Winners
Yokohama F Marinos
Sokkah Twitter exploded at around 4:26pm on Saturday afternoon as Theerathon Bunmathan put Yokohama ahead – sealing the side’s first J1 title in 15 years.
At the helm stood Ange Postecoglou and his crew of Aussie coaches – which includes former Oakleigh Cannons and Green Gully boss Arthur Papas – who took the club to the promise land after just surviving last season.
The occasion had an equally profound impact on Australian football as it did for the 70,000 fans in attendance.
The scenes post-game went viral in the Australian media as Postecoglou furthers his place in Australian football folklore as one of the best coaches the country has produced.
Western United
Western United did not look like a side that hadn’t scored in three weeks when they played Melbourne Victory at the weekend.
Falling behind after an impressive Andrew Nabbout finish, the green-and-black gave fans watching a sense of déjà vu when they put three past the Victory before half-time.
Besart Berisha equalised against his former club and refused to celebrate, before Alessandro Diamanti combined with former Bologna teammate Panagiotis Kone in the 24th minute to give Western United the lead.
Berisha had a second soon after as Josh Risdon provided one of the assists of the season to set up the Kosovan international and seal another famous win in front of a record home crowd.
Manchester United
Ole’s back at the wheel.
His last two victories have been over Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, with Manchester United climbing back into the top six.
Manchester was painted red at the weekend, with United exacerbating City’s poor run with a narrow win at the Etihad after first half goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Sitting five points outside the top four, United host battlers Everton before travelling to Watford.
Losers
Melbourne City
Perth Glory came to Melbourne with a plan and executed it to perfection.
After a promising start to the season City fans were left scratching their heads as they witnessed an uncharacteristically flat performance from their side under Erick Mombaerts.
City failed to create after Bruno Fornaroli’s opener as Perth set up well behind the ball in a defensive display head coach Tony Popovic would have been proud of.
Burnley
It’s been a tough few weeks for Sean Dyche’s team, who have conceded nine goals in their last two games.
Granted they have come up against tough opposition in Manchester City and Tottenham, but the side’s goal-difference has taken a significant hit, sitting at -8.
Brisbane Roar
It was a night to forget for the Roar, who conceded five goals against a quality Sydney FC outfit at Jubilee Stadium.
The match was over fairly quickly as the Sky Blues found themselves three goals up by the break as Adam Le Fondre became the sixth A-League player to score a hat-trick.
After an impressive few weeks, it’s back to the drawing board for Robbie Fowler’s side who host Western United on Friday night.
