 0 Sydney Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets |
| Score 3 or more | 6 | 4 |
| Concede 3 or more | 3 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 9 |
| Points | 12 | 21 |
| Drawn | 3 | 0 |
| Won | 3 | 7 |
| Lost | 3 | 2 |
| Goal difference | -2 | 8 |
| Goals scored | 14 | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 0.9 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 9 |
| Points | 22 | 10 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 7 | 3 |
| Lost | 1 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 10 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 10 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.1 |
Queensland battle : Roar vs Fury
In the previous round the Roar suffered a defeat on the hands of Adelaide United.
In that same round the Fury got an all important win over Perth Glory to make sure they avoided sitting at the bottom of the ladder again.
The Fury lie in eighth place just above the Roar and the two teams are separated by a single point.
Whichever team wins this battle will move closer to the finals places as a win for the Fury will land them in sixth position.
A draw will suit neither team but as the away team it could be good enough for the Fury. Their only match ended in a draw.
So here is the rest of the stats so far:
| Brisbane Roar | NQ Fury | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 9 | 8 |
| Streak | DWLWDL | WLLWLW |
| Played | 18 | 18 |
| Points | 20 | 21 |
| Drawn | 5 | 6 |
| Won | 5 | 5 |
| Lost | 8 | 7 |
| Goal difference | -2 | -12 |
| Clean sheets | 4 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 23 | 20 |
| Goals conceded | 25 | 32 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.8 |
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix | Gold Coast 0 - 2 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 0 - 3 Central Coast Mariners | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Score 3 or more | 3 | 1 |
| Concede 3 or more | 4 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 11 | 9 |
| Points | 11 | 11 |
| Drawn | 2 | 2 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 6 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -5 | -5 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 9 |
| Points | 9 | 10 |
| Drawn | 3 | 4 |
| Won | 2 | 2 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 3 | -7 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 9 | 17 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.9 |
Jets flying up the table
Four rounds ago the Jets were anchoring the table and their good run started after beating Sydney FC and from then on they have picked an extra six points.
There was a big result for Melbourne Victory when they beat the Central Coast Mariners 3-nil in Gosford. In their previous two encounters at the Etihad Stadium the Victory shipped in six goals with no response.
That victory kept the Melbourne outfit on top of the ladder especially after a rare loss in New Zealand for Wellington Phoenix who lost to Sydney FC 1-nil.
Like Jets, Sydney FC are on a mini good run and haven't lost a match since losing to the Jets.
There was also a huge result for Adelaide against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium. Even though Adelaide stay rooted to the bottom of the table, the win means they are still in touch at least with the bottom four sides.
There were no draws in round 18 and the other team to win was North Queensland Fury who beat Perth Glory. Glory are in some sort of free-fall especially after going as high as third on the ladder not so long ago.
Round 18 is the third round so far this season without a draw and so this week I will take a look at the drawing trend as shown in the table below:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Draw at half time, draw at full time | 14 | 58.3 |
| Home team leading at half time, draw at full time | 7 | 29.2 |
| Away team leading at half time, draw at full time | 3 | 12.5 |
| Drawn matches | 24 | 26.7 |
A-League: Mariners vs Victory
The Mariners have beaten Victory twice already and both matches were at the Etihad Stadium.
The Victory failed to score in both matches.
Now the last league match is at Bluetongue Stadium and Victory has a last chance to at least score against the Mariners.
The Mariners have the best defence in the league at the moment having only conceded just 11 goals so far.
Although the Mariners have lost more matches than Victory, they are still to lose by more than one goal.
So here are the rest of the stats for the two teams
| Central Coast Mariners | Melbourne Victory | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 4 | 1 |
| Played | 17 | 17 |
| Points | 24 | 31 |
| Drawn | 6 | 4 |
| Won | 6 | 9 |
| Lost | 5 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 12 | 5 |
| Clean sheets | 8 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 7 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 23 | 28 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 23 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners NQ Fury 1 - 5 Central Coast Mariners | Melbourne Victory 4 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide Utd 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Sydney 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Newcastle Jets 2 - 1 Central Coast Mariners Gold Coast 2 - 1 Central Coast Mariners | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 5 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 3 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 9 |
| Points | 11 | 12 |
| Drawn | 5 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 0 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 4 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 8 |
| Points | 13 | 19 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 4 | 6 |
| Lost | 5 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 8 | 7 |
| Goals scored | 16 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 0.9 |
Sydney back to winning ways
Before this win Sydney had lost three consecutive matches and were in danger of losing the second spot on the ladder.
Newcastle United continued with their resurgence beating rock bottom Adelaide United 2-nil at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Before last week the Jets had never won away from home this season and now they have notched two away wins and scoring five goals in the process and conceding just one.
The result pushed the Jets to sixth position on the ladder and this is not bad for a team that was anchoring the ladder not so long ago.
Good news for Adelaide though is that the Fury lost and therefore remain a point ahead of them and a -13 goal difference.
Elsewhere there were draws for leaders Melbourne Victory against Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane held Perth Glory 1-all at home .
The Gold Coast United managed to win their match 2-1 against the Central Coast Mariners after trailing at half-time.
This is only the third time this season that an A-League team trailing at half time has gone on to win and its also the second time for a home team to do so.
Below is the rest of the winning trends so far for the A-League:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 21 | 34.4 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 18 | 29.5 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 2 | 3.3 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 1 | 1.6 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 13 | 21.3 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 6 | 9.8 |
| Matches ending in result | 61 | 71.8 |
Jets face Adelaide test
The 3-1 victory over Sydney FC was the Jet's first away win over Sydney but also the first away win for the season.
In round 16 Adelaide lost away to the North Queensland Fury and they replaced them at the bottom of the ladder.
Depending on other results, a win for Adelaide could take them as high as seventh place whilst for the Jets a win could take them to sixth whilst increasing between them and Adelaide to five points.
So here are stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Adelaide | Newcastle Jets | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 10 | 8 |
| Played | 16 | 16 |
| Points | 17 | 19 |
| Drawn | 5 | 4 |
| Won | 4 | 5 |
| Lost | 7 | 7 |
| Goal difference | -6 | -6 |
| Clean sheets | 4 | 2 |
| Failed to score | 6 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 14 | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 20 | 23 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Biggest win | NQ Fury 0 - 2 Adelaide Utd | Newcastle Jets 2 - 0 NQ Fury Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets |
| Biggest loss | Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Gold Coast Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory 3 - 1 Adelaide Utd Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Brisbane Roar | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Wellington Phoenix 3 - 0 Newcastle Jets |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 8 |
| Points | 12 | 12 |
| Drawn | 3 | 0 |
| Won | 3 | 4 |
| Lost | 3 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -3 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 9 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 8 |
| Points | 5 | 7 |
| Drawn | 2 | 4 |
| Won | 1 | 1 |
| Lost | 4 | 3 |
| Goal difference | -3 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 5 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 12 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 1.5 |
Adelaide drop to bottom
The other teams in the the bottom three teams at the start of the round all won and this pushed Adelaide to the bottom of the ladder on goal difference.
Round 16 also saw a historic win for Newcastle Jets as they beat Sydney FC for the first time in the league in their own backyard. That win moved the Jets one place up the ladder.
That win for the Jets was also their first away win this season.
After losing their last home game 4-nil, Melbourne Victory this time turned the tables around winning 4-nil against the Gold Coast United.
The loss meant that the Gold Coast team dropped one place into fourth place and were replaced by the Central Coast Mariners despite the Mariners being held at home by Perth Glory.
The Mariners scored nine goals in their last two matches both away from home but they could not find the net in front of their own home supporters.
So after taking a look at the home ladder after the last round, this time I will take a look at the away ladder and here it is:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 18 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 13 |
| Gold Coast | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 18 | -9 | 11 |
| NQ Fury | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 10 |
| Brisbane Roar | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 8 |
| Perth Glory | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 8 |
| Sydney | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 7 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 7 |
| Adelaide Utd | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 5 |
Not very surprising to see Victory of this ladder after an impressive away form but Adelaide also anchor this ladder.
Etihad clash : Victory vs Gold Coast
This will be the first time for the two teams to meet at the stadium and in their first match at Skilled Stadium Victory came out tops.
In round 15 Victory won away at Brisbane Roar whilst Gold Coast were held by Adelaide United.
