I have taken on the challenge to find talent in Australia’s A-League which will be done purely by analysing statistical data. I have picked out some key positions on the field and will present my findings in terms of the profile of each player. I have filtered out the data to only show me players under the age of 28 and for those who have played more than 10 games this season.
Recently, the Australian league has developed some great players and top teams in Europe are starting to pay more attention to the league. Here are some recent examples of players who have moved to Europe from Australia:
- Nestory Irankunda — Bayern Munich
- Marco Tillo — Celtic
- Joe Gauci — Aston Villa
- Liberato Cacace — Sint-Truiden
My goal in this piece is to identify players who according to the data should be reviewed further from clubs in Europe.
Forwards:
Firstly, I have created some data visualisations for the forwards in the league.
Stand Out Forward:
Name: Apostolos Stamatelopoulos
Age: 25
Nationality: Australia
Club: Newcastle Jets
Height: 184cm
xTV: €750k — €1M
Overall, Stamatelopoulos stands out well in comparison to the other forwards. Firstly, he has recorded an impressive xG of 15.03, a great goal conversion rate of 23.2% as well as being strong in other metrics such as recording 2.85 shots per 90 whilst having a 49.32% shot on target rate. What is more impressive is that he is doing this for a club that at the time of writing this is 10th in the league. According to the data, Stamatelopoulos appears to look like a good poacher & as long as the service is provided to him, he will be a threat to the team.
Fabio Gomes of Sydney FC also looked impressive just behind Stamatelopoulos. Gomes is someone who appears to be more dominant in the air however, Stamatelopoulos even in this department isn’t too far off. A note to consider is that Gomes is currently on loan at the club from Brazil, so he will return this summer.
Why Stamatelopoulos looks to be a clinical forward
From reviewing the data of the overall Newcastle Jets team, I am looking for trends and patterns that would suggest how Stamatelopoulos is plucking these figures as per above. There are no particular figures that jump out for assists which would be the first obvious place to look but Lucas Mauragis according to the data, appears to be an attacking left-back who is providing some impressive attacking outputs per 90 such as:
- xA: 4.12
- Successful Attacking Actions: 4.74
- Crosses:3.97
- Accurate Crosses %: 40.48
- Dribbles: 5.14
- Successful Dribbles: 55.26%
- Passes To Penalty Area: 3.83
- Progressive Passes: 7.58
Right-back Dane Ingham has similar metrics as per the above which to me would suggest the full-backs are the ones who are providing the main service up top to Stamatelopoulos.
A similar profile of Stamatelopoulos from the EPL:
Chris Wood — Nottingham Forest
Attacking Midfielders:
Here are some data visualisations for the attacking midfielders in the league.
Stand Out Attacking Midfielder:
There are a few players that stand out for various reasons. It would depend on specifically which position we were to review. Here is initially who stood out:
- Lachlan Brook
- Angel Torres
- Ben Old
- Jed Drew
- Keegan Jelacic
Although Jelacic stood out well, he has only played 11 games for the club versus the others who have played over double the amount, therefore it is unfair to have him in the same bracket in terms of comparing however, still someone who according to the data looks to be a good attacking midfielder.
Torres and Brook are the two who overall stand out for their outputs but if I had to pick one overall, then I would go with the following:
Name: Angel Torres
Age: 24
Nationality: Columbia
Club: Central Coast Mariners
Height: 182cm
xTV: N/A (according to transfermarkt his value is currently at 450k)
Overall, Torres stands out firstly due to the fact he has played more minutes than Brook. He has an impressive xG of 8.05, successful attacking actions of 6.52 and recorded a high number of progressive runs at 4.61 as well as 5.48 progressive passes. The data shows he is a very active and attacking minded attacking midfielder.
Lachlan Brook of Western Sydney Wanderers also looked impressive just behind Torres. Brook appears to be more attack-focused on an individual level as he has recorded 3.36 shots per 90 however, Torres in most of the other metrics looks more of an all-rounded better attacking midfielder if I were just to make a 1v1 comparison.
