The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 5 were...
Sydney FC, who just a few weeks ago were looking like they were in for another disappointing season after a sluggish Round 1 loss to Adelaide United.
But the decision to give Ufuk Talay a one-year contract extension off the back of an underwhelming 2024/25 is looking genius now.
The Sky Blues have notched up 11 goals to one in a run of four consecutive victories, and whilst they have come against some pretty poor opposition (including three of last season's seven non-finalists), the three clean sheets they've earned in that period has been a very encouraging sign.
If Talay can get Peruvian international Piero Quispe to fire, they could be quite the force with some very winnable games to come in the next four rounds before they meet Auckland and Melbourne City in successive weeks.
The big losers of Round 5 were...
It seems like the lazy option to stick to the same match when identifying the major winners and losers of the weekend, but it's cannot be understated what an impact Melbourne Victory's 3-0 loss to Sydney FC will have on Arthur Diles' tenure at AAMI Park.
Speculation about Diles' position began running rampant after he was tactically outplayed by Ufuk Talay, a fortnight after a pretty abysmal derby performance against Melbourne City, and his decision not to sign a striker to start ahead of the out-of-form Nikos Vergos is really biting hard.
The Victory are second in the league for total shot attempts but seventh for shooting accuracy and, most importantly, share last place with Macarthur FC and Perth Glory for goals scored (four).
They appear directionless with the ball at their feet, sloppy in defence, and too depend on a 37-year-old (Juan Mata) who was a bench player last season at Western Sydney Wanderers.
A special mention goes out to Wellington Phoenix, who dropped to eighth place with a second consecutive loss in front of just 3,600 spectators.
A new boutique stadium in Wellington cannot come quickly enough, with the 34,500-capacity Sky Stadium looking like quite the eyesore when it's only 10% full!
Pierias earns a red card suspension
Adelaide United's Dylan Pierias was sent off during the 36th minute of their match against Melbourne City on Friday and the Match Review Panel (MRP) decided to uphold the red card.
The MRP found Pierias guilty of 'Serious Unsporting Conduct' and handed him a mandatory one-match ban with no further sanction.
Goal of the Week
Lachlan Brook, take a bow.
What the managers said
Airton Andrioli (Adelaide United): "I think Shaun Evans is a fantastic referee. All I can say was maybe it was jetlag after a long trip away. Maybe he didn't have one of his best games tonight. The best thing is that we won the game and we don't have to spend time talking about it (Pierias' red card). The ability to defend the lead was fantastic and I just want to focus on positives."
Steve Corica (Auckland FC): "That was a very flat performance for us. I expected more, especially after the Wellington game two weeks ago. We let ourselves down today. We didn't win any second balls. I don't think we really dealt with (Brisbane's physicality) today. There are lot of little factors that maybe were the reason (for the loss) but we want to be a lot fresher for the Newcastle game."
Michael Valkanis (Brisbane Roar): "I was very proud of our performance. I thought we were the more dominant side in the first half and we created clear-cut chances that could have produced a different outcome. Auckland are a really competitive, well structured team that probably deserved to be in the Grand Final last year. You'll always take a point away to Auckland against a strong team. We also defended very well as a team."
Warren Moon (Central Coast Mariners): "I thought by the end of the game, we deserved something out of that. The boys all agree that the way we defended in the first 20 minutes wasn't good enough. That's the lesson for us. We gave ourselves a hell of a task to get anything out of that game. We need to make sure that our standards and consistency are higher."
Mile Sterjovski (Macarthur FC): "Very delighted. It's a difficult place to come to (Wellington) but I thought our boys played a super match and deserved the win. Unlucky not to score a few more. The goal that Harry (Sawyer) scored was well deserved. I felt like we controlled Wellington without the ball. I don't remember them having many chances until the late one."
Aurelio Vidmar (Melbourne City): "We started off well in the first ten minutes and then we were very uncompetitive. We gave away two goals and then they got a fair bit of momentum. There was one team to win and that was Adelaide. We didn't want to compete."
Arthur Diles (Melbourne Victory): "There was a 15-minute window in the second half that was not good enough and it ultimately cost us the match. It was a positive first half without the reward or outcome. I thought we were in a position where we had a hold on the match in the first half. We've got to keep playing the football we played in the first half."
Mark Milligan (Newcastle Jets): "It was very, very disappointing. There was a reaction from the Brisbane game in terms of the way we went about it, but we have to understand that there's a lot more aspects to football than just the way you play. I think we were a bit naive today and we need to be better in terms of our decision making. We should have smelled blood in the water (when 1-0 up) and put them to the sword."
Adam Griffiths (Perth Glory): "We had a great shift in mentality at training during the week. Our performance this week wasn't as good as previous games in the first 30 minutes but the mentality shift was most impressive. Every day we've been making sure that we're switched on. We've still got a long way to go - we're at about 60% in my opinion."
Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC): "Being consistent with the squad has helped us get through the international window with three players away. I think the second half was a very good performance. Joe (Lolley) is a very influential player and a very important player for us. He's a smart player who has played at the highest level."
Giancarlo Italiano (Wellington Phoenix): "Second half we improved significantly with the ball, but we just couldn't create effective chances. I was disappointed when we conceded late. I thought it wasn't a dangerous phase and I felt as though we could have defended it better. Overall it felt like we hadn't played for two weeks and that was the most disappointing thing."
Alen Stajcic (Western Sydney Wanderers): "Good to get the monkey off the back and get that first win. We had to fight and show a bit of resilience, which we did. I thought we should have buried the game early but we didn't and we let them in and gave them that little bit of enthusiasm."
Next round's fixtures