In its last home match Victory lost 4-nil to the Central Coast Mariners and so it will be interesting to see if Victory can tighten its defences this time around.
Here are the head to head starts for the two teams so far:
| Melbourne Victory | Gold Coast | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 1 | 3 |
| Played | 15 | 15 |
| Points | 27 | 24 |
| Drawn | 3 | 3 |
| Won | 8 | 7 |
| Lost | 4 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 1 | 0 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 5 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 23 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 22 | 21 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Biggest win | Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Melbourne Victory Newcastle Jets 1 - 3 Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory 3 - 1 Adelaide Utd | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 7 |
| Points | 9 | 13 |
| Drawn | 3 | 1 |
| Won | 2 | 4 |
| Lost | 3 | 2 |
| Goal difference | -6 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 12 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 8 |
| Points | 18 | 11 |
| Drawn | 0 | 2 |
| Won | 6 | 3 |
| Lost | 1 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 7 | -5 |
| Goals scored | 13 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 6 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.8 |
Mariners march continues
In the last round the Mariners beat champions Melbourne Victory 4-nil and so they have now scored a total of nine goals and conceding just one in the process.
Victory secured a narrow 1-nil win over Brisbane Roar to secure top spot on the table after Sydney FC went down 2-nil away to Perth Glory.
Wellington won for the first time this season after beating Newcastle Jets 1-nil. It means that the Jets are now the only team without an away win so far this season.
So in this week's post I will take a look at the home ladder for the A-League so far and next week I will take a look at the away one.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 18 |
| Perth Glory | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 13 |
| Gold Coast | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 13 |
| Newcastle Jets | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 12 |
| Adelaide Utd | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 12 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Melbourne Victory | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 16 | -6 | 9 |
| Brisbane Roar | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 14 | -7 | 8 |
| NQ Fury | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 14 | -7 | 5 |
So Sydney FC has the best home form with 18 points picked up from home.
On the other hand the Fury has only picked up five points at home - one win and two draws.
Fury face buoyant Mariners
The win over Victory was their biggest win so far this season and they face a Fury side coming from a defeat against Newcastle Jets.
After that defeat the Fury went back to the bottom of the table whilst Mariners currently sit in fourth.
Below is the rest of the stats so far this season:
| Central Coast Mariners | NQ Fury | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 4 | 10 |
| Played | 14 | 14 |
| Points | 20 | 15 |
| Drawn | 5 | 6 |
| Won | 5 | 3 |
| Lost | 4 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 9 | -7 |
| Clean sheets | 7 | 2 |
| Failed to score | 6 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 15 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 22 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.6 |
| Biggest win | Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners | Gold Coast 0 - 2 NQ Fury |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide Utd 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Sydney 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Newcastle Jets 2 - 1 Central Coast Mariners | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 6 |
| Points | 10 | 5 |
| Drawn | 4 | 2 |
| Won | 2 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 4 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 6 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 8 |
| Points | 10 | 10 |
| Drawn | 1 | 4 |
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Lost | 4 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 5 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 5 | 13 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.6 |
Heart goes for Olsen, Milicic
The pair will assist John van't Schip who was appointed earlier this year.
All the three coaches have some experience in the Dutch League but Milicic also has the experience of playing in the A-League having played for Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar.
Mariners humble Victory
This is Victory's worst home defeat and it comes soon after another big defeat at home when the Victory 3-nil at home to Sydney FC.
Another team to lose at home was Adelaide United who lost to Brisbane Roar 2-nil.
Gold Coast went back to winning ways overcoming league leader Sydney FC with a lone strike in the first half.
Elsewhere there was a draw for the Wellington Phoenix against Perth Glory whilst Newcastle Jets won against the North Queensland Fury.
This week I will take a look at the second half ladder which only considers results from the second half of a match.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 25 |
| NQ Fury | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 24 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 14 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 19 |
| Sydney | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 19 |
| Gold Coast | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 18 |
| Perth Glory | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 18 |
| Brisbane Roar | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 16 |
| Newcastle Jets | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 13 |
| Adelaide Utd | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 11 |
So Melbourne Victory leads this table having won 7 second halves whilst Adelaide anchor it with only two wins.
Glory to test Phoenix
Phoenix beat Gold Coast 6-nil and then in their next home match beat Newcastle Jets 3-nil and therefore I think the Glory must be hoping to stop that trend and at least score against them.
The Glory has lost the last the three matches and are beginning to slide down the ladder and are currently in fifth place.
Here is the rest of the stats so far:
| Perth Glory | Wellington Phoenix | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 5 | 6 |
| Played | 13 | 13 |
| Points | 17 | 16 |
| Drawn | 2 | 7 |
| Won | 5 | 3 |
| Lost | 6 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 1 | 5 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 18 | 19 |
| Goals conceded | 17 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Biggest win | Perth Glory 2 - 0 Newcastle Jets Brisbane Roar 2 - 4 Perth Glory | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Biggest loss | Adelaide Utd 1 - 0 Perth Glory Wellington Phoenix 2 - 1 Perth Glory Central Coast Mariners 2 - 1 Perth Glory Gold Coast 2 - 1 Perth Glory NQ Fury 2 - 1 Perth Glory Perth Glory 1 - 2 Melbourne Victory | Sydney 2 - 0 Wellington Phoenix Sydney 3 - 1 Wellington Phoenix |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 6 |
| Points | 11 | 12 |
| Drawn | 2 | 3 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 3 | 10 |
| Goals scored | 9 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 6 | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 2.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 7 |
| Points | 6 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 4 |
| Won | 2 | 0 |
| Lost | 5 | 3 |
| Goal difference | -2 | -5 |
| Goals scored | 9 | 6 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.6 |
Fury in back to back wins
The win lifted Fury from the bottom of the ladder three steps up to seventh position.
They were replaced at the bottom by Newcastle Jets who managed a draw away to Brisbane Roar. However, the Jets have a game in hand to be played during the week.
Sydney maintained its top position after beating the Wellington Phoenix 3-1. All three Sydney goals came in the first half and the Phoenix scored towards the end of the match.
So this week I will take a look at the first half ladder. In next week's post on the A-League I will take a look at the second half ladder.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 21 |
| Sydney | 13 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 19 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 19 |
| Perth Glory | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 18 |
| Newcastle Jets | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 17 |
| Adelaide Utd | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 17 |
| Melbourne Victory | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 17 |
| Brisbane Roar | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 16 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 16 |
| NQ Fury | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 10 | -7 | 7 |
So the Gold Coast is the team that has gone into half time leading more than any other team in the league so far.
Fury face Coast test
Interestingly the Fury lost 5-nil to Gold Coast in their first match but since then the Fury has tightened its defences and no team has been able to score more three goals against them.
So its going to be interesting to see what the Gold Coast reaction will be in front of their own fans.
So here are the figures so far this season:
| Gold Coast | NQ Fury | Stat |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 3 | 10 |
| Played | 12 | 12 |
| Points | 20 | 12 |
| Drawn | 2 | 6 |
| Won | 6 | 2 |
| Lost | 4 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 1 | -7 |
| Clean sheets | 4 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 19 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 20 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury | Sydney 0 - 1 NQ Fury NQ Fury 2 - 1 Perth Glory |
| Biggest loss | Wellington Phoenix 6 - 0 Gold Coast | Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 10 | 5 |
| Drawn | 1 | 2 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 1 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 6 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 6 |
| Goals conceded | 5 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 6 |
| Points | 10 | 7 |
| Drawn | 1 | 4 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 3 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -5 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 1.8 |
Phoenix routs Gold Coast
The Phoenix went into this match after six consecutive draws and the Gold Coast were on top of the ladder.
The result wiped most of the Gold Coast goal difference and they now drop to third on the table.
The North Queensland Fury won at home for the first time in a round where for the first time all home teams won. There were no draws.
The Fury is also the first home team to be trailing at half time and winning at the end of the match. Perth Glory was leading 1-nil at half time.
Elsewhere there were wins for Sydney FC who now go top, Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets.
