We’ve seen 20 rounds of the A-League this season and witnessed many greatmgoals, saves and the odd fouls. So which player has stood out (for good or bad) over these first 20 rounds?
The often-recorded categories of goals, assists and saves are simple to find.
Daniel McBreen of the Mariners currently has the most goals with 15, followed by Marco Rojas (Melbourne Victory) with 12, and then a three-way tie for third between Besart Berisha, Jeremy Brockie and Alessandro del Piero on 11.
Thomas Broich is currently leading the league with eight assists, followed by Youssouf Hersi on seven. Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix) leads all keepers with 61 saves.
A sign of a good striker, or any attacking player, is their ability to make the most of the chances available – putting the shot on target, or even more so, in the back of the net.
If we look at players who’ve had over 30 shots this season (to narrow it down to true attacking players) the player with the best strike-rate is Besart Berisha, who scores a goal every 3.55 shots.
Other players with enviable strike rates are Daniel McBreen (4.07), Marco Rojas (4.58), Alessandro Del Piero (4.82) and Jeremy Brockie (5.0).
The player with the most shots in the league, Mark Bridge of Western Sydney (63 shots), has a strike-rate of 7.88.
The player with the worst strike-rate (with at least 30 shots) is Aaron Mooy, also of Western Sydney; he’s had 40 shots and is yet to score. As for defenders, Craig Goodwin of Newcastle has 39 shots (from defense!) and three goals.
As for offsides, Wellington’s Jeremy Brockie has been flagged the most times in the league – a crazy 32 times, more than every player for Newcastle combined.
In fact, the top four offenders (Brockie, Marco Rojas, Besart Berisha and Shane Smeltz) account for 19 percent of the league’s total offside calls, and average at least one offside per game.
Jacob Burns of Perth Glory is perhaps the league’s most dangerous man with 46 fouls committed, which is more than two per game.
Other common offenders are Manny Muscat (38 fouls), Rhyan Grant (37) and Emile Heskey (37).
Unsurprisingly, Burns is also equal second in yellow cards received (seven) with Patrick Gerhart and Besart Berisha. Ali Abbas of Sydney FC has been cautioned the most with eight yellow cards.
All statistics are courtesy of footballaustralia.com.au.
Peter Care
Guest
(from defense!) Defence is spelt with a C, not an S.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Yeah I know its from the season stats tab but here is an example of how unrealiable the actual site is (footballaustralia.com) I'll provide you with four links the first one indicates seasons stats, stats you use, for this example I have used the link of melbourne victory vs wanderers and their season stats shown prior to this game. http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/aleague/matchcentre/seasonstats/Melbourne-Victory-FC-v-Western-Sydney-Wanderers-FC-Hyundai-A-League/2717 It is wrong! The next one is the actual ladder of the A-League, look at the goals in season stats for both sides then look at the ladder http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/aleague/ladder The next example used is another A-League ladder which backs up the first which again proves the first link to be wrong! http://www.ultimatealeague.com/standings.php Another example - "Thomas Broich is currently leading the league with eight assists" Foxsports and other websites show otherwise - http://media.foxsports.com.au/match-centre/a-league/match-info.html?matchid=HAL2012-132005SYDBRI When you follow the latest link provided click on broich and see his season stats. I appreciate the effor made and I know it is not your fault but for future reference I would not rely on footballaustralia.com They really do a poor job. I highly recommend ultimatealeague.com and foxsports.com.au and aleaguestats.com
Nigel Wakeley
Roar Guru
It's from the season stats tab of footballaustralia.com.au. You're entirely correct about Berisha though, he's had 39 shots with 11 goals (strike rate of 3.55) so he would be the best.
Cameron
Roar Guru
I hate to say this but i'm finding footballaustralia's statistics hard to follow. I thought Daniel McBreen had most shots with 64. Besart Berisha in my book has had 42 shots with 11 goals with an average of 3.81. That to me is, the best. Everywhere I look shows Marco Rojas on 11 goals. Even foxsports match centre and ultimatealeague and I double checked both. Don't worry I looked at football Australia and saw what you saw but i'm just struggling to follow. Where did you get your attempted shots from?