Ernie! Wellington Phoenix Slump To New Low/Flogging The Dead Horse
#Jealous
And here we are, watching another Wellington Phoenix season teeter on the brink of falling down the toilet. I had hoped for the best - or even just some general mediocrity from our Nix would have been nice - against Melbourne City. Manny Muscat and Alex Rodriquez were back in action and the Nix were surely 'due' for a win, right?
That whole idea of being 'due' for a win or loss is obviously bullshit and the Phoenix were toweled up 3-1.
Ernie Merrick came out after the game and ripped into the scheduling, which is fair enough as the Phoenix have been a traveling circus recently. There's certainly truth in the Phoenix getting a slightly rougher schedule, just like there's truth in the fact that the Phoenix are missing Roy Krishna and his goal-scoring instincts up front. They are both true statements or beliefs, however they don't really tell the whole story about just how much the Phoenix are struggling.
I have rolled out this narrative for as long as the Nix have struggled (goes back a while) and it was especially obvious last night as Melbourne City sat back, allowed the Phoenix to fluff around with the ball and then swallowed any pitiful attempt of an attack with ease. There's shades of Manchester United in the way the Phoenix look to be embarking on a free-flowing attacking movement, only to slow things down with a pass sideways or backwards, allowing their opponent to set up and crowd the middle of the field.
Even with Krishna up front I get the feeling that the Phoenix would still look to play the ball to Roly Bonevacia's feet with two City players waiting to legally/illegally smash him as Roly got the ball. Roly is the most fouled player in the league because of the skill he has and threat he offers, however I'd also suggest that Roly is heavily fouled because he's often the recipient of hospital passes in congested areas.
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Blake Powell played as the lone striker with Roly and Michael McGlinchey behind him while Rodriquez, Albert Riera and Vince Lia did the dirty work in the middle of the park. Roly and McGlinchey are play-makers who like to get the ball in the centre of the park with options, which means they themselves don't offer any width ... neither did anyone else besides Tom Doyle and Matt Ridenton.
The Nix like to move the ball into wide areas, only to swing it back to the middle or the other side of the field, thus moving the defence around but not exactly attacking with width. City stayed solid in the middle of the field and like many teams before them, simply waited for the Nix to play through the guts, as they would have predicted.
No variety, no flair (besides Roly) and no movement. How can Ernie and the Phoenix honestly expect to win games playing this way?
Besides watching the Phoenix flog a dead horse (I think I used that last week, which is half the problem!), I slipped further into a Monday night depression watching the plethora of talent that City had on display. Throw Krishna and Ben Sigmund into this Phoenix side and I'd still take City over them, the A-League has quickly moved past the Phoenix and that's the biggest concern here.
Whether Harry Novillo, Bruno Fornarolli, Aaron Mooy, Erik Paartalu or Anthony Caceres had the ball at their feet, they posed a threat and City simply looked a class above ... because they are. The vast difference between the two playing rosters should have left no one in doubt about the result, even if the Phoenix enjoyed 80.5% passing accuracy and 48.4% possession.
City won 36 interceptions to 25 for the Nix, they won 7 corners to 3 and they fired 20 shots to 9. Ugh.
I really don't know where to go from here. We keep getting fed excuses that don't do justice to the extent at which the Phoenix are being out-played and right now, I'm about as down on the Phoenix as I've ever been.