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It was a tough four rounds of football for the ten A-League coaches, because there wasn’t much recovery time for players.
From a tactical perspective, Tony Popovic’s rotation of the squad was astute and extremely unique in terms of the changes he made to his squad, at least in the A-League. The coaching ladder is as follows.
1. Steve Corica – Sydney FC
Sydney FC won three out of the four games that they played in and were outstanding in the second half of the one game that they lost, which was in Round 16 against Victory away from home.
The Phoenix is a tough trip to collect all three points in, but Sydney managed to get the win in Round 15 due to some good tactics from their manager, Corica.
2. Kevin Muscat – Melbourne Victory
The Victory claimed ten out of a possible 12 points in the four matches. They also scored 12 goals in those four matches, which is an average of three goals per game, an impressive stat, however, they did score five of the 12 against the lowly Roar.
The Victory did well to come back from a two-goal deficit against the Phoenix at home in Round 14 to salvage a draw while, in Round 16, they withstood a second-half bombardment from Sydney FC to claim all three points.
3. Mark Rudan – Wellington Phoenix
The Phoenix collected a total of seven points from a possible 12, but in the two games that they dropped points in they didn’t play badly.
In Round 16, the Phoenix were fortunate that they had Fillip Kurto as their goalkeeper who was outstanding – saving many shots that would normally be goals. Rudan coached well in the four games and was a deserved third on the ladder in the last four rounds.
4. Tony Popovic – Perth Glory
Perth Glory were undefeated in the four rounds, but two of the four games that they were involved in were scoreless draws.
The reason the Glory were unbeaten can be attributed to Popovic rotating the squad and preventing his players from being fatigued.
This is unique in the A-League and refreshing as managers rarely, if ever, utilise their squad depth the way Popovic does, which sets him apart from other managers in the league.
Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
5. Warren Joyce – Melbourne City
Melbourne City would be reasonably happy with the way Joyce coached, with the team only losing one out of four games.
In the loss City suffered in Round 16 they played extremely well, but failed to find the back of the net.
Joyce would have been higher on the coaching ladder for the four games, but in Round 14 at home to the Glory they failed to register a single shot on target!
City failed to score a goal in two of their four matches but, to be fair, they have been playing without a specialist striker and relying on Lachlan Wales and Ritchie De Laet to play up front, so that stat is understandable.
6. Markus Babbel – Western Sydney Wanderers
Somehow the Wanderers lost three out of four matches, despite the fact that they could have won all four games. They squandered the opportunities that they had to win, in particular in Round 16 where they gave up a two-goal lead in stoppage time away to the Roar.
7. Marco Kurz – Adelaide United
Despite only losing one out of four games, United didn’t play good football. The Reds need to improve if they are going to be a threat come finals time.
8. Mike Mulvey – Central Coast Mariners
Like the Wanderers, the Mariners played some good football, but didn’t capitalise on that. The Mariners collected just one point out of a possible 12.
9. Ernie Merrick – Newcastle Jets
The Jets would be disappointed with the four matches they played in, particularly the way in which they didn’t threaten the opposition in the final third.
The Jets won just one out of the four matches they played in, losing the other three games.
10. Darren Davies – Brisbane Roar
The Roar were deplorable despite only losing two out four games; it was difficult to see what the game plan implemented by Davies was.
Even the two games the Roar managed to draw they didn’t play well in and were lucky to claim a point in both of those games.
In Round 14 they have Jamie Young to thank for leaving the game with a point while, in Round 16, they can thank the Wanderers for switching off in injury time of the second half, which was when the Roar scored their two goals in to miraculously draw a game that they should have lost.
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