Some Thoughts On The The Welly Nix Amidst A Particularly Inconvenient Injury Crisis
The days immediately after losing against the top club on the ladder, in which your team played more than two-thirds of the game with ten men after a red card, when they were already without an import striker and a starting midfielder through injury, not to mention an important counter-attacking option off the bench, and in which not one but both central defenders went off injured during the game... those are not the days to freak out about anything. Not the direction of the club not the coach’s tactics nor any of that. To be completely honest a 2-0 loss to Central Coast was on the lighter side of how that game coulda gone under the circumstances. A write-off game if ever there was one.
It’s tough when a game like that comes along at a time when the Nix have only won once from what’s now six games to start the campaign. Carrying on that poor form since the restart last term – a stretch that now reads: 2 wins, 3 draws, 8 defeats. With 11 goals scored and 21 conceded. That kind of sustained struggle has a compounding effect... but the CCM game was an aberration. If you’re feeling worse about the team than you were a week earlier then pump the brakes on that one, chief. Judge them based on the normal games when they’re actually able to show what they’re trying to do. The plan goes out the window with an early red card, let alone all the injuries.
By the way, no doubter of a red card. It was a stupid challenge from David Ball. Not a deliberately violent one but so unnecessary, like what’s to really be gained by leading with ya sprigs in a situation like that? You’re running back towards half-way. Best case scenario is that you win the ball, then you’re in deep possession mode still gotta build it back up. Worst case scenario is what happened. That’s a two game suspension for Bally now.
It’s the stutter step that did for him, aye?
The lone convenience of a Melbourne mini-lockdown is that the game initially meant for tonight (Wednesday) against Melbourne Victory has been delayed until next Weds instead, buying a few of those folks time to recover from their various ailments. Instead this team gets a full week off before they play Western Sydney on Sunday night. Although then it’s then Melbourne Victory on Wednesday and Newcastle Jets the Sunday after that. It’s a relief to get that week to recover from the CCM game but the fixtures do keep coming hard and fast afterwards and the injury toll is looking worrisome for a team that desperately does need to start winning some games of football.
Some Perspective: After six games last season the Welly Nix had 4 points (7 GF, 10 GA). After six games this season the Welly Nix have 4 points (6 GF, 10 GA). Last season the Welly Nix had their best ever regular season finish and they remain on equal pace with that lot.
Some More Perspective: The sixth of those six games last season was also the start of a three game win streak and the second of a nine-game unbeaten streak. So they might be on level terms with the 2019-20 team right now but they’d better get cooking immediately if they wanna keep up.
Here’s the issue with that:
David Ball – Suspended for the next 2 games
Tomer Hemed – Injured hamstring, expected to miss at least one more week
Jaushua Sotirio – Knee injury which will keep him out another month
Cam Devlin – Doubtful with a knee injury
Luke DeVere – Knee injury, unknown severity
Joshua Laws – Ankle injury, unknown severity
For reference, five of those dudes are dead set starting eleven players and Sotirio started two outta the four games he was fit for (although Reno Piscopo was unavailable for all four of those). Supposing that all six are unable to go... that’s a conundrum. Realistically Devlin should be fit, he was training with the squad before the CCM match but wasn’t risked in the matchday squad after going off hurt against Sydney FC a week earlier. You’d figure he’s good to go with another week of recovery in his bag. And Laws and DeVere are up in the air, not gonna know what’s up there until the squad lists are released in a couple days.
Let’s say that all six are unavailable then. What does that leave the team looking like? Based on the subs that have been used throughout the season it’d probably be something like this:
Marinovic
Payne – McGing – Hudson-Wihongi - McGarry
Rufer - Ridenton
Piscopo - Lewis
Davila - Muratovic
And you’d have a bench with the likes of Oli Sail, Louis Fenton, Sam Sutton and Ben Waine on it. Nobody else because there is nobody else. Actually, scratch that, they have hot-off-the-press just signed Aussie/Congolese striker Charles Lokoli-Ngoy until the end of the season to boost those striker numbers. Unsurprisingly the 23-year-old was a part of those Sydney FC youth teams that Uffie was involved with and he trialled with the team in preseason, scoring a few goals but missing out on a contract (until now). He’s played sporadic A-League stuff before with Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar and Uffie reckons his size and strength adds a different element to the group, which would be true. There’s also an Aussie midfielder named Sam McIllhatton who has been training with the team as an unofficial depth player (22yo, ex-Sydney FC, lol) but he’s not actually been signed.
