Melbourne City and the Wellington Phoenix face off at AAMI Park and after two matches you can already see the differences between the two sides.
City have started the season with two wins including last week’s win over Melbourne Victory. The Phoenix drew 1-1 with Adelaide in Round 1 before valiantly going down to Sydney FC last week.
However there is one thing they have in common, they both have a new coach for the 2017-18 season. Let’s compare the pair.
Darije Kalezic is the 27th A-League boss to not win any of his first two matches, while Warren Joyce is just the third coach to win his first two (Gary van Egmond in 2006-07 and Vitezslav Lavicka in 2009-10). The Englishman could become the second manager, behind van Egmond, to win his first three matches at the helm.
Joyce’s men have had a solid start to the season and sit at the top of the table on goal difference.
Melbourne City stats
-Four goals
-Eight shots on target
-One goal conceded
-Three shots faced
-35 tackles made
-122 duels won
-663 passes made
-13 dribbles made
-Two crosses delivered
-40 fouls won
-34 fouls conceded
Wellington have had an OK start to the season, they haven’t played badly but are one of five teams without a win this season but sit outside the top six on goal difference.
Wellington Phoenix stats
-Three goals
-Nine shots on target
-Four goals conceded
-14 tackles made
-108 duels won
-570 passes made
-17 dribbles made
-Six crosses delivered
-27 fouls won
-27 fouls conceded
Going forward both teams have had score a similar amount of goals and have had a similar amount of shots on target. Defensively is where the differences show and surprisingly it’s City who are the most impressive.
They’ve made 21 more tackles, and 14 more duels. They have made 93 more passes and have won 13 more fouls however they have conceded seven more.
Wellington have delivered more crosses and have gone on more dribbles but those stats don’t exactly lead to winning games.
Joyce came into the City gig with a bit of experience in England and a lot of expectations, which so far he has met and could exceed with a victory over the Phoenix.
Similarly to City marquee Marcin Budzinski, Kalezic came into the A-League with experience but with a smaller profile and not having any expectation inside Australia. The Phoenix have only won three matches at AAMI Park and don’t expect that record to increase come the end of the match.
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