This week I take a look at the form table. The form ladder shows the matches only from the last six matches and here it is:
| Team | P | W | D | L | For | A | GD | Pts | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 15 | WWWLWW |
| Sydney | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 12 | WLWWLW |
| Perth Glory | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 10 | WWDWLL |
| Wellington Phoenix | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 8 | DDDDDW |
| Central Coast Mariners | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 | WDLDWL |
| NQ Fury | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 | DLDDDW |
| Adelaide Utd | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 7 | LWDLWL |
| Gold Coast | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 7 | LLDWWL |
| Newcastle Jets | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 4 | LLLDLW |
| Brisbane Roar | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 3 | LWLLLL |
So the form team is Melbourne Victory and the Brisbane has the worst form at the moment.
Jets face Mariners test
The two teams enter into this fixture from two different round 11 matches were the Mariners won away 3-nil against Brisbane Roar and Jets lost 3-1 to Melbourne Victory.
If the Jets lose they could possibly end the weekend anchoring the ladder if the North Queensland Fury earn at least a point from their match.
| Central Coast Mariners | Newcastle Jets | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 5 | 9 |
| Played | 11 | 10 |
| Points | 16 | 9 |
| Drawn | 4 | 3 |
| Won | 4 | 2 |
| Lost | 3 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 6 | -7 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 6 | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| Biggest win | Central Coast Mariners 3 - 0 Gold Coast Brisbane Roar 0 - 3 Central Coast Mariners | Newcastle Jets 3 - 2 Wellington Phoenix Newcastle Jets 1 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide Utd 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Sydney 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 5 |
| Points | 9 | 6 |
| Drawn | 3 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 2 |
| Lost | 0 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 4 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 5 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 5 |
| Points | 7 | 3 |
| Drawn | 1 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 0 |
| Lost | 3 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 2 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 5 | 4 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.5 | 1.4 |
Adelaide stun Sydney in round 11
With that win Adelaide moved into sixth position and this was aided by Brisbane Roar losing 3-nil to the Central Coast Mariners who maintained their fifth position.
The Glory slipped to fourth position.
Things stayed the same at the bottom with North Queensland Fury getting yet another draw against Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle Jets losing.
The draw for Wellington Phoenix means that the Phoenix becomes the first team in the A-League to have six consecutive draws and this week I will show the updated recent form. Next week I will show the full form table.
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | WLWDLW |
| Brisbane Roar | WLWLLL |
| Central Coast Mariners | LWDLDW |
| Gold Coast United | DLLDWW |
| Melbourne Victory | DWWWLW |
| Newcastle Jets | DLLLDL |
| North Queensland Fury FC | WDLDDD |
| Perth Glory | DWWDWL |
| Sydney FC | LWLWWL |
| Wellington Phoenix | DDDDDD |
Also Victory was 1-nil down at half time but went to on to win the match in the second half. This is first time this season that a team trailing at half time has been able to emerge victorious at the end of the match. The table below just shows the trends:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 12 | 32.4 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 11 | 29.7 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 1 | 2.7 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 9 | 24.3 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 4 | 10.8 |
| Matches ending in result | 37 | 68.5 |
Roar turns to Postecoglou
Postecoglou's first match will be the round 11 home match against the Central Coast Mariners.
This will be the first time for Postecoglou to coach in the A-League and he takes the team currently lying sixth in the league.
Here is the current state of affairs for the Roar after 10 rounds:
| Category | Brisbane Roar |
|---|---|
| Position | 6th |
| Played | 10 |
| Points | 12 |
| Won | 3 |
| Drawn | 3 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Last six matches | DWLWLL |
| Goal difference | -1 |
| Clean sheets | 3 |
| Failed to score | 1 |
| Goals scored | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar |
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 1 - 3 Gold Coast Brisbane Roar 2 - 4 Perth Glory |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 6 |
| Points | 7 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | -3 |
| Goals scored | 6 |
| Goals conceded | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 4 |
| Points | 5 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Goal difference | 2 |
| Goals scored | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
Farina, Roar part ways
Farina joined the Roar in November 2006 and under him the team played 67 A-League matches winning 28 of them.
The Roar will be the first team this season to sack its coach.
So here is the record for Farina's 67 matches(that includes the match in round 10):
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 67 |
| Won | 28 |
| Drawn | 18 |
| Lost | 21 |
| Away wins | 14 |
| Home wins | 14 |
| Goals scored | 98 |
| Goals conceded | 81 |
| Home goals scored | 51 |
| Away goals scored | 47 |
So it was a fairly successful stint with the team winning more matches than it lost.
Roar to battle out Mariners
A win can take the Mariners to fourth place provided Melbourne Victory does not get a result against Newcastle Jets.
A win for the Roar will take them above the Mariners and possibly fourth if the Victory lose or draw against the Jets.
Below is the rest of the stats so far this season for the two teams:
| Central Coast Mariners | Brisbane Roar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| Played | 10 | 10 | ||||||
| Points | 13 | 12 | ||||||
| Drawn | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| Won | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| Lost | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| Goal difference | 3 | -1 | ||||||
| Clean sheets | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| Failed to score | 5 | 1 | ||||||
| Goals scored | 9 | 14 | ||||||
| Goals conceded | 6 | 15 | ||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.4 | ||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.5 | ||||||
| Biggest win | Central Coast Mariners 3 - 0 Gold Coast | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar | ||||||
| Biggest loss | Brisbane Roar 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Adelaide Utd 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners Sydney 1 - 0 Central Coast Mariners | Brisbane Roar 1 - 3 Gold Coast Brisbane Roar 2 - 4 Perth Glory | ||||||
| Home matches | ||||||||
| Played | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| Points | 9 | 7 | ||||||
| Drawn | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Won | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Lost | 0 | 3 | ||||||
| Goal difference | 4 | -3 | ||||||
| Goals scored | 7 | 6 | ||||||
| Goals conceded | 3 | 9 | ||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.0 | ||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.5 | ||||||
| Away matches | ||||||||
| Played | 5 | 4 | ||||||
| Points | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| Drawn | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Won | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Lost | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Goal difference | -1 | 2 | ||||||
| Goals scored | 2 | 8 | ||||||
| Goals conceded | 3 | 6 | ||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 0.4 | 2.0 | ||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.5 | ||||||
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | DWLWDL |
| Brisbane Roar | DWLWLL |
| Central Coast Mariners | WLWDLD |
| Gold Coast United | WDLLDW |
| Melbourne Victory | DDWWWL |
| Newcastle Jets | WDLLLD |
| North Queensland Fury FC | DWDLDD |
| Perth Glory | LDWWDW |
| Sydney FC | LLWLWW |
| Wellington Phoenix | LDDDDD |
The table above shows that no team has been consistent in winningin the last six matches.
The Phoenix have had five draws in a row.
Melbourne v Sydney - top of the table clash
Sydney will retain top position with a win or a draw whilst Victory needs all three points to go top.
Last week Victory got its first home win and are playing a Sydney team that has tasted victory away from home just once.
Below is the rest of the stats so far this season for the two teams:
| Category | Melbourne Victory | Sydney |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 2 | 1 |
| Played | 9 | 9 |
| Points | 15 | 16 |
| Drawn | 3 | 1 |
| Won | 4 | 5 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 2 | 3 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 14 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| Biggest win | Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Melbourne Victory | Sydney 2 - 0 Wellington Phoenix |
| Biggest loss | Melbourne Victory 0 - 2 Central Coast Mariners | Gold Coast 2 - 1 Sydney Sydney 0 - 1 NQ Fury Brisbane Roar 1 - 0 Sydney |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 5 |
| Points | 6 | 12 |
| Drawn | 3 | 0 |
| Won | 1 | 4 |
| Lost | 1 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -1 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 6 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 0.4 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 4 | 4 |
| Points | 9 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 1 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 3 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 4 |
| Goals conceded | 4 | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.3 |
For all the previous results between the two teams, log on to TipsChallenge
Sydney shoots to the top
With Gold Coast United only managing a goalless draw in its match against Wellington Phoenix, Sydney took advantage of that to take pole position.
The next match for Sydney FC will be away to Melbourne Victory who got their first home win against Brisbane Roar.
There were no changes in the bottom six places with none of the teams occupying those places managing a win.
The North Queensland Fury still anchor the ladder after a draw against high flying Perth Glory.
After looking at the home ladder last week, this week I take a look at the away ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Gold Coast | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Perth Glory | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 |
| NQ Fury | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 |
| Brisbane Roar | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
| Adelaide Utd | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Sydney | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| Newcastle Jets | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
So the Victory the away ladder after three victories away from home and just one loss.
