It Was A Joy To Watch As The Welly Nix Took Their Sweet Revenge Upon Mark Rudan
What a spectacle that was. The Wellington Phoenix just absolutely sizzling all over Mark Rudan’s Western United, pumping them 3-1 away and honestly those jokers were lucky it wasn’t 4-0. The Nix were once again on the tactical front foot under Ufuk Talay, they played some gorgeous football as well as some very committed football, and this time they got their reward following two games in which they’d had the better of things but failed to take maximum points. This team is up to sixth on the ladder and only two points off third. Their next four games are against four of the bottom five teams. By the end of January they could be so high up the ladder they’ll be getting vertigo.
There’s nothing false about this either, the way this team has consistently been playing is fully deserving of this now seven-game unbeaten streak. After the steady but patient progress of the first month or so of this season the Nix are now a blossoming flower, sharing their bold colours with the world (and I’m not only talking about the highlighter kit... which I kinda hate, bring back the black shorts please). Like, this lot is appointment viewing these days. Set the alarm. Write it in the calendar. Get your drinks ready nice and early. Clear a space on the couch. The Wellington Phoenix are on.
Of course there’s still plenty of room to grow and there’s always the question of what happens if the depth gets tested in certain areas (Marinovic, DeVere, and Taylor have played every minute so far, Davila, Ball, and Steinmann have started every game)... but it hasn’t been a fluke what they’ve achieved in these recent games. It’s enough to make you start reassessing expectations because sixth place and a tame playoff exit like last year should be the bare minimum target if things keep on at this rate. Things have clicked so quickly. They might also unclick just as fast so no getting ahead of ourselves here but this isn’t a particularly strong A-League season aside from Sydney FC who are running away with it. There’s a power vacuum and the Nix are as qualified to take advantage of it as anyone else.
Which has also me feeling whimsical about comparing this season to last season considering the occasion here and all but I’ll come back to that. Uffie made one change to the lineup with Alex Rufer still out and Jaushua Sotirio absent with illness. Callum McCowatt came in for Sotirio, meaning a first opportunity to have CMC and Reno Piscopo in the same starting lineup... and they did not disappoint. It’s easy to see why McCowatt has slipped behind the more refined and technical Piscopo. McCowatt’s still raw, he’s in his first professional gig. Sometimes he’s caught on the ball or he pushes a pass too early or whatever. But he also tries things others don’t have the guts to and like the rest of them he’s got a fantastic attitude. With Ulises Davila playing further forward as a floating second striker it meant McCowatt and Piscopo had licence to drift a bit themselves and get plenty of involvements, allowing the front four to link up plenty.
At first that came with a few hassles. Western United have a pretty solid back three and they were clearly under instructions to come out aggressively and try rough the Nixies up. The elbow from Jerry Skotadis was the obvious one and did he deserve a red card? Perhaps. You’re definitely getting a sin bin in the NRL for a swinging arm to the head like that but I sorta understand why the VAR didn’t wanna get involved. Either way the fact that the Westies came out of this one with eleven men on the park was a surprise considering the heavy challenges that were flying in. Even Andy Durante was getting in on the party.
Hilariously there was even a Fox Sports graphic at the half which said this...
This was after Ulises Davila had set up the first goal for David Ball by rolling through a heavy challenge and then gassing into the space left behind said challenge. The Nix were doing this all day. They made Western United look old and slow and clumsy by playing quicker than they could hang with, at first winning free kick on top of free kick until they got the full memo and began to gracefully evade these challenges. Creative passing football got the win there. Lovely to see.
At the same time though, the Nix were working extremely hard to win the ball in some sweaty conditions. I wrote last week that Cam Devlin was a little overrated in the Sydney FC game but those words shall not cross my lips after this one – he was immense. The workrate he has, the tenacity he brings to the midfield... I’m still not saying he needs to start ahead of Alex Rufer but in the very least he’s given Rufer time and space to make sure his injury heals properly without being rushed back in. It’s a good issue to have and gotta love how Devlin gets stuck in too. Like a litle terrier, so good. Remember Devlin can play further forward too and Reno Piscopo is porbably about to b named in the Aussie U23 Olympic qualifying squad which should rule him out for most of January. Options are good. Gotta love options.
