Every good team needs an architect pulling the strings. Naturally, some string pullers are more effective than others, and we aim to find out who the best are.
The following list is a breakdown of each team’s most effective chance creators.
One way of measuring this is by using a combination of assists, key passes, and minutes played to figure out who the most potent and effective creative players have been in the early stages of this A-League season.
Pairing the total amount of key passes for each player with their minutes played, will give us an indication of how regularly that player creates scoring opportunities for their team.
Adelaide United:
Craig Goodwin
Assists – 3
Key passes – 19 (2.4 per 90 minutes)
Goodwin is tied on leading the league on assists with six other players. He’s been incredibly dynamic and fun to watch. As Adelaide’s primary attacking outlet, it’s unsurprising to see him on the list.
Brisbane Roar:
Éric Bautheac
Assists – 1
Key passes – 11 (1.7 per 90 minutes)
Brisbane have been struggling this season, and it’s a concern to see their most potent creative player with numbers as tame as these.
Central Coast Mariners:
Connor Pain
Assists – 1
Key passes – 9 (1.3 per 90 minutes)
Similar story to Brisbane here for the Mariners. Chances are hard to come by.
Melbourne City:
Florin Berenguer
Assists – 1
Key passes – 12 (2.1 per 90 minutes)
City’s new signing is off to a pretty decent start.
Melbourne Victory:
Keisuke Honda
Assists – 3
Key passes – 21 (2.6 per 90 minutes)
Victory have a wealth of playmakers in attack. Unsurprisingly, Honda has been bossing it and has been a crucial creative outlet for Victory in midfield. Antonis has been very effective too, and equals Honda’s assist tally with fewer key passes.
Terry Antonis
Assists – 3
Key passes – 14 (1.9 per 90 minutes)
Newcastle Jets:
Dimi Petratos
Assists – 3
Key passes – 23 (2.9 per 90 minutes)
Dimi has the highest amount of key passes per 90 minutes of any player in the A-League this season. Vargas has a high amount of key passes also, but is yet to register an assist. This says a lot about Newcastle’s attacking tendencies and the quality of chance creation and finishing.
Ronald Vargas
Assists – 0
Key passes – 21 (2.6 per 90 minutes)
Both of these players should probably have more assists considering how many opportunities they’ve created. Finishing off the chances needs work, and you can see that even without the stats to back it up.
Perth Glory:
Christopher Ikonomidis
Assists – 2
Key passes – 7 (1 per 90 minutes)
Ikonomidis has a surprisingly low key pass to assist ratio. This could indicate that the quality of chances that Ikonomidis creates are much higher and more likely to result in a goal. He only averages about one key pass per game, but has still bagged 2 assists.
Neil Kilkenny
Assists – 2
Key passes – 19 (2.4 per 90 minutes)
Kilkenny has also proved to be very handy creatively.
Sydney FC:
Milos Ninkovic
Assists – 3
Key passes – 10 (1.3 per 90 minutes)
Ninkovic is similar to Ikonomidis in that he has a lot of assists compared to his amount of key passes. It’s likely we’ll see Ninkovic continue this trend of potency for the remainder of the season.
Wellington Phoenix:
Sarpreet Singh
Assists – 1
Key passes – 12 (2 per 90 minutes)
There aren’t too many creators in the Wellington attack, but Sarpreet Singh is pulling his weight.
Westers Sydney Wanderers:
Bruce Kamau
Assists – 2
Key passes – 14 (2.3 per 90 minutes)
Bruce Kamau leads the assists tally for the Wanderers, but Alexander Baumjohann boasts an impressive amount of key passes. Second best in the league in fact, but has only been rewarded with the one assist!
Alexander Baumjohann
Assists – 1
Key passes – 20 (2.8 per 90 minutes)
Stats per individual A-League club websites
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