At this stage of the season the Phoenix and the Jets are the poorest travellers with no wins but just three draws.
Adelaide-Newcastle face-off in round 9
Adelaide will take on the Jets after seeing off North Queensland Fury in their last match in round 8.
On the other hand, Newcastle lost at home in their last match against Perth Glory.
And so here is the story for the teams so far:
| Category | Adelaide | Newcastle Jets |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 7 | 9 |
| Played | 8 | 8 |
| Points | 11 | 8 |
| Drawn | 2 | 2 |
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Lost | 3 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -1 | -5 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 9 | 12 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | NQ Fury 0 - 2 Adelaide Utd | Newcastle Jets 3 - 2 Wellington Phoenix Newcastle Jets 1 - 0 Gold Coast |
| Biggest loss | Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Gold Coast Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Melbourne Victory | Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 4 |
| Points | 7 | 6 |
| Drawn | 1 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 2 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | -2 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 5 | 4 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 3 | 4 |
| Points | 4 | 2 |
| Drawn | 1 | 2 |
| Won | 1 | 0 |
| Lost | 1 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 1 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 3 | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 2 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 | 1.5 |
For all the results between the two teams, log on to TipsChallenge
Back to back away wins for Glory
That win took the Perth based side to second on the ladder which is rare sight for the team that has never reached the finals.
Gold Coast still lead the ladder on goal difference after losing 3-2 to defending champions Melbourne Victory.
Sydney FC slipped to third after losing 1-nil to the Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners lost a chance to go top after being held to a goalless draw by Wellington Phoenix.
Only eight goals were scored in this round making it the second least scoring round so far in the league.
of those eight goals home teams only scored three goals and so this week we take a look at the ladder focusing on the home matches only.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Perth Glory | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Brisbane Roar | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 7 |
| Adelaide Utd | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 7 |
| Gold Coast | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Newcastle Jets | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| Melbourne Victory | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 3 |
| NQ Fury | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 1 |
And so at the moment Sydney has the best home record and on the bottom is North Queensland Fury.
Glory gets first away win
Before the match, the Glory were the only team to have zero points from away matches.
Wellington Phoenix, Adelaide and Newcastle Jets are now the only teams without an away win.
Gold Coast United managed to hang on to top despite a 3-nil loss to the Mariners because they have superior goal difference.
This week we take a look at the second half scorelines. These are the scorelines for just the second half without considering the first half.
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 9 |
| 0 - 1 | 8 |
| 0 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 6 |
| 1 - 1 | 4 |
| 1 - 2 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 3 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
So in 23 matches one or less goals has been scored in a match.
Its also worth pointing out that so far in the A-League no team trailing at half time have won a match and that could explain the few second half goals.
Fury gets first win
The Fury were the only team without a win and they won in a round which saw three matches finish as draws.
The Fury still anchor the ladder with five and a win in their next match could take them as high as fourth depending on other results.
Gold Coast United maintained its top position after coming from 2-nil down at half time to get an unlikely draw.
This week we take a look at the different half-time scorelines so far this season and next week we will look at the different second half scorelines.
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 5 |
| 0 - 1 | 3 |
| 0 - 2 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 11 |
| 1 - 1 | 4 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 1 |
| 2 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
Its interesting to see that so far the most popular scoreline going into half time is the home
team leading by an odd goal.
Also four is the highest number of goals in the first half.
Gold Coast regain top spot
After the Gold Coast lost to the Central Coast Mariners in round 4, Sydney FC were the only unbeaten side in the league and so after round 5 every team has suffered a loss.
Its interesting to see that there were just two different scorelines in round 5 scores, 1-1 and 2-1 with three matches finishing as a draw.
This week we take a look at the different scorelines so far this season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 1 |
| 0 - 1 | 1 |
| 0 - 2 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 4 |
| 1 - 1 | 5 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 2 |
| 2 - 1 | 4 |
| 2 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 3 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
At this stage of the season 1-all is the most popular result followed by 2-1 and 1-0.
Its interesting to see that after 25 matches already there have been two three-all draws and just one goalless draw.
Victory, Glory register first wins
Victory had played two home matches with no win and on the other hand Glory had played two away matches and failed to get a point from both.
The only teams without a win now are North Queensland Fury and Brisbane Roar.
After 17 goals were scored in each of the first two rounds, only seven were possible this time and round 3 also saw the first goalless draw this season between Central Coast Mariners and Sydney FC.
Gold Coast United maintained their perfect start to the season with a 2-nil win over Adelaide United
Phoenix gets first win
The result left Glory without a win and no points and they are joined in that category by the North Queensland Fury who lost 5-nil to fellow debutants Gold Coast United.
The Gold Coast's huge win means that the new team stays at the top of the ladder with six points, the same points with Sydney FC who had a narrow win over Adelaide.
Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar got their first points in a high scoring 3-all draw at Etihad Stadium.
The first draw of the season came from the match between Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets. Their result means that the top four teams on the ladder remain unbeaten.
In round Glory will play its first home match against the Jets whilst Victory plays its first away match against the Fury.
Gold Coast claim top spot
In a first round where there were no draws, three of the five matches were won by away teams hence the away teams scored ten goals compared to seven by the home teams.
Defending champions Melbourne Victory suffered their first defeat in an opening round whilst Newcastle Jets on the other hand won their first opening day match.
In round 2, the Gold Coast United will meet fellow debutantes Queensland Fury who lost at home to Sydney FC.
Culina takes over at Jets
Culina was already a technical director at the club and that should give him a head start.
The former Sydney FC coach takes over a club that finished bottom of the A-League last season but showed some signs of improvement in the Asian Champions League group stages.
Gary van Egmond leaves Jets
Van Egmond won the championship at the end of the 2007/8 season but the team finished bottom last season.
That championship win meant the Jets got a chance to play in the Asian Champions League where they did well to at least go to the knockout stages but their last match was a 6-nil drubbing by Korean side Pohang Steelers.
The Jets have at least five weeks to get a coach before the season kicks off.
Roar now Brisbane
This has come about after two more teams from Queensland, Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury were admitted into the A-League for the coming season.
Interestingly one of the new teams has the name Queensland in its name.
2009/10 A-League fixtures released
The 2009/10 season will feature 10 teams and therefore the number of matches has increased 135 in the regular season.
The top six teams will participate in the finals. There will be just one extra match in the finals with the teams finishing in the third to sixth places playing knockout one-off matches with no reverse fixtures.
Only the top two teams will play each other home and away with the winner heading straight to the Grand Final.
The season will kick-off on the 6th of August 2009 and the last regular season match will be played on the 14th of February 2010.
The grand final will be held on the 20th of March 2010.
The fixtures will soon be available on TipsChallenge
Victory claim first treble
Victory won the A-League pre-season cup and also the premiership after topping the league ladder on goal difference.
This was Melbourne's second championship making it the most successful club in the competition so far.
Adelaide and Victory join the Central Coast Mariners in the group of clubs that have reached the grand final twice.
This was the A-League's fourth grand final and the third one to be decided by an odd goal. The losing teams have never scored in a grand final.
The win capped Victory's 15th win of the season for Adelaide it was the eighth loss of the season. Victory lost seven games in the season.
Next season there will be ten teams in the league.
This week we take a look at the match scores for the 2008/9 season and their frequency.
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 4 |
| 0 - 1 | 7 |
| 0 - 2 | 4 |
| 0 - 3 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 11 |
| 1 - 1 | 9 |
| 1 - 2 | 4 |
| 1 - 4 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 7 |
| 2 - 1 | 10 |
| 2 - 2 | 4 |
| 2 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 4 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 5 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
| 3 - 2 | 3 |
| 3 - 3 | 3 |
| 3 - 4 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 3 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 4 - 2 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
So in 90 matches the most popular scoreline was 1-nil with eleven occurrences followed by 2-1 with ten. So both scorelines have the home teams winning.
However, in third place is the one-all draw with nine matches finishing with that scoreline.
If you combine 1-0 and 0-1 then in total 18 matches were decided by an odd goal.
Away teams were therefore more likely to win 0-1 than any other scoreline.
Victory to face Adelaide in Grand Final
The goal was the first to be scored by Adelaide in the final series and it proved decisive.
By reaching the final Adelaide will also play in next season's Asian Champions League campaign alongside Victory.
Adelaide and Melbourne have met five times this year and Adelaide has lost all five times.
