The Wellington Phoenix Are In ‘Whatever Works’ Mode, Just Go With It
They say it’s when you’re at your lowest that you find out who your true friends are. The Wellington Phoenix are firmly in that place right now. Another defeat, this time away to Melbourne City, and you can make that one win from 13 games this season. Nothing’s getting easier and fans can be forgiven for doing something else with their Saturday night, maybe even cashing in on some early zzzzzs.
There’s the impulse when things are going wrong to start laying the blame and there’s plenty of that to go around at the Nix, from the boardroom on down. Darije Kalezic is copping some at the moment. Several players have taken heat. But none of that is especially productive, is it? You can talk about putting pressure on the folks at the top but a few angry tweets aren’t gonna get Domey’s attention. It’s a natural impulse but after a while it only becomes counterproductive, adding to the growing toxicity that always arises with winless streaks.
The Niche Cache is all about those positive vibes (and if you are too then smack an ad for us, cheers) and a little support goes a lot further towards victories than adding to the tyre fire of negativity. The way the Nix have lined up in the last two games hasn’t made for the sexiest football, obviously. Five dudes at the back and a deep midfield has combined for some very lenient views on the concept of possession. In fact the Nix had a mere 20% of the ball in the first half against City.
It’s a long way from the hyper-possession that they tried to work at the start of things, when Keegan Smith was in goal initiating passing moves from inside his own penalty area. To think that they’ve embraced both sides of that within half a season is insane… but then we knew from game one when Kalezic picked an untested teenaged goalie to be his (initial) starter that he wasn’t a bloke who does things by half-measures. Mike Ehrmantraut would be proud.
It seems like a lot of people had trouble with the drastic shift towards a more, erm, pragmatic approach to the game. It’s definitely not what we’ve been promised in the past. No time here for negativity on negativity… although this also isn’t about blindly supporting the whims of a desperate manager either. Most of all it’s just a matter of priorities and circumstance.
There’s a slight asterisk because we don’t know exactly what Rado Vodosic’s influence was on things but we can pretty much assume that Kalezic’s Plan A was the one that included Keegan Smith. His Plan B/C/D/E/Z - or whatever we’re up to now – is the one that he implemented as soon as Vido was given the flick. The one that features five defenders. The one we saw away to Central Coast and Melbourne City. This wasn’t some golden plot to make the Nix more and more defensive. It’s something that’s been forced upon him by the pressure of not winning games. By a leaky defence that’s conceded 27 goals in 13 games, the only team averaging more than two conceded per game. By the fact that even in a super-defensive formation they still have pace and skill up front capable of scoring goals.
And, bloody hell, look at where they were at half-time in Melbourne! They were winning the damned game, they were up 1-0! 20% possession and they’d scored the only goal. 80% possession against and they’d only had to face one shot on target, just five shots in all. The Nix are not in any place to be appeasing our aesthetic ideals right now. They’re in a place where results are all that matters. Get a couple of wins on the board and just see if they loosen up, particularly once attacking reinforcements arrive this month.
Ultimately it didn’t bring a win. It didn’t… but it could have. That’s the point. Asking anything else of them at this point, after all we’ve been through so far, is being a more than a tad greedy.
With that all out of the way, time to get critical about how they could have but did not win. Krishna’s goal was exactly what they were playing to create. A quick counter attack, relying on Roy’s speed to force an error from the defence, then a sneaky finish and bingo. All the way to plan, prefect timing on the brink of half-time as well.
Except they should’ve already been up before then. They should’ve added to it in the second half too. The focus has been on how defensive this team has been the last two weeks but they’ve also been making plenty of chances to score. The real problem is that they’ve been so flippin’ wasteful with them. Could be an issue with confidence, could be an issue with technique and ability. Dunno. But, no matter the possession stats, they could’ve taken six points from these two games with more clinical shooting and we’d be talking about a masterclass. Or some people would be. All these debates are shaped by random twists of fate anyway.
The main arrow to aim at Kalezic here was his substituting of Roy Krishna. Clearly Nathan Burns was worth getting in there, he was the only difference maker on the bench, but who to replace? Krishna and Kaludjerovic were the two guys in the positions that Burns is best suited to yet they’re also key players. Maybe put Burns on in an attacking midfield role, take of Ridenton or McGlinchey? But that hardly fits with trying to cling to a 1-0 lead away from home. So it was down to Kaludjerovic or Krishna and the Fijian lost out to the Serbian.
Not especially surprising. Kaludjerovic is a guy that Kalezic brought in himself. He’s one of his boys. Not surprising at all… but very disappointing. See, Krishna is arguably more essential to this formation than Kaludjerovic is, being the speedy second striker. His pace is the one game-breaking factor that can turn a long ball from defence into an immediate attack – Kalu isn’t fast at all and he’s not worth much trying to hold the ball up against two defenders when he’s all alone up front. He needs Krishna running past him for that, either to play through for or to take a defender away.
You could already feel the game swinging towards City before that moment, misses from Kaludjerovic (specifically when he headed into the ground and up onto the crossbar ten mins into the second half) were beginning to toll. City had drawn a couple saves outta Italiano and were starting to beat a few tired defenders one on one. Momentum was swinging and when that happens, it helps to turn to the bench and change something. Putting Burns in was the right call. Taking Krishna out was not.
Arguably the game began to swing when Manny Muscat was replaced in the 53rd minute by teenager Daniel Arzani for MC. That bloke went on to set up both goals, a constant handful. It’s best to refrain from the obvious comparison between Melly City throwing him in there and the Nix leaving Sarpreet Singh off the bench because the Nix don’t have the same luxury of being able to gamble on youth products at this moment. The fewer variables the better and, although he’s clearly got potential, the fetishizing of Singh by Phoenix fans is probably a bit over the top. Don’t shoot the messenger, please.
(Who wants to write the article for us about all the times that the Nix have been done in by some random wonderkid? Seems to happen way too often).
A couple times the Phoenix had breaks at around halfway and Burns and Kaludjerovic couldn’t figure out who was running where. Krishna would’ve just made up his mind and gassed it, nice and decisive. The other two were too slow to capitalise, both in pace and decision making. They were both trying to do the same thing. Krishna was probably gassed after missing a few games in December and doing an outrageous amount of running off the ball here, which might’ve been a factor. But they missed him when he was gone.
Speaking of which, Dario Vidosic played 82 minutes for Melbourne City here!
There’s a worry there with Burns being too good to leave on the bench and Kaludjerovic apparently untouchable. There are only two positions that three guys are fighting for and Krishna might be the odd man out. That ain’t cool. Although this formation might only be a stopgap approach until they get some better players in who can actually hold the ball (where’s that other Serbian guy already?). Best not to worry your sweet mind about that one yet.
Then there’s the thing about the defending for both goals… but we don’t wanna be here all night.
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