Five Takewaways From The Wellington Phoenix Blokes' Season Opener
A Point On The Road
You can’t argue with it. Tim Payne said afterwards that he was buzzing with a 0-0 draw away to Western Sydney, a clean sheet that was hard earned in the brutal heat (which curiously seemed to affect the home side more than the Wellingtonians, fitness-wise). Didn’t have very many scoring opportunities of their own but they defended very well. Finn Surman had a powerful game, especially in the air, and Scott Wootton was solid beside him. That’s what we wanna see.
This team struggled for creativity last year and it’s going to be the same this time around given they’ve now got fewer attacking options – unless a few of the youngsters hit the ground running. The veterans aren’t good finishers and Oskar Zawada has a target on his back now. So they’re going to need to be a defensive menace in order to stick around in games and this performance suggested they’re capable of doing exactly that.
Keep in mind that positive results in the early weeks are a rarity for this team, as the last few seasons can attest. Here’s how they’ve tracked in their first six games across the last six seasons. It ain’t great... yet they’ve made the finals in four of the last five so they usually get better as they get a bit of rolling momentum.
2017-18: DLLDLW | 5 PTS | 11 GF | 13 GA | -2 GD
2018-19: WDLLLD | 5 PTS | 4 GF | 10 GA | -6 GD
2019-20: LLLDW | 4 PTS | 7 GF | 10 GA | -3 GD
2020-21: LDLWLL | 4 PTS | 6 GF | 10 GA | -4 GD
2021-22: DWLLLL | 4 PTS | 4GF | 14 GA | -10 GD
2022-23: DDLDWL | 6 PTS | 12 GF | 12 GA | 0 GD
The Prodigy Alex Paulsen
Those of you who watched this guy for the reserves a few years back already know it: AP is the real deal. Coach Italiano said that it’s his ability with his feet that won him the starting gig however it was his shot-stopping that first caught the eye at National League level and it was his shot-stopping again in this one with two fantastic first half saves. The guy has fantastic instincts and even better reactions and despite sitting on the bench for the entirety of last season he’s been levelling up quietly in the background that whole time.
21 years of age, doesn’t matter. He looked like completely comfortable. As good as the shot-stopping was, the footwork was equally sharp and he made several flawless high claims as well. Couldn’t have imagined a more assured performance as he locked down that starting goalie gig for the foreseeable future. The amount of academy grads entering the first team has been the story of the offseason but if they’re trying to muster up foreign transfer fees then it’s the more established blokes like Paulsen and Surman who are the ones to watch. There’s scope for both of them to become regular All Whites selections by the end of this ALM season.
A New Formation
In preseason they tried a form of 4-2-4 with Boz Kraev as a second striker and the wingers high and wide (with fullbacks operating inside that line). That was six weeks ago. Six weeks of training ground work and friendly game opportunities. What we saw against WSW was a 4-3-3 with Alex Rufer holding in midfield behind Kraev and Nico Pennington. Three across the top still with wingers holding width but also with more freedom to drift. Without the ball they were in three flat lines. One of the midfielders was expected to double wide to help the fullback rather than the winger dropping back (although that happened too when necessary).
Impossible to say from our vantage point whether this idea was always in the plans or if it was a reaction to the Aussie Cup games. But it does feel like a better use of the players available. They just don’t have the dudes to play with genuine wingers. Barbarouses and Ball need to have space to drift infield as that’s their strength. Kraev needs to be getting his touches deeper to have enough influence. Zawada is the opposite and this shape ensures he’s on that last man as a target. There isn’t anyone around who is at their best when they set up high and wide, seeking to dribble and cross. This way works much better for the soldiers at hand.
Wingers aren’t exactly prominent in the academy either. Those lads have been schooled for several years in that 4-2-2-2 shape which Uffie Talay brought to town. This season the ressies have been playing something more like a 4-4-2 formation, although that’s not actually much different to the two-wide-midfielder variation of Talay’s system. They’ve also struggled to score goals, with seven in five games and six of those came in one match. The reserve team doesn’t necessarily have to mirror the first team, but it’s notable that they always did while Talay was around.
Transition Attacks
Five total shots with only one on target. Just two corner kicks. There wasn’t a lot going on in the attacking third from the Nix. The possession stats were pretty even, at least until Wanderers took control in the second half. Yet WSW attempted 34 crosses and the Nix only nine. Wanderers got their huge chances out of the way in the first half and their subs, probably fitness related, kinda weakened them going forward. So it’s not like their superior attacking efforts were anything beyond what the Phoenix could handle. A nil-all draw was absolutely fair in a match where the xG stat read: 0.75 to WSW vs 0.16 for WPX.
Defensively very good. Attack needs more work. The Nix barely even threatened to muster hint of a clue that they could score goals... but there was one aspect of their play that offers hope: transitional attacks. There was a clear emphasis on attacking quickly as they win possession, of trying to pass quickly into space and then going from there. Rufer hit several mean long balls. He’s been practising those for sure. Pennington and Kraev are midfield dribblers which helps massively. Kosta and Bally are best in those inbetween spells when the defence isn’t set.
It didn’t quite work against a high Wanderers backline but you could see that there was a common aim at work. This is something they’ve really prioritised... something that should continue to grow as they play more games. They don’t look very capable of busting down a set defensive unit quite yet but they have the tools to do stuff on the counter attack and that oughta keep them pretty entertaining to watch.
Academy Pathways
Here’s the table from the preseason yarn about Italiano’s academy resurgence...
One game in and we’ve already had two debuts: Lukas Kelly-Heald and Fin Conchie. There were three academy starts and five appearances overall totalling 287 minutes. Multiply that by 26 games and we’re on track for 7722 academy minutes which would trail that 2021-22 season but keep in mind that basically any injuries to the starters and, goalkeeper aside, there’ll be Nix Academy lads stepping into the matchday squad. We already had uncontracted fellas Joshua Rudland and Charlie Beale on the bench here as unused subs... Rudland scored in the Aussie Cup game against Peninsula Power while Beale hasn’t made a first team appearance yet. Isaac Hughes, Oskar van Hattum, and Luke Supyk are all on full deals but missed out on this team (the latter two were injured, as was Sam Sutton who’ll be a regular). This game was probably on the conservative side of what to expect from the youngsters. It’s going to be a very funky season.
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