In five matches the two teams have met, Adelaide has scored just two goals all in one match and the Victory has scored 11 goals.
So the Victory has maintained four clean sheets in the five meets with Adelaide.
In the final ladder for the just ended season this week we take a look at the draws table showing the number of draws for each team and the number of goals involved in those draws.:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 12 | 7 | |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 9 | 6 | |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 5 | 6 | |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 6 | 5 | |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 5 | 5 | |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 5 | 5 | |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 8 | 4 | |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 2 | 2 |
The average number of draws per team was five in a season where there were 22 draws out of 84 matches which is 26 percent.
Interestingly, the Victory had just two draws in the whole season and both were away from home.
One was a goalless draw against Sydney FC and the other a 2-all draw against the Mariners.
Victory reaches grand final
Victory will entertain the winner between Adelaide and Queensland Roar after the Roar beat the Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in the second- leg for an overrall 4-1 win.
Adelaide finished second in the league but they still have to find the net after in the finals and will host the Roar who managed to score four goals and had a clean sheet away from home.
The winner between the two teams will automatically get a place in next year's Asian Champions League because Victory already has the other place as minor premiers.
Throughout the season we looked at the team performance in each half through the first and second half ladders and this week we look at the first and second half ladders for the 2008/9 season.
The first half ladder is the league table considering just the result from the first half and the same for the second half ladder.
Below is the first half ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 8 | 39 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 8 | 33 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 4 | 28 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 1 | 27 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | -2 | 24 |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | -2 | 23 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | -5 | 19 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | -12 | 19 |
and below is the second half ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 14 | 41 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 4 | 32 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 3 | 30 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 2 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | -1 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | -3 | 25 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | -3 | 23 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | -16 | 15 |
So Adelaide had the best first half performance whilst the Victory had the best second half performance.
Interestingly the second half ladder is nearly the same as the actual ladder with the top four places exactly the same.
Below is the actual final ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 38 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 38 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 36 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 26 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | -13 | 22 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -18 | 18 |
Advantage Roar, Victory
Its interesting to see that both home teams lost by the same margin and with the away teams all scoring a goal in each half.
The winner between Adelaide and Melbourne will go straight to the grand final and the loser will host the loser in the Roar/Mariners to decide who becomes the second partipicant in the grand final.
We have been looking at home and away leaders throughout the season and so this week we will take a look at the final home and away ladders.
The home ladder considers just the matches played at home with the away ladder considering the matches played away.
Below is the final home ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 11 | 15 | 27 |
| Adelaide United FC | 11 | 17 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 11 | 5 | 19 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 3 | 18 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 11 | 5 | 17 |
| Sydney FC | 10 | 7 | 16 |
| Queensland Roar | 10 | 4 | 16 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | 1 | 13 |
and below is the final away ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland Roar | 11 | 7 | 20 |
| Adelaide United FC | 10 | -5 | 12 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | -2 | 11 |
| Melbourne Victory | 10 | -3 | 11 |
| Sydney FC | 11 | -6 | 10 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 10 | -13 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 11 | -19 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 11 | -16 | 4 |
The minor premiers Victory top the home ladder but lie fourth in the away ladder.
The Roar leader the away ladder by 8 points and its the away form that secured them third place.
So for the Roar not hosting the grand final should they get there will not be a major problem for them.
Perth Glory had the worst away form and Newcastle the worst home form.
Sydney, Kosmina part ways
Kosmina joined Sydney in October 2007 and his first match was a win against the Central Coast Mariners.
From there Sydney went undefeated for the next six matches and then suffered a 2-4 home loss to Perth Glory.
That loss to the Glory was the only loss Sydney FC suffered under Kosmina in the league in the 2007/8 season.
But Sydney FC still managed to reach the finals where they were knocked out by the Queensland Roar after a 2-0 goal aggregate loss.
However, this season for the first time in the history of the club, Sydney FC failed to reach the finals after winning seven matches, drawing five and losing nine.
The 4-nil win over Newcastle Jets in the last round of this season ensured that the club did not finish the season with a negative goal difference.
So here is the record for Kosmina's 35 matches(33 league and 2 finals):
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Won | 13 |
| Drawn | 11 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Away wins | 7 |
| Home wins | 6 |
| Goals scored | 53 |
| Goals conceded | 48 |
| Home goals scored | 28 |
| Away goals scored | 25 |
So he won more games than he lost during his tenure and despite winning more games away his team scored more goals at home.
The record looks good because the team only lost two matches in the 2007/8 season under Kosmina's guidance but 2008/9 season proved to be the opposite.
Minor premiership decided on goals
The goal difference for both teams was 12 and Adelaide needed to win by at least two clear goals to have a superior goal difference and so the 1-nil over the Central Coast Mariners was not enough.
The Queensland Roar finished third on 36 points because to finish second Adelaide had a to draw or lose.
Wellington Phoenix's defeat at the hands of Victory meant that the Mariners no longer needed to get a result for their match against Adelaide but a heavy defeat would have guaranteed Adelaide the minor premiership.
There was change in the bottom four with Sydney FC moving into fourth place after a 4-nil demolition of cellar dwellers Newcastle Jets.
After looking like they could get fourth place the Phoenix ended in sixth position but its a positive result for a team that finished bottom last season.
So here is the final ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 38 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 38 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 36 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 26 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | -13 | 22 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -18 | 18 |
So in the finals Melbourne Victory will meet Adelaide and the Roar will meet the Mariners.
The winner in the Victory/Adelaide match will go straight to the Grand final but the loser will meet the winner between
Roar and the Mariners to the decide the other finalist.
Three way fight for minor premiership
Victory's 3-nil win over the Central Coast Mariners keeps them in the hunt and are now second on goal difference.
Victory will need to win their last match to get the minor premiership and hope that if Adelaide wins it will win by a lesser margin or draw or lose.
Victory can still get the minor premiership if they lose provided Adelaide lose by a worse margin against the Mariners and the Roar fails to win again Perth Glory.
Adelaide play the Mariners away in their last match of the normal home and away series and by the time they play they will be knowing exactly what to do to overhaul Victory should Victory be on top.
Adelaide's draw with Wellington Phoenix in round 20 makes it harder for the Phoenix to claim fourth place and reach the finals for the first time.
Like in round 19 the Phoenix finished the match with 10 men but this time they did not concede a goal when playing with ten otherwise the season would have finished at the Westpac Stadium. The scoreline was one-all when Tim Brown was send off for a second bookable offence
The Roar's win over Sydney means the Roar can still win the minor premiership but they will require to win against Perth Glory and have both Adelaide and Victory lose their last round matches.
This week we will take a look at the away form after 20 rounds:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland Roar | 11 | 7 | 20 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | -2 | 11 |
| Melbourne Victory | 10 | -3 | 11 |
| Sydney FC | 11 | -6 | 10 |
| Adelaide United FC | 9 | -6 | 9 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 9 | -11 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | -15 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | -14 | 4 |
Its not surprising that the Roar are on top in terms of the away ladder.
Interestingly Adelaide do not have a very good away record but they can improve when it matters when they play the Mariners.
Jets to finish bottom
Jets can only finish with a maximum of 21 points after losing away to table topping Adelaide United.
Central Coast Mariners lost its battle to stay third against Queensland Roar in a high scoring match where they lost 4-3. The Roar have a game in hand and if they were to win that match against Adelaide then would slip to second. Despite losing by an odd-goal to Sydney FC, the Wellington Phoenix is still in the run to reach the finals. They have a home match against Adelaide and an away match against Victory.
Adelaide's stay at the top has been underpinned by an excellent home form as shown by the home matches table below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 10 | 17 | 25 |
| Melbourne Victory | 9 | 10 | 21 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 10 | 5 | 18 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 3 | 18 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | 6 | 17 |
| Sydney FC | 9 | 3 | 13 |
| Newcastle Jets | 9 | 0 | 10 |
| Queensland Roar | 8 | 0 | 10 |
Adelaide has only lost five points at home in ten matches but they have just one more match to play at home.
On the other hand the Roar has been sustained by its away form and so the postponed match between the Roar and Adelaide will should be an interesting encounter.
Jets slip out of finals
The defending champions are on have 15 points and are 10 points adrift of the Mariners who currently lie in fourth place and have 25 points.
The maximum points the Jets can now get from their remaining four matches is 12 but they also have a goal difference of -10 and therefore finals are out of the equation now.
