Exploring The Wellington Phoenix’s Newfound Defensive Excellence
The famous line is the attack wins games but defence wins championships. The Wellington Phoenix blokes must be out there trying to win a championship because they just so happen to have the best defence in the A-League Men’s. Or... at least one of the two best. Central Coast Mariners have come surging through with four clean sheet wins on the trot. Chilling at the international break, the Mariners have conceded one fewer goal than the Nix but they’ve also played one fewer game. Give it a nudge either way, you can make a case for both. No surprises that they last time they met was a nil-all draw.
Subjective claims aside, what’s beyond doubt is that the Wellington Phoenix’s defence is the key to their success this season. They’ve gotten goals from Kosta Barbarouses. They’re experiencing the Ben Old breakthrough. Lots of good stuff there, as Giancarlo Italiano has turned an erratic bunch of finishers into something resembling reliable goal-scorers, even with Oskar Zawada having only played sporadically. But shades of that erratic attacking nature still remain. They’ve only had a handful of matches in which they’ve truly punished their opponents this season (scoring three or more goals in only 4/22 games).
Nah, it’s that backline where the dependable, reliable, consistent excellence resides. That’s the foundation. Whether in a back three or a back four. With Alex Paulsen behind them and Alex Rufer in front. Their ability to soak up pressure and limit their opponents to low-percentage chances, then also their ability to calmly pass their way out of the back flowing smoothly into attack. That’s where it all stems from. And it’s a foundation that’s even more impressive for the fact that it includes multiple young academy players who are experiencing their first season as genuine A-League starters.
The same principle of efficiency applies in both directions for the Welly Nix under Chiefy. As we all know by now, and as you’ve read on this very website many times, the plan on attack it to take fewer shots but better shots. Working closer to the goal in order to be as effective as possible. The plan in defence is to protect the very areas where they themselves prefer to shoot from, crowding out the penalty area but allowing teams to shoot from deeper if they so desire. Often they do. Usually that means wasting good field position by giving Alex Paulsen some easy catching practice.
Wellington Phoenix opponents have taken 399 shots in 22 games, which works out at 18.14 shots per ninety minutes. Both of those numbers are the second-highest in the entire competition, with Macarthur leaving the door open to claim top spot of each. Funnily enough, Central Coast have the lowest marks for both of those stats. Two almost dead-even teams in terms of goals conceded, yet one gets there by giving up minimal shots, the other gets there by giving up lots of shots but mostly inoffensive ones. Case and point for the Nix is that only 29.6% of those shots that their opponents take have been on target and that’s the lowest rate going around. The second-most shots with the lowest percentage of those shots on target.
It might also be worth mentioning that the Welly Nix face the most crosses of any team. Got to think that’s a related fact: they don’t give teams much space through the middle, so those teams go wide and try to whip the ball into the area that way. Pity for them that Finn Surman and Scott Wootton eat up defensive headers for breakfast, hence how the Nix make the most defensive clearances per match. Surman also leads the ALM in shots blocked, while Wootton is tied-third. Meanwhile they’ve also had by far the fewest offsides against them – only 19 from 22 games – which further illustrates the point of them sitting deep and soaking things up like a sponge.
We’ll get to the academy grads in a moment, but perhaps a better way to illustrate what this team has been up to is to look at the season to season improvements in English import Scott Wootton’s game. The fella who was initially signed to replace Steven Taylor, who came through the grades at Manchester United once upon a time, yet who struggled to assert himself anywhere near the levels of Stevie T... until Chiefy took over. Guys like Kosta Barbarouses, Alex Rufer, and Nico Pennington are getting deserved praise for how much they’ve improved this season and the same is equally true of Scott Wootton.
| Scott Wootton, Per 90 Minutes | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|
| Successful Passes | 60.49 | 67.95 |
| Pass Accuracy | 91.2 | 92.5 |
| Tackles Won | 0.32 | 0.23 |
| Tackles Won Percentage | 50 | 83.3 |
| Duels Won | 2.31 | 1.95 |
| Duels Won Percentage | 47.8 | 68.3 |
| Aerial Duels Won | 1.63 | 1.59 |
| Aerial Duels Won Percentage | 49.2 | 66 |
| Blocks | 0.11 | 0.23 |
| Interceptions | 0.68 | 0.55 |
| Recoveries | 3.31 | 1.68 |
| Yellow Cards | 0.21 | 0.05 |
Obviously stats don’t tell the full story, but there are some telling numbers in there. Look at how much the recoveries have dropped. From day one, Italiano spoke of how his plans involved matching his tactics to the players that he’s got in order to get the most out of them. Wootton not having to turn and chase back thanks to a deeper defensive line definitely falls into that category for a bloke with an injury history who is not blessed with pace. His pass accuracy has stayed at a high level but he’s getting more touches. He’s dipped in overall duels, tackles, and aerials won per ninety minutes but drastically improved his winning ratios on all three counts. Wootton is defending with his back to goal, with a dependable bloke beside him with whom he’s developed a great partnership, and the results have been spectacular. Suddenly he looks every bit the quality you’d hope for from an import centre-back.
Combinations are super important in this sport. The way that familiar midfielders know to cover for each other, the way a striker pair can feed off each other’s runs, the way a fullback and a winger create overloads and overlaps. This season hasn’t all been intelligent design from a new coach and some excellent players. There’s always an element of luck involved, and for the Wellington Phoenix that’s been the fact that Scott Wootton and Finn Surman (and Alex Paulsen in goal too) have not missed a single minute at centre-back. That partnership has been everpresent... although on occasion they’ve been joined by Isaac Hughes to form a trio.
Finn Surman, man. The mahi he’s been up to isn’t designed to get the same plaudits as what Old and Paulsen have managed but it’s equally as important and impressive. Surman looked like a top prospect from the moment he broke into the National League reserves side... albeit a very raw prospect. His first full season there was plagued by own goals and red cards, and it wasn’t actually too long afterwards that he got his first extended run in the A-League side. The jump in levels brought about rapid improvement in the Christchurch-born defender, who started the finals defeat to Western United that season. But his 12 starts in 2021-22 were, it has to be said, a lot to do with injuries in the squad around him. Specifically Joshua Laws, but also Alex Rufer and Callan Elliot whose absences had flowover effects. So when they had a relatively clean bill of health the following season, his minutes dropped from 985 to a mere 148. Deeply frustrating for Surman, no doubt. But given the existing pecking order it also wasn’t a travesty,.
For much of this past preseason, the Phoenix toyed with the idea of signing another import centre-back. This was