Western United’s attention is turning to the upcoming Isuzu UTE A-League Men Finals series after a record-breaking 2021/22 home and away campaign.
John Aloisi’s side achieved more points and more wins than ever before and is heading into the post-season with the confidence of a stellar campaign.
That has been made possible by a number of key individual performances throughout the season with some of Western United stars producing league-leading statistical outputs in their positions.
Western United’s defensive stats
Western United’s defence was a major factor in the success the side had on the pitch throughout the 2021/22 season, and the stats back that up.
Jamie Young won the Golden Glove award with 10 clean sheets across the year, more than every other goalkeeper.
While a clean sheet is a whole team effort, it is clear that Young had a significant hand in the team’s ability to shut teams out.
The fact that the No.1 led the league in total saves made with 95 and also had a league-leading save percentage of 77.7% shows that he was responsible for many of the clean sheets that the team achieved.
Star centre-back Leo Lacroix ranked equal third in the league with 46 interceptions during the season and despite him missing nine games over the campaign, Josh Risdon’s 49 tackles for the year placed him equal second in that metric.
Ben Garuccio (11th), Neil Kilkenny (14th) and Risdon (19th) all also ranked in the top 20 in interceptions across the season.
Western United’s attacking stats
Western United had three players in the top 10 for assists, with Garuccio and Lachie Wales creating six goals for their teammates, while Aleksandar Prijovic managed five.
In fact, Garuccio’s total was the most of any defender in the league to go with his 122 crosses, which placed him seventh in that particular stat.
Prijovic was influential in the final third throughout the campaign with nine goals to go with those five assists meaning he finished the season with the sixth most goal contributions in the A-League Men.
The Serbian also ranked ninth in shots per 90 minutes (P90) with 3.28, just behind Alessandro Diamanti whose total of 3.44 placed him in seventh.
Dylan Wenzel-Halls and Prijovic were both adept at hitting the target as they ranked 10th and 11th in the league respectively for shots on target P90.
Lacroix chipped in with three goals over the course of the season taking his chances predominantly from set pieces when they arose. The Swiss centre-back finished the season with 0.23 goals per shot over the season, which was the sixth best total in the league.
Right behind Lacroix in that category was Steven Lustica who enjoyed his most prolific A-League Men season to date, banging in five goals including crucial game winners against Melbourne City and Sydney FC. His clinical finishing saw him end up with 0.21 goals per shot, ranking him equal seventh.
Miscellaneous stats
Among other stats of interest, Young not only proved his worth with his quality on the pitch but also his dependability in the starting line-up – the United keeper was one of only two players in the league to play every minute of the season.
Wenzel-Halls made the equal-third most appearances as a substitute with 15 and took his chances when coming off the bench, scoring twice as a substitute and ending the season with an impressive 0.44 non-penalty goals P90, which was the eighth highest total.
Diamanti was sorely missed throughout the campaign, playing just 10 games in total, but his impact when he was on the pitch was proven by his stat of 2.2 points won per match in which he featured, beating every other A-League Men player in this metric.