The Jets' next battle is now to avoid getting the wooden spoon and that battle begins with the match away to the Wellington Phoenix who can still reach the finals.
There was a one goal margin win in all the matches in round 17 and for two consecutive rounds there have been no draw.
Apart from the Perth/Adelaide match there was a goal in the last ten minutes of the match in the other three matches.
One interesting statistic to come from the Melbourne/Sydney match is the fact that this is the first time this season for a home team to win after trailing at half time.
Away teams have won twice after trailing at half time this season and the second of those matches was the match between Jets and the Mariners where the Mariners where trailing 1-0 at half-time but emerged 2-1 victors at full time.
With no draws in two consecutive round, this week we will look at the number of draws for each team and the goals scored in those draws.
The table below shows the number of draws so far this season and the goals involved in those draws.
| Team | Played | Goals For | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Coast Mariners | 17 | 12 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 17 | 9 | 6 |
| Queensland Roar | 16 | 5 | 5 |
| Sydney FC | 17 | 5 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 17 | 8 | 4 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 17 | 4 | 4 |
| Adelaide United FC | 15 | 5 | 3 |
| Melbourne Victory | 16 | 2 | 2 |
The Mariners have had the highest number of draws and the high number of goals scored in the draws is due to the two
3-all draws.
Victory has drawn the least with just two draws and is closely followed by Adelaide with just three draws so far.
Glory within striking distance
With Wellington Phoenix winning their match against the Central Coast Mariners, the Glory position on the ladder did not change as they remained in seventh place but another win then they will reach fifth if other results go their way.
If it wasn't for the goal difference then they could reach fourth position and be in the finals positions at the right time of the season.
The Phoenix lie fifth at the moment and could reach first position with a win in their next match against Queensland Roar if Adelaide lose and Melbourne Victory draw or lose.
That would have been unthinkable not so long ago but a few wins for the Glory and the Phoenix have made the two teams likely finals candidates.
Adelaide went to the FIFA World Club Cup on top and they come back into the fray this weekend against the Glory still on top.
During their absence the Victory and Sydney FC have failed to add to their tally and therefore Adelaide will not have as much pressure and now sit comfortable with two games in hand.
Below is the recent form for the last six matches for the A-League teams:
| Team | Last 6 matches |
|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | WLLWDW |
| Central Coast Mariners | WLDDWL |
| Melbourne Victory | WWWLLL |
| Newcastle Jets | DLDLLW |
| Perth Glory | DLDWDW |
| Queensland Roar | WLWDDW |
| Sydney FC | LLDWLL |
| Wellington Phoenix | WWWLDW |
In the other weekend match, Victory lost to Newcastle Jets to complete a three match losing streak away from home.
Victory's next match is against Sydney at home.
For just three matches in the round so many goals were scored with 12 goals scored in total.
Roar up to third
After struggling with home form at the start of the season the Queensland team seam to have put that statistic behind them as they now win home matches. It was a late winning goal but it was enough to propel the Roar to third on the ladder.
There were just three matches this weekend because of Adelaide United's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
Adelaide stayed top of the A-League despite not playing because with 24 points no team playing at the weekend could have overtaken them.
This will change though if Melbourne Victory can get a result against Newcastle Jets in round 16.
A draw between Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory meant that the two teams kept their sixth and seventh positions respectively on the ladder.
Glory's draw combined with Jets' loss means that the Glory will not be bottom at Christmas and that honour will go to the Jets as they are now four points behind the Glory.
Another team to leave it very late was the Central Coast Mariners as they overcame Sydney FC 2-1.
Of the three matches this weekend, two of them finished 2-1 and so this week we will focus on score lines and their frequency.
The table below shows the scoreline and the frequency( draws are not considered):
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 2 - 1 | 7 |
| 1 - 0 | 5 |
| 0 - 1 | 5 |
| 2 - 0 | 4 |
| 1 - 2 | 3 |
| 3 - 0 | 3 |
| 0 - 2 | 2 |
| 2 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 4 | 2 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 0 - 3 | 1 |
So the most popular result so far this season is 2-1 which occurred 7 times but if you consider the the flip side 1-2 then it will be ten times.
Its not surprising that the second most popular scoreline is 1-0 or 0-1 with a combined ten.
Adelaide turn on the style
Before the match the Phoenix were on a very good run after winning three matches in a row but they collapsed in the second half although at one time they were just 2-1 down in that second half.
This is actually the first time that a team has scored six goals in an A-League league match. The other time a team scored six goals was in an A-League grand final where Adelaide lost 6-nil to Melbourne Victory.
The table below shows all the A-League matches were one of the teams has scored five goals or more.
| Home Team Away Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 5 | 1 | Newcastle Jets |
| Queensland Roar | 5 | 0 | New Zealand Knights |
| Newcastle Jets | 1 | 5 | Perth Glory |
| Melbourne Victory | 5 | 0 | Sydney FC |
| Central Coast Mariners | 1 | 5 | Sydney FC |
| Newcastle Jets | 0 | 5 | Queensland Roar |
| Melbourne Victory | 6 | 0 | Adelaide United FC |
| Central Coast Mariners | 4 | 5 | Sydney FC |
| Central Coast Mariners | 2 | 5 | Melbourne Victory |
| Melbourne Victory | 5 | 0 | Newcastle Jets |
| Sydney FC | 5 | 2 | Perth Glory |
| Adelaide United FC | 6 | 1 | Wellington Phoenix |
Elsewhere Melbourne Victory's poor form as they lost 3-1 to Perth Glory. In the last round the Victory lost 2-1 to
the Phoenix and now sit in second place on the ladder.
Another comeback was needed but this time just one goal needed as the Central Coast Mariners drew the Queensland Roar.
Reigning champions Newcastle Jets poor season continued as lost 2-1 at home to arch-rivals Sydney FC. The result secured Sydney FC third place on the ladder.
For the next two rounds there will be three matches in each round as Adelaide participate in the FIFA Club World
Cup and it could be the two weeks rest the Victory needs to recharge.
Draws dominate as Phoenix rises
The Phoenix went into fourth place after the match but finished the round in fifth on goal difference after the Central Coast Mariners somehow managed to retrieve a point in their match against Perth Glory.
Round 13 was dominated by draws with the Phoenix being the only team to get maximum points and Victory managed to hold on the top position after Adelaide could only get a draw against Newcastle Jets.
This is the third round this season when there has been three draws in a round. The other rounds were 1 and 7.
Queensland Roar's draw against Sydney means that the Roar has once again failed to win away to Sydney FC in the A-League in seven matches. Below is the full list of the matches between the Roar away to Sydney FC:
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005/6 | 12 | Sydney FC | 1 | Queensland Roar | 0 |
| 2006/7 | 7 | Sydney FC | 1 | Queensland Roar | 1 |
| 2006/7 | 14 | Sydney FC | 3 | Queensland Roar | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 14 | Sydney FC | 0 | Queensland Roar | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 22 | Sydney FC | 0 | Queensland Roar | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 7 | Sydney FC | 1 | Queensland Roar | 1 |
| 2008/9 | 13 | Sydney FC | 1 | Queensland Roar | 1 |
Interestingly the last four matches have been drawn and so maybe the Roar is not far from a win.
In the 13 matches between the two teams, the Roar has only managed to beat Sydney FC twice.
Next week is round 14 and by the end of it the teams will have played each other twice and lets see if the Phoenix will rise to the top four.
The Phoenix next play Adelaide and a win will mean they will be equal on points with the World Club Championships bound club.
Roar nets first home win
Until this round the Roar had failed to win at home and in their last three home matches they had even failed to score a goal.
But in round 12 the Roar scored its first half goals at home and with that 1-4 loss the Glory stay bottom of the ladder.
All the home teams won in this round with Melbourne Victory beating Central Coast Mariners 2-1 and then Adelaide beating Sydney Fc 2-0 and Wellington Phoenix having a similar scoreline against nine men Newcastle Jets.
This is the first time this season that all the home teams have won. Previously the maximum was three home teams winning in rounds 3 and 6.
This is also the fifth round when there hasn't been a draw in a round this season. It will be interesting to see at the end of the season how many draws there will be compared to the previous three seasons.
Following on from last week this week we focus on goals scored in the second half.
