Notes From Another Welly Nix Win That Falls Under The Category Of: ‘Finding A Way’
A win like the Wellington Phoenix had on Saturday night in Auckland against a top side like Melbourne City, that’s the kind of win which is gonna look immeasurably valuable over the coming weeks. The Nix were not at their best against a team that knew how to ruffle them up. They had a major set back with a goal disallowed in the first half (albeit correctly, Gary Hooper unable to get his arse out of the way). They were coming off a trip to Perth. Playing against the second placed team on the table. Missing an important player in their backline. It’s not quite backs against the wall, they’ll face much tougher circumstances than this (in fact they did so last week)... but good teams win when things aren’t perfect for them and good teams also win when they play at home, including homes away from home.
The Wellington Phoenix are a good team this season so three points had to be the expectation. And three points, thanks to a gorgeous counter attacking goal set up by Gary Hooper and scored by David Ball, was exactly what they got. Special mention to the ball down the line from Cammy Devlin too coz how many times have you seen a pass like that sneak over the sideline? In a game where clear cut chances were at a little bit of a minimum, especially for the Nix, it was gonna take something out of the ordinary for them to get the breakthrough. Steven Taylor was immense for the Nix but Curtis Good and Rostyn Griffiths were equally so for City. Breaking that lot down just didn’t look like it was happening for long stretches of the game and certainly not through ordinary attacking situations but the fluency and directness of the Nix’s strikers in that moment made the difference.
The funkiest thing about Ufuk Talay’s management is that he always seems to have a plan. Each and every game there’s a subtle tweak or two that he throws out there. On this occasion it involved those two English strikers, with Gary Hooper recalled to start after coming off the bench and scoring twice in Perth.
There’s an interesting debate out there about how best to use Super Hooper but I’m pretty confident in saying that Talay sees it as a case by case basis. So Hoops starts in games the Nix expect to win with the intention of subbing him off in the second half with a lead already in place if his fitness doesn’t last, whereas in games like the Perth Glory one (and potentially away to Sydney FC in a couple weeks) he’s more likely to come off the bench to allow the Nix a more mobile option in his place, probably Jaushua Sotirio. That way they can target the press since possession is likely to be more skewed in the other direction. Ideally they keep the game nice and tight for the first half... then Hooper comes on in the second half to shake things up. It almost worked against Perth except they conceded twice in the five minutes before the break to spoil the plan.
But that’s only in those danger games away from home. Other than that he’s just too good to be sitting on the bench gathering dust like Cillian Sheridan did last season. You want him out there as much as possible and particularly in combination with David Ball. The Nix have won the last three times those two started. Plus, having a peek around at some stats lately, the Welly Nix currently have a +3 goal difference meaning they outscored opponents by an average of 0.18 goals per ninety minutes. That rate shoots all the way up to +1.10 when Gary Hooper is on the field. The team has scored 14 of its 25 goals in the 37.4% of the overall minutes of football played this season that Gary Hooper has been on the pitch for.
Footy stats can be tough to get a handle on because it’s such holistic game and reducing it to little details can cause you to lose perspective of what really matters but this one’s legit: the Wellington Phoenix score way more goals when Hooper plays. Their goal difference is considerably better when he plays. Exactly why that may be is tricky to quantify but the overall trend speaks for itself. The more Gary Hooper plays the better. (The only two regular players with negative net goal differences per ninety minutes played are Alex Rufer and Jaushua Sotirio, btw).
Elsewhere Matti Steinmann returned to the lineup after a couple games out during which his value had soared as people realised how much work he actually does when he wasn’t there to do it. His return meant Alex Rufer dropped to the bench with Cam Devlin the form option in midfield. The only thing with that Steinmann/Devlin partnership is that both of them like to drop quite deep and it can leave a decent sized hole between midfield and attack as happened quite a lot in this game... made worse by the way that Melbourne City were cutting off passing options. At their best, the Nix are good enough to pass through that quick one and two touch stuff and the odd switch of play and they make the ground back up that way... it’s just that wasn’t happening here.
And the other change from last week was Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi earning his first A-League start after six substitute appearances, expectedly getting the nod at right back for the suspended Tim Payne. A stopgap option but a dude who has the ability to make a decent crack at right back if further opportunities present themselves. TAHW came up as a midfielder but I’ve tended to be most impressed by him as a centreback, particularly with Auckland City where I could see some sneaky Ivan Vicelich vibes about the dude (no pressure).
