A-League Team of the Week: Sky Blues form the spine of our best XI

[image alt="A-League Team of the Week" id="e09ba21b-41bc-4dd2-8482-96beb6efe782" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="9bc6eb02-487f-4f24-a7c7-2184e3c4ed8b" original-width="1080" original-height="1350" /][h2]GK: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/woud-michael/0Q6DZf55/"]Michael Woud[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/auckland-fc/2J7jacL6/"]Auckland FC[/a] (7.7)[/h2][p]Woud was stellar, facing 1.55 expected goals (xG) but keeping Adelaide to only one from their five shots on target. [/p][embed guid="a748380c-8c5f-4a60-940d-d3ee5b1352fa" url="https://x.com/aleaguemen/status/2053007350022521307" social-type="twitter" /][h2]LB: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/garuccio-benjamin/vkLTlyaf/"]Ben Garuccio[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sydney-fc/6JsBlXVI/"]Sydney FC[/a] (7.3) [/h2][p]The 30-year-old was Flashscore's Player of the Match in Sydney's final two games of the regular season and carried that momentum forward to record a 7.3 out of 10 courtesy of 35 accurate passes, four of them crosses, and two 'big chances' created. [/p][h2]CB: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/courtney-perkins-jordan/vBx0yj58/"]Jordan Courtney-Perkins[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sydney-fc/6JsBlXVI/"]Sydney FC[/a] (7.6)[/h2][p]JCP completed all three of his attempted tackles, came out the winner in six of his eight individual duels and registered a game-high of eight clearances. [/p][h2]CB: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hall-daniel/dvyUBVnb/"]Dan Hall[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/auckland-fc/2J7jacL6/"]Auckland FC[/a] (7.7)[/h2][p]Hall was the Player of the Match by topping the game count for both interceptions (4) and clearances (6) in addition to winning eight of his 11 duels. Hall also passed with 86% accuracy.[/p][h2]RB: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/barnett-jay/nHRRKTV4/"]Jay Barnett[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/adelaide-utd/4AZ2ueHm/"]Adelaide United[/a] (7.0)[/h2][p]Barnett won six of his seven individual duels and cleared the ball four times whilst completing 29 passes - the fifth-most of the game. [/p][h2]LM: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/randall-jesse/SvHX4DoT/"]Jesse Randall[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/auckland-fc/2J7jacL6/"]Auckland FC[/a] (7.1)[/h2][p]Randall landed eight of his 11 attempted passes in the final third and was the only player of the game to register two accurate crosses. He also registered more shots (five) than anyone else in the game. [/p][embed guid="bd4b752c-6454-4383-8d5a-b2cce0b0fc6a" url="https://x.com/futbolnz/status/2053082555113500916" social-type="twitter" /][h2]CM: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/okon-paul/Mo1q9x3A/"]Paul Okon[/a]-[a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/okon-engstler-paul/2TYezBuo/"]Engstler[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sydney-fc/6JsBlXVI/"]Sydney FC[/a] (8.5)[/h2][p]Okon-Engstler was by far the highest rating player of the weekend according to our algorithm.[/p][p]That was because he topped the match count for most ground duels won (8 of 11), most tackles won (4 of 6) and most interceptions (3). [/p][p]Only Aleksandar Popovic (77) racked up more accurate passes than Okon-Engstler's 72 at a success rate of 95%. [/p][embed guid="e767f54e-5d58-4036-82a4-32ccf4c092f2" url="https://x.com/aus_tactics/status/2053313870719308289" social-type="twitter" /][p]We must give a shout-out to Okon-Engstler's fellow central midfielder [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kamijo-wataru/8AHWv1U7/"]Wataru Kamijō[/a], who with a player rating of 7.8 was fully deserving of a second consecutive Team of the Week spot. [/p][p]He would have slotted straight into a 4-4-2 formation, but with two wingers and no second strikers worthy of a spot in the team, we instead opted for a 4-3-3 and left him out. [/p][embed guid="9d6bfcf0-e3cc-4513-b078-016da64486a0" url="https://x.com/aleaguemen/status/2053289669799063741" social-type="twitter" /][h2]RM: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/brook-lachlan/6DM96zbF/"]Lachlan Brook[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/auckland-fc/2J7jacL6/"]Auckland FC[/a] (7.3)[/h2][p]Brook opened the scoring with the only of his four shots that was on target (two of them blocked). [/p][p]Only one of his 12 attempted passes in the final third was off-target. [/p][embed guid="2688b16f-cf8f-4de3-8a9a-f5fda353c1d0" url="https://x.com/aleaguemen/status/2053000639479971895" social-type="twitter" /][h2]LW: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/taylor-clayton/dEt1irS3/"]Clayton Taylor[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/newcastle-jets/EaZ5xZo0/"]Newcastle Jets[/a] (7.4)[/h2][p]Taylor was the Jets' highest-rating player not just because of this brilliant dribbling and passing that set up their only goal, but he also passed in the final third with a handy 70% accuracy. [/p][embed guid="1aad09b4-99cb-4102-b6c6-5b50b4f17bf1" url="https://x.com/ParamountPlusAU/status/2053070188984316207" social-type="twitter" /][h2]ST: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stamatelopoulos-apostolos/WvUYHJwU/"]Apostolos Stamatelopoulos[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sydney-fc/6JsBlXVI/"]Sydney FC[/a] (8.0)[/h2][p]As the only traditional striker to score at the weekend, Stamatelopoulos gets the sole position in the 4-3-3 formation. [/p][p]He notched up five shots, albeit with two off target and two blocked. It was the one exception that mattered most. [/p][embed guid="c0481ee4-7e34-411c-a406-e50c2a2e8d27" url="https://x.com/aleaguemen/status/2053068344119718250" social-type="twitter" /][h2]RW: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/crawford-harry/KvdJfo5f/"]Harry Crawford[/a] - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/adelaide-utd/4AZ2ueHm/"]Adelaide United[/a] (7.6)[/h2][p]The 19-year-old was one of only two players (along with Auckland's Jesse Randall) to make two shots on target, with one of them levelling the scoring after half-time. [/p][embed guid="b466a876-d191-481b-b635-13b56974444e" url="https://x.com/aleaguemen/status/2053286400158773300" social-type="twitter" /]