The table below just shows the second half goals for each team after round 12.
| Team | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 9 | 1 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 4 | 10 |
| Melbourne Victory | 7 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 4 | 3 |
| Perth Glory | 6 | 4 |
| Queensland Roar | 5 | 4 |
| Sydney FC | 5 | 2 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 5 | 4 |
So Victory and the Mariners have so far scored the highest number of goals in the second half with 14 apiece.
Adelaide seem to be having problems scoring goals in the second half away from home with just one scored after 12 rounds. They compensate that with the highest number of second half goals scored at home
The Jets and Sydney FC have the lowest number with just 7.
Mariners rise to second
The 3 nil defeat means the AFC Champions League runners up have now gone three matches without scoring a single goal but conceding eight.
This is not the kind of form that will get them into AFC Champions League in 2010 as they dropped to third on the ladder from second.
The Mariners have now jumped into second position and a win in their next match against table topping Melbourne Victory by a margin of three goals or more will see them take top position on goal difference.
In this round a total of 11 goals were scored and six of them in the first half. In the drawn match between Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets three goals were scored in the first half.
In the win over Adelaide the Mariners scored two goals in the first half and so this week we will look at how many goals each team has scored so far in the first half.
After round 12 we will look at how many goals each team has scored in the second half by then.
The table below just shows the first half goals for each team after round 12.
| Team | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 5 | 1 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 8 | 1 |
| Melbourne Victory | 4 | 3 |
| Newcastle Jets | 1 | 3 |
| Perth Glory | 4 | 1 |
| Queensland Roar | 0 | 6 |
| Sydney FC | 8 | 5 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 2 | 1 |
Its not surprising to see that Queensland Roar have scored the highest number of first half goals away from home.
At home in the first the leading lights are the Mariners and Sydney FC with eight goals apiece. Its a blank for the Roar at home.
Home win eludes Roar
The Roar last won a home match way back in February when they beat Sydney FC 2-0 but so far this season the home fans are still to celebrate at Suncorp.
Infact the Roar has failed to score at home in its last three matches and so far the total goals scored at home is 3.
These three goals were all scored in the first two matches of which one was drawn.
Below is a list of home results for the Roar this season:
| Team Name | Score |
|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 1 - 1 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 2 - 4 |
| Newcastle Jets | 0 - 1 |
| Adelaide United FC | 0 - 1 |
| Melbourne Victory | 0 - 1 |
Round 11 has effectively become a split round with Adelaide still to play Central Coast Mariners after the match was
postponed to help Adelaide prepare for the AFC Champions League final second leg.
Mariners stage another comeback
In round 7, the Mariners staged a comeback against Adelaide United and they got the same result and in both matches they could have won the matched because of the momentum drawn from the comeback.
I think its fortunate that both Adelaide and Sydney did not lose all three points after having been 3 up in the matches against the Mariners.
So far 40 matches have been played in the A-League of which 12 matches have been drawn and therefore the rest of the matches (28) have had a result.
At this point lets see the scenario at half time in those matches where we have had a result. It could interesting to see how many teams have won a match having been trailing at half time.
| Scenario | Number of Matches |
|---|---|
| Home team winning after trailing at half time | 0 |
| Away team winning after trailing at half time | 1 |
| Home team winning after leading at half time | 9 |
| Away team winning after leading at half time | 7 |
| Home team wins, draw at half time | 7 |
| Away teams wins, draw at half time | 4 |
| Total | 28 |
Interestingly so far only one team has won a match after trailing at half time and that was Melbourne Victory against Adelaide in round 10.
Meanwhile Melbourne Victory now top the ladder after beating Adelaide 3-2 and on the other end of the table the Wellington Phoenix now prop the ladder after losing 2 nil to Perth Glory.
There will be just three matches next weekend with Adelaide United involved in the AFC Champions League final .
Sydney back on track
Also like in the previous round, only one losing team managed to score a goal and this time it was Perth Glory who scored the only goal to be scored by the losing sides.
So the winning sides are managing to keep clean sheets and in a round of very few goals, Melbourne Victory lost by the biggest margin of two goals but finished their match with eleven players.
It was back to winning ways for Sydney FC and Queensland Roar and back to losing ways for the Glory and Wellington Phoenix and this week we look at the form of all the teams in the last six matches.
The notation is W for a win, D for a draw and L for a loss.
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | LLWDWW |
| Central Coast Mariners | DDWDLW |
| Melbourne Victory | WDLWLL |
| Newcastle Jets | DWLDWL |
| Perth Glory | LWLLWL |
| Queensland Roar | WLWDLW |
| Sydney FC | DWLDLW |
| Wellington Phoenix | DLWDWL |
So basically every team in the last six matches but the Central Coast Mariners have lost only once with the remaining seven teams having lost at least twice.
Adelaide reach AFC Champions League final
The AFC Champions League final is two legged affair and the first leg will be in Osaka on the 5th of November with the second leg in Adelaide a week later.
By reaching the final Adelaide will also go to 2008 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December where they could potentially meet English Premier League champions Manchester United.
If Adelaide win then there will be three teams in the AFC Champions league next season because Adelaide will go in as defending champions. The other two teams will be Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners.
In future the Asian Champions League is a tournament we could have on TipsChallenge.
Upsets all round in A-League
Its interesting to see that after eight rounds only three teams have more than two wins and these are Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC and Adelaide United.
Adelaide has only scored two away goals this season and both the goals have been scored against Queensland at the Suncorp Stadium. Unfortunately the next match against the Roar will be at Hindmarsh.
Wellington Phoenix scored its first away win with a lone goal against the Central Coast Mariners. This win follows a win over Sydney at home in round 7.
Newcastle also needed just one goal to beat the ten men Melbourne outfit.
This is the third round of this season when there has been no draws and its interesting to see that all the wins were by a one goal margin.
Sydney FC was the only losing team to score a goal and next they meet Victory away.
A-League teams' goals
The table below shows the number of goals each team has scored since the start of the A-League and these goals include those scored in the finals series but does not include those scored in the pre-season friendly.
New Zealand Knights is also included and for a comparison there is a similar post on this blog here.
| Home | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 70 | 41 | 111 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 61 | 48 | 109 |
| Melbourne Victory | 63 | 57 | 120 |
| New Zealand Knights | 19 | 9 | 28 |
| Newcastle Jets | 54 | 48 | 102 |
| Perth Glory | 46 | 46 | 92 |
| Queensland Roar | 41 | 50 | 91 |
| Sydney FC | 56 | 56 | 112 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 20 | 12 | 32 |
So Melbourne Victory has scored the highest number of goals so far at 120 and of the teams that started the league in 2006, Queensland Roar has scored the least with 91 goals.
Also only the Roar and Perth Glory are the only teams still to reach a century from the teams that entered league in season one.
There will another post after the grand final to check how many goals each team would have scored then.
Mariners stage amazing comeback
Adelaide were two up at half-time and then 3 up early in the second half but the Mariners managed to fight back and force a draw. At least Adelaide did not end up losing because that would have been painful for their fans after such a high early in the match.
Round 7 is finished and every team has played each other now and the ladder seems to suggest top five teams so far with the three teams somehow struggling.
All this can change in the second third if the struggling teams correct their mistakes and in the case of Perth Glory tighten their defence and also start to score goals.
A third of the season has now gone in the A-League and maybe its now time to look in more details into the first and second halves.
We have seen 86 goals scored in this first third and of these home teams scored the bulk of them with 51 goals.
Its not surprising that a lot of these goals have been scored in the second half where a total of 51 goals were scored.
A lot of matches go to half time at nil all and hence only 35 goals were scored in the second half.
Below are two tables that show team performance when considering just one half.
The first table is the first half table and this only considers the results from the first half only.
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| Sydney FC | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| Melbourne Victory | 7 | 5 | 13 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 7 | 1 | 9 |
| Queensland Roar | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 7 | -2 | 6 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 7 | -2 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 7 | -12 | 2 |
The second table is just for the second half.
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| Queensland Roar | 7 | 1 | 9 |
| Sydney FC | 7 | 0 | 8 |
| Perth Glory | 7 | -1 | 8 |
| Adelaide United FC | 7 | -1 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 7 | -4 | 7 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 7 | -3 | 6 |
and now the real table:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 7 | 10 | 14 |
| Sydney FC | 7 | 6 | 12 |
| Adelaide United FC | 7 | 2 | 11 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 7 | 4 | 10 |
| Queensland Roar | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Newcastle Jets | 7 | -6 | 7 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 7 | -5 | 6 |
| Perth Glory | 7 | -13 | 4 |
We will have a similar review after round 14 and also at the end of the season.