More on him and the midfield later though, first it’s back to Talay’s gameplan. Normally David Ball is one of those irrepressible worker bee type players, hovering around all over the place. Here it was pretty notable just how much he and Gary Hooper were hanging off the last man. Both playing very high up the field against what was also a very high backline and really barking for that early ball over the top. Sometimes it didn’t work and other times it also didn’t work but it was very clearly a deliberate plan and one that made a lot of sense against this City defence which can be exposed a little when you stretch them out. Only the two bottom teams on the ladder have conceded more goals than MCY.
But the problem with this plan was that for that direct movement from Ball and Hooper to matter, the ball over the top had to be good and for that ball to be good you’ve gotta get guys like Ulises Davila in enough space to make that pass. Melbourne City’s excellent attacking crew didn’t let that happen, leading the push from the front and putting constant pressure on the Nix in possession. Stefan Marinovic is always a sketchy one with the ball at his feet and he shanked more than his usual allotment of clearances at Eden Park. Meanwhile literally every one of the defenders and central midfielders with the exception of Stevie T at some point in that first half coughed the ball up in a dangerous area. Those situations were frightening but even when they passed around the press, they did so at a stretch and couldn’t progress that into anything relevant. Gary Hooper somehow lasted ninety minutes despite ending the game gasping with hands on knees and in those ninety minutes he touched the ball fewer times than Callum McCowatt who only played 23 mins off the bench. Of course, those touch counts don’t include the ones he made outside the field of play...
That’s magnificent. He got booked for it of course but it was worth it (Only his first yellow of the season, no dramas. Davila also got his second – Devlin, Ball, Sotirio, and Cacace are on three yellows so nobody’s in immediate trouble of suspension). We already know that Steven Taylor is the crown prince of cheeky bastardness, from his goalkeeper marking on attacking set pieces to his dummy passes and ball shielding to his delightful crowd rark-ups. Apparently Gary Hooper’s got a bit of all that too. And we know that Libby Cacace’s got some of that in him. Just need Big Stef to bring back the Filip Kurto exaggerated dives and we’ve got it made.
Even as the Nix found Plan A to be struggling for cohesion, the positive thing was that the defence may have bent pretty far at times but they never broke. Stefan Marinovic saved what he had to, no superstar stops like last time but he was commanding and assured so long as the ball was in his hands and not at his feet. Luke DeVere had some rank moments but he had a lot more dominant ones and Steven Taylor was a man of the match candidate. This was only their third clean sheet of the season and the first against a current top six side. They needed it and they got it. The Nix actually drop down to fifth after this because Adelaide won by two goals but they’re only three points off second with a game in hand on Melbourne City now. This one was massive.
One other note, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi. Not the worst but he definitely struggled with his positioning at times and most obviously with his distribution. Every other defender had a pass percentage of at least 81.8% (Stevie T was a monstrous 92%) but TAHW was way down at 72.7%. He also had some lovely moments amongst all that, enough to show that he’s got the toolkit and with more practice he could make a solid show of it at right back. But it wasn’t a shock when he was replaced by Brandon Wilson with 27 minutes still to play.
Still, you can’t be harsh on the dude. For one thing this was a tricky situation where the top two options in that position are both out and TAHW is not a specialist fullback. He’s a defensive utility in this team so he knows he’s gotta be ready to get in where he fits in at short notice but that doesn’t make it easy. People have made a thing of the perceived exposed depth at RB but Wilson also played there and Callan Elliot had an okay game for the ressies beforehand, scoring a goal. Right back is arguably one of the most depth-filled positions out there. Try pondering what happens if we need to go to our back up to the back up at centre back and then we’ll talk about a lack of depth.
Also there’s an inherent difficulty in playing right back in this team which even Louis Fenton struggled with at times at the start and which highlights how brilliant Tim Payne has been. Because while Callum McCowatt or Reno Piscopo like to hang wide and link up with Libby Cacace, Ulises Davila is a drifter of Hollywood Western proportions. So many times TAHW had the ball looking forwards and had to chop back because the options weren’t there. Best way to combat that is to occupy those areas yourself, which requires a quantity of sprints that perhaps aren’t smart against Craig Noone and Melbourne City. All pretty useful under the circumstances. That’ll do for now.
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