Opinion
There was plenty of attacking football played with 17 goals in six games in Round 10. Despite that, three out of the 12 teams that played kept a clean sheet. There was a record broken with Jamie Maclaren scoring at least one goal in his ninth successive A-League game. Find out who made their way into the team of the week.
Formation: 4-4-2
Tom Glover was arguably the difference between the two teams in the game between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix. That’s despite nearly gifting Wellington Phoenix striker Oskar Zawada a chance to score in the 43rd minute. The mistake that Glover made seemed to be the catalyst for him saving plenty of goals in the second half, most notably two saves in second-half stoppage time, when Melbourne City led 2-1 at that stage.
Josh Risdon put in a fantastic shift for Western United. In the 18th minute he prevented a goal from a corner taken by Carlo Armiento of the Brisbane Roar, as Risdon cleared the ball of the line with a header that went out for another Roar corner.
He nearly scored in the 30th minute, and the attacking threat that he provides makes him a handful for opposition left-sided players. In the second half he provided a pinpoint cross for the equalising goal scored by Aleksandar Prijovic.
Tomoki Imai worked extremely hard defensively. He summed the defensive side of the Western United team up in a post-match interview: “We have a good structure.”
He was arguably the most important player on the pitch as he curtailed the attacking threats of the Brisbane Roar for the majority of the game.
Brian Kaltak put in a solid display for the Central Coast Mariners. He helped negate the influence of Melbourne Victory when they were attacking; as per usual he was reliable and went about his job with no fuss, as he is grounded. He provided an assist for the second goal scored by Jason Cummings in the 53rd minute, which gave the Central Coast Mariners what proved to be an unassailable 2-1 lead.
Adama Traore put in a great shift for the Western Sydney Wanderers. He worked his guts out. In Round 10 he took his game to another level as he made many a marauding run down the Western Sydney Wanderers’ left-hand side, causing right-sided opposition players plenty of headaches. He completely outplayed Matthew Millar and Craig Noone of Macarthur FC and Traore was assisted by Kusini Yengi.
Max Burgess grabbed the opportunity to start, with Joe Lolley suspended. The impact that Burgess had on the game was exceptional as he had five shots, with three of them on target and seven touches in the opposition box.
The havoc he created down the right hand side took the focus of the Newcastle Jets defence off Adam Le Fondre and Robert Mak who were the two goal scorers. Although there was no end product from Burgess he was arguably the best player on the pitch moving the ball around effortlessly and continually making insightful runs.
(Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
William Wilson played 62 minutes, but put in a fantastic shift, despite not playing the full game. At half-time he had 10 passes in the final third and 33 touches. He stood out as he never stopped working and did so effectively. He was arguably the best player for Melbourne Victory.
Mathew Leckie was prolific, especially in the first half where he scored the equaliser in the 18th minute. He helped Melbourne City cause plenty of problems for the Wellington Phoenix defence. He helped create the third goal with some great lead-up work that gave Jamie Maclaren a brace in the 96th minute, which sealed a 3-1 win for Melbourne City.
Kusini Yengi played the best game of his career. He provided two assists for the game, the first coming in the 18th minute, which made the score 2-0 in Wanderers’ favour. The second assist for Yengi came in the 70th minute, which made the score 3-0, scored by Brandon Borrello. He finished the game with 13 passes in the final third.
He even worked hard defensively as he conceded a corner to Craig Noone of Macarthur FC in the 39th minute that curtailed a dangerous attack for Macarthur FC.
Jamie Maclaren scored from the penalty spot in the 51st minute and a simple goal in open play in the 96th minute. He summed everything up in his post-match interview: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Jason Cummings put in a tremendous shift in his best game for the season. He deserved to score a brace due to his hard work. The manner in which he played can be summed up by him curtailing a Melbourne Victory attack in the 64th minute.
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