A chance for redemption is on the cards for Melbourne City FC when it takes on Western Sydney Wanderers in Thursday night W-League action this week.
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Chinatsu Kira has been the catalyst for some inspired performances from her team since her mid-season arrival at City and has earned plaudits for her tireless work-rate regardless of where she is played.
What's going into Kira's notebook? 😅📘 pic.twitter.com/il6ICJNwbo
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 5, 2021
Teigan Collister was one of the Wanderers’ most potent attacking outlets when the two teams faced off two weeks ago, setting up Leena Khamis’ match-winner with a determined, winding run down the right.
Both forwards have been mainstays within their respective line-ups, making seven appearances each for a respective total of 553 and 476 minutes.
There’s no other place to start for these two dynamic attackers than their goal contributions, in which they’re tied at two assists apiece.
It took barely 30 seconds for Alex Chidiac to pull one back for us 🙌#CmonCity #WLeague #MCYvBRI 🎥: @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/FkyfTa4f1C
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 31, 2021
In terms of their other attacking numbers, Collister slightly outnumbers Kira for key passes with 10 to eight, but it’s City’s Japanese forward who dominates the shots on-target metric, blowing Collister away six to one.
The differing roles of the two forwards can be explored in their distribution stats, with pass direction the most telling metric in this instance. As a right-winger Collister makes a combined 78.2% of her passes either left (in-field) or forward, whereas Kira has a well-rounded directional spread.
When it comes to opposition-half passing accuracy, it’s Kira who’s able to find her fellow teammates in attacking situations more accurately than Collister, recording success rates of 62.7% and 41.4% respectively.
Interestingly, both attackers have attempted the same number of long-passes (14), but it’s Kira again who emerges superior in accuracy (57.1% to 21.4%).
Despite their identical long-passes-attempted, Kira is a far-more prolific passer overall than Collister, recording 29.6 passes per 90 minutes to the Wanderers winger’s 17.4.