Why Torres looks like a good attacking force:
From reviewing the data of the overall Central Coast Mariners team, I again analysed it to see how Torres was able to be a key player on the wings for the club. Torres has played on both wings, mainly on the left this season. When looking for patterns or trends, I noticed there is some creativity in the team from the left-sided central midfielder Josh Nisbet and Mikael Doka who is predominantly a right back and both have the highest xA rate out of the squad.
Various positions on the field could be supplying the ball to Torres to help bring out the best, which seems to be either from the full-back area or the attacking midfielder side.
There was a high number of passes into the final third from the defensive area for example 7.07 per 90 from the centre-back Brian Kaltak and 5.77 from Jacob Farrell who is a left-back. Also, not far away are the central midfielders for this metric, so it appears Torres gets the service he needs to be impressive in the final third.
A similar profile of Torres from the EPL:
Michael Olise — Crystal Palace
Centre Back:
Finally, here are some data visualisations for the central defenders in the league.
Stand Out Central Defenders:
Again, there is not one particular stand out in this position. It is also important to consider that it really depends on what type of profile you are looking for. However, here are the few that stand out to me from the players analysed initially:
- Kai Trewin
- Kane Vidmar
- Alex Bonetig
One other thing to consider is that Trewin has played exactly double the amount of games as Vidmar and Bonetig this season so far. It appears that Vidmar at just 19 may have just broken into the first team hence playing 13 matches so far, the same as Bonetig who is 21.
If a club was looking for more of a ball-playing central defender, Trewin is your guy. However, if you want to look for a defender who is more of a traditional central defender then Vidmar looks impressive and someone who can be developed.
I would like to look into both players in more detail.
Name: Kai Trewin
Age: 23
Nationality: Australia
Club: Brisbane Roar
Height: 178cm
xTV: N/A (according to transfermarkt his value is currently at 400k)
As mentioned, Trewin is more of a wide ball-playing central defender which may suit well in a back 3 (according to the data). He recorded 10.67 progressive passes, a 91.08% accurate pass rate as well as 9.47 successful defensive actions. He has only been able to make 3.09 aerial duels per game so far however, does have a 58.33% of winning them hence my suggestion of him being a wide centre-back who sits in a back three.
Name: Kane Vidmar
Age: 19
Nationality: Australia
Club: Western United
Height: 185cm
xTV: €100k — €150k
As mentioned, Vidmar is a good profile of a player who is more dominant in that position. He has recorded 5.13 aerial duels which is more than the other players analysed however, in terms of winning them he recorded 46.03%. He has recorded an impressive 6.51 interceptions and won 54.55% of his defensive duels. There are areas of improvement that I can see in terms of the data however, it does need to be considered at just 19 he is only just starting to break into the side it seems.
Why Trewin can be a ball-playing defender:
From reviewing the data of the overall Brisbane Roar team, particularly the defenders, I wanted to see again if there were any trends or patterns in where Trewin is able to flourish as a ball-playing defender.
Tom Aldred has been the experienced centre-back partner with Trewin this season, who typically plays on the right side of the central defensive area. Aldred appears to be the one who is the cover for Trewin who will be more of the sweeper whilst Trewin can be on the ball more as it appears on the data. Here are some metrics per 90 where this suggests my point:
- Defensive Duels Won: 73.39
- Aerial Duels: 4.2
- Aerial Duels Won %: 62.93
- Progressive Runs: 0.94 (Trewin has 1.73)
- Progressive Passes: 5.8 (Trewin has 10.67)
A similar profile of Trewin from the EPL:
Ben Davies — Spurs
Conclusion:
This has been a great exercise to not only pick out some stand-out players in key positions in the Australian league but also look at how the players have been able to stand out with input from their teammates, as well as profiling each stand-out player.
As I often mentioned, this is just providing the outputs of what happened, I analysed more into why it happened but it now needs a scouting review of these individuals to see exactly how they operate in the game. A certain player mentioned in this piece may not be a fit for a particular team and their system.
Based on my analysis, I would suggest a further scout report on all the players highlighted to see how they operate and at what level in Europe are they capable of playing in.