Phoenix snatch first win
That win meant the Phoenix moved off the bottom of the ladder and their position was taken by Perth Glory who lost away to the Mariners.
Round 6 also saw Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC suffer their first losses of the season after the Victory lost 2 nil at home to the Queensland Roar.
It was the third consecutive match in which Victory finished the match with ten men and the first one they failed to score this season with ten players on the pitch.
The Roar were the only away team to win in this round but interestingly they are still to win at home themselves.
So round 6 had no draws and this is the second round this season to have no draws.
There have been 19 rounds
without any draw since the start of the A-League.
This gives just over a quarter of the rounds at about 26%.
Possible second team for Melbourne
If the negotiation goes well then there is going to be a second A-League team in Melbourne to join Melbourne Victory.
Next season the A-League will be composed of ten teams after the two Queensland teams join the league and so the second Melbourne team will be the eleventh.
This means that there is likely to be a twelfth team possibly from Sydney or Canberra.
That will make the A-League more interesting tipping wise and the season will be longer too.
Jets maintain Suncorp grip
The Roar has also failed to score against the Jets in those five matches at the Suncorp. It is interesting to see that four of the five matches have been won 1-0 but in round 16 last season the Jets beat the Roar 3 nil.
In fairness to the Roar they have only lost once to the Jets away and one of their victories was a 5 nil demolition of the Jets in the 2005/6 season.
With the Jets and Perth Glory winning, only the Wellington Phoenix are without a win after 5 matches. The Glory now no longer the anchor the ladder and that role goes to the Phoenix.
For the second round in a row Melbourne Victory finished with ten players but they managed a draw to maintain top spot.
Sydney beat Adelaide are in second place because of goal-difference.
Roar notch first win
After a record equaling high scoring round 3, round 4 was the opposite with a record equaling low scoring of just four goals in the round. Also the four goals were scored in two matches and by two teams The other six teams did not see the back of the net.
The Roar's win means that only Perth Glory, Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle Jets are the three teams still to get a win under their belt this season.
The Jets continue to get their points through draws and the weekend's draw was the the third for the team in four matches.
League leader Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC remain undefeated after four rounds with Victory handing Adelaide United its first defeat of the season.
A draw against the Jets away was good enough to make sure that Sydney remained unbeaten.
Victory leads goals galore
21 goals were last scored in round 18 of last season and that is still the highest number of goals scored in a single round. In that round home teams scored six goals with the away teams scoring 15.
This time it has been the opposite with the home teams scoring fifteen goals.
Round 1 now looks so far away when the four matches could only produce five goals. In round 2 there were 19 goals scored.
Melbourne Victory started the goalfest with a 5 nil demolition of current champions Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United followed with a 3-nil win over the Wellington Phoenix.
The back to back matches on Sunday produced 13 goals with Sydney winning 5-2 against Perth Glory and the Central Coast Mariners winning 4-2 against Queensland Roar.
In fact the Mariners were the only away team to win in round 3.
Ten teams for fifth season
This is good good news for the A-League which will see the addition of two teams, one each from the Gold Coast and North Queensland.
Five matches a round will bring more variety per round and from a football tipping point of view it should make it more interesting and there is more chances of getting points compared to the current four matches.
The league could expand to 12 teams or 14 and 2010 could be a good year to do that especially with that year being a World Cup year.
A round of penalties and goals
The highest number of goals scored in an A-League round so far is 21 and these were scored in round 18 of the 2007/8 season. A total of 19 goals have now been scored three times.
Also there was at least one penalty in each of the matches in round 2. Only two teams Sydney FC and Queensland Roar did not get a penalty with the other six teams all getting penalties.
Another interesting statistic is that all the penalties were converted. If this trend continues then the coaches may better keep practising penalties.
Now Melbourne Victory top the ladder with four points and at the bottom Perth Glory has now been replaced by Wellington Phoenix.
Adelaide starts with win
In a round where only five goals were scored, Adelaide's one goal was enough to give them three points and catapult them to the top of the A-League ladder.
The first round of the 2008/9 season nearly became only the second round when all matches are drawn but Perth Glory failed to square the scores and hence now prop the ladder.
This was the fifth lowest scoring regular season round with four other rounds having seen just four goals.
The lowest number of goals scored in an regular A-League season is 4 with the highest being 17.
A-League set for 10 teams
That will mean five matches per round instead of the current four with the Gold Coast United being the other team to join the league in the 2009/10 season.
If the current format of teams playing each other three times continues, this will mean a 27 match round season which will mean more matches to tip on TispChallenge.
2008/9 A-League tipping
Already some fixtures for the new season have been put up in what looks like the last season with just eight teams before the teams are increased maybe to ten or twelve.
New in the 2008/9 A-League tipping competition will be trivia leagues which will show half time league ladders and tracking for the number of draws for each time plus graphical round by round tipping performance for each player in the competition.
It will also be possible to set up private leagues with unlimited number or players. This should help localise the competition for those who want to see who knows A-League football in their office or among their mates.
2008/9 A-League fixtures released
These fixtures will soon be available on TipsChallenge to start tipping again for the new season.
This looks like the last season with just 21 rounds because in the season 2009/10 at least twelve teams are expected if all goes well. That will be great because that will make the season a bit longer and there would be more matches to predict.
The FFA also announced that the grand final for 2008/9 will be on a Saturday night instead of Sunday which could be a good idea especially for away supporters if they travel to the grand final.
Mariners face Jets in Grand Final
Since the start of the A-League the two teams have faced each other 13 times with Mariners winning three times and the Jets five times and remaining five matches being draws of which one was goalless.
So the chances of the Grand Final being goalless are quite slim by the look of things.
But its interesting to note that the Jets have only failed to score against the Mariners three times whilst the Mariners have failed to score against the Jets five times.
The match is being played in a neutral venue, the Sydney Football Stadium, and the Mariners would have hosted it normally(after winning the major semi) but they have only managed to beat the Jets twice at home and lost once.
It would seem like in this case home advantage would have favoured the Jets more with the Jets winning four times at home and then losing and drawing just once.
So a summary of the matches between the two teams is as follows:
| Mariners | Jets | |
|---|---|---|
| Home wins | 2 | 4 |
| Away wins | 1 | 1 |
| Total wins | 3 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 14 | 14 |
| Biggest winning margin | 4-1 | 3-1, 2-0 |
So the two teams have scored an equal number of goals against each other and so lets see who would have scored more
after Sunday's match.
A-League - Season Goals review
Please note that this comparison is only for the regular home and away seasons.
| 05/06 | 06/07 | 07/08 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Goals | 232 | 218 | 220 |
| Home team goals | 112 | 125 | 113 |
| Away team goals | 120 | 93 | 107 |
| Home team wins | 28 | 38 | 27 |
| Away team wins | 35 | 26 | 29 |
| Draws | 21 | 20 | 28 |
A few observations
Its not surprising that season 3 saw the highest number of draws and most of these draws were early in the season.
Just like season 1, there were more away wins than home wins although it was far much tighter in the just ended season.
However, home teams scored more goals than away teams overall which means that even though away teams won more games, their wins were narrower on average than home wins.
Melbourne's hundred goals
| Team | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United | 59 | 40 | 99 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 48 | 40 | 88 |
| Melbourne Victory | 53 | 49 | 102 |
| New Zealand Knights | 19 | 9 | 28 |
| Newcastle Jets | 44 | 43 | 87 |
| Perth Glory | 42 | 42 | 84 |
| Queensland Roar | 36 | 41 | 77 |
| Sydney FC | 45 | 52 | 97 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 15 | 10 | 25 |
Please note that the table also includes the now defunct New Zealand Knights whose franchise was replaced by
the Wellington Phoenix.
Some observations:
So Adelaide needs just one goal to reach 100 whilst for Sydney FC are just three goals short.
Of the teams that started from season 1, Queensland Roar has scored the least number of goals at 77
Wellington Phoenix has nearly scored the total number of goals that the New Zealand Knights scored in two full seasons. Phoenix just needs three goals to reach Knights tally.
Perth Glory has scored an equal number of goals at home and away
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