It’d be a lie to say Western United didn’t have a few close calls, particularly early in the second half as they came out fired up after a poor first 45 (which was also affected by a couple injuries – Brendan Hammill not lasting past the 14th minute). Stefan Marinovic had to make one rather incredible save with the score still at 1-0 that he can add to his ever-growing highlight reel. But then the Nix did what teams are supposed to do in those situations and they eased the pressure with a second goal. They haven’t always been able to do that this season but Callum McCowatt got his first for the club (in the A-League) and bingo. Nicely taken strike too. By the way Ball got the first one and not only is that a pleasant reward for his best run of form in yellow and black but also he’s the first player other than Ulises Davila to score multiple goals this term. Six players have one goal. Ball has two... and Davila has eight.
It’s crazy to compare this to the season opener. The Nix were so much more dynamic in possession and defensively the guys who you’d expect to hurt them were anonymous. Besart Berisha barely had a chance to scream in a ref’s face as he was isolated up top while Connor Pain had none of the incisive impact of that first game. Probably because the Nix wingbacks were really getting forward and stretching that back three, pegging their wingers deep. Making use of the space they created with their passing game.
It was only Alessandro Diamanti who looked like to do anything. But nope, nothing special from him to keep his team in the game. He did score a penalty late on to spoil the clean sheet, after a Stevie T special as he dove with an outstretched arm to block a shot that his keeper had covered (whoops... maybe lucky not to see red for that one himself, sneakily), but by that time Ulises Davila had already scored a beautiful third. Gary Hooper almost added a fourth in stoppage time with that rarest of goals: the header from outside the box (and he was bloody thirty metres off the line too, not just a lobbed effort from the edge of the area or anything) except he was maaaarginally offside in the build up. Disallowed by VAR.
Oh well. This was still the first time this season that the Nix have scored three times, good enough for a real statement win on the road against a big rival. Don’t you love it?
Poor Mark. He might have had a few controversies but he did play a key role in the restoration of the Wellington Phoenix, including pioneering a youth movement that’s been taken to new heights this season – although Darije Kalezic deserves some credit for that too, in fairness. But it’s without a single doubt in my mind at this stage that the Nix are better off without him.
Rudy was a solid manager who could ask his dudes to run through a brick wall with an inspirational chat. But Uffie is a bit of a genius. He’s getting the tactical jump every week now, making subtle tweaks to improve his team over and over again. This team is no less committed than they were under Rudan plus they’ve done wonders in the recruitment to improve the team (just imagine if this squad had Roy Krishna in it... damn). Liberato Cacace had some pretty fascinating words to say midweek about the two different approaches of the managers in a chat with St*ff.co.nz...
Libby Cacace: “We're keeping it, we're dominating teams and it's a joy to watch but also to play. We've got such a great structure that Uffie has formed with this club and also I think the difference between this year and last year, when we do go 1-0 down we can actually come back and come out on top, and that's a big difference. Rudes wanted us controlling teams without the ball but Uffie wants us controlling teams with the ball. It's two different structures.”
With the ball versus without the ball. That’s it right there.
Funnily enough with Max Burgess elevated to start alongside Durante and Filip Kurto, there were actually more players from Rudan’s Nix team starting for Western United than for the Welly Nix themselves. With Alex Rufer and Louis Fenton out injured it was only Stevie T and Libby who’d experienced the Rudan Revolution. Ben Waine and Oli Sail were unused subs who had little cameos last season but still. Chuck one more win to Talay for that one because his recruitment has been outstanding. Rudan had some big positives on that front (David Williams, Steven Taylor, Filip Kurto) but he also had Mitch Nichols and Reuben Way and Michal Kopczynski was signed as a midfielder but mostly played defence while Cillian Sheridan was stuck on the bench the majority of the time.
Whereas not only did Talay strike gold on basically every new signing but a lot of them are young players likely to keep improving too. Other than Talay’s ability as a tactician, that recruitment has been the biggest factor for what we’ve seen the last seven games. There are five new players in this squad who have started every game yet they’re playing like they’ve been doing this together for years.
It’s just odd how things work out, aye? All that drama about Rudan snaking his way out of his contract and that whole protracted saga and now here the Phoenix are in a much better situation with a much higher potential ceiling playing much better football with much better players and it’s almost like there was nothing to worry about because it all worked out in the end.
Gotta defer to Libby Cacace here because you can see that they’re loving their football out there and that’s such a contagious thing. Whatever happens this season and whatever they achieve, right now the Wellington Phoenix are a joy to watch.
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