The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 19 were...
The plaudits are shared amongst Sydney FC and Auckland FC this week for both posting consecutive wins to nil.
Auckland head coach Steve Corica wasn't panicking through what was almost a winless January (W1, D3, L2), having vividly remembered their inaugural regular season of 2024/25 in which they also struggled in January only to pick the results back up again.
He backed his processes and his players throughout the downturn in output, trusting the results to go his way again, and returns to form from the likes of Guillermo May and Jesse Randall have boosted the arsenal of Corica, who now has a practically clean bill of health heading into the final stretch of the home and away season.
Corica and his friend Ufuk Talay are both plauding the efforts of their defenders and Sydney FC didn't have the most difficult time keeping a toothless Melbourne City scoreless at the weekend, though they worked hard for their reward.
Their win in Wellington ensured they stayed three points behind Auckland and the top-two, whilst retaining the joint-best goals against tally alongside the Black Knights.
The big losers of Round 19 were...
Melbourne City once again as they turned 57% possession and 11 shots into just 0.51 expected goals and, most importantly, a 3-0 defeat at Go Media Stadium that has them three points outside the top-six and with seventh-placed Central Coast Mariners a far better chance of penetrating their way into the finals.
It's one frustration after another for head coach Aurelio Vidmar to deal with on a weekly basis, be it a lack of incision and precision in the final third, costly mistakes in the back third that turn the ball over, or a lack of effort and hunger to win the second ball.
City are now five games without a victory in this competition and some tired bodies have to back up quickly for the first leg of their Round of 16 AFC Champions League Elite tie against Thailand's Buriram on Wednesday.
Team of the Week
Read more about our Round 19 Team of the Week here.
Goal of the Week
A superb goal isn't always about the final touch. Sometimes the buildup that creates the opportunity to score is the most skillful and mesmerising aspect of a goal, and that's why Brandon Borrello's icing of the cake against Macarthur... takes the cake.
This one is for Dylan Scicluna, who made a mockery of four Bulls here.
What the managers said
Arthur Diles (Melbourne Victory):
"If you look at the chances in the match, we probably deserved more. We missed two or three really good chances in that second half. I'll take the point, absolutely, but I think we were good to get all three tonight. It wasn't to be. We had a big match which took a lot out of us, and then we had to be physically and mentally up for another derby."
Michael Valkanis (Brisbane Roar):
"I think the boys gave everything today and we played good football. We dominated nearly every stat, so we ticked those boxes as well. We just weren't clinical enough even though we got enough shots on goal to get three points. So it does feel disappointing to lose those two points. But we will go on a run. There's no doubt about that."
Aurelio Vidmar (Melbourne City):
"I don't think we deserved a 3-0 loss, that's for sure. They took their chances. We didn't deal well with the long balls and some of those 50/50s in the defensive end where a couple of goals came from. In saying that, overall especially the second half we were having a lot of shots at goal but nothing on target. That hurts as we were getting into good positions without getting close to the goal or testing the keeper."
Click here for a full rundown of post-game comments from all 12 managers.
Next week's fixtures