Ufuk Talay has mentioned the possibility of calling up players from the reserve squad, which should be do-able thanks to the trans-tasman bubble thingamajig (as long as there’s no complications there with Aotearoa’s own current mini-lockdown) and there are a couple folks in there who could maybe do a job, even if it’s just filling out numbers on the bench. Ben Old has been a step above for that crew all season. An attacking midfield with genuine skill on the ball, this year he’s added a bit of strength to his game which allows him to hold the ball up under pressure, then turn into space and play directly. Very fast, great dribbler, good vision to his game as well plus he scores goals. Along with goalie Alex Paulsen (who wouldn’t be needed, not with Oli Sail around) he’s the brightest light in the academy.
More valuable given the current defensive crisis would be Kurtis Mogg who captains that reserve team. Young defenders don’t tend to get too much wiggle room in senior football – attacking players are allowed to make mistakes as they take risks to score goals but mistakes by defenders are killers. Whether someone like Mogg who is untested at that level would be trusted is another matter but he’s got a great attitude, he’s physically big enough to handle himself, and he knows how to defend with his back to the wall.
Dunno if the Ole Academy blokes are able to be called up without taking up roster spots in the way that the longer term academy dudes are, or if they’re only a part of the club for the Premiership season or what. But if they can be then Jaylen Rodwell is a lad who can play across the back four or in midfield, with really tidy technique and control to his game. That variety would be more than useful. Elsewhere... Finn Surman is a tall centre-back with a knack for a crucial challenge. Adam Hillis is a reliable defensive midfielder. Riley Bidois is a good finisher with plenty of mobility who can play up front or on the wing. There’s some genuine talent in that crew for sure.
The Phoenix do have a spare spot on their squad list so they could sign players from outside the club. That includes imports too as they’ve only used three of those (Hemed, Ball & Davila). Honestly, I know there were massive financial considerations to this decision and it wasn’t a matter of football negligence but failing to replace Steven Taylor with someone of a similar quality felt like a mistake at the time and it feels like a bigger mistake now for seeing the consequences of that.
The partnership of Luke DeVere and Josh Laws has not been fantastic. DeVere had a really nice season last time out as the secondary CB alongside a vocal, aggressive, organising leader like Stevie T. But Josh Laws isn’t that guy, he’s not even a regular defender. The stats aren’t publically available that would prove this but it feels like DeVere and Laws are both playing like complementary centre backs and that without Steven Taylor they’re defending too much on the back foot. Then take out Cam Devlin’s ball winning ability in midfield and that becomes a huge problem. Also, DeVere is soooo slooooow. Just look at how he scrambles for both of Kosta Barbarouses’ goals the game before last and compare that to the desperation plays we got used to seeing Taylor make in his two years (not to mention the rubbish header from Laws for the second goal)...
But then we got a glimpse of what the alternatives look like against Central Coast and it was even worse. Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi could be a solution to some of these dramas. He’s good on the ball and good in the air. Plus he did really well next to Taylor when called upon last season. But he’s also a player still needing to have some of those defensive instincts hammered into him. He was far from the only culprit but some of the inabilities to clear the ball out of danger against CCM were just mental. As for Liam McGing... he’s played 91 total minutes for the Phoenix and was no guarantee to even be re-signed. Untested would be an appropriate word.
Thing is, we knew that the defence was gonna struggle. Hence why the forwards needed to get better, not worse. One positive is that Reno Piscopo showed some nice flashes in that CCM game and his ability to take on defenders is a handy little addition to the group - Piscopo is one of the main culprits of the ‘looks good but not enough end product’ issue that the team had last season bleeding into this season. Ben Waine feels like another possible trump card. The pure scouting reports aren’t gonna tell you that Waine is better than the alternatives in his position, because he’s not, but he has a certain knack. Good things happen around Ben Waine. He’s the club’s youngest ever goal-scorer and since Ufuk Talay took over he’s appeared in 16 games and the Nix have never conceded while he’s on the pitch. Largely because he comes on as a sub late in games, usually when the other team is already winning and the Nix are pushing to get back into it, but still that’s an eye-opening stat. And, damn, who knows, maybe Charles Lokoli-Ngoy will turn out to be a superstar or something.
It can’t get worse than that Central Coast game but given the circumstances it could take a few weeks before it gets better for the Wellington Phoenix. The well is running rather dry at the mo’. However they are a streaky team so we know that one win could lead to a bunch of wins. The hardest worker at training this week will be the physio... but just remember that where Ulises Davila roams, there is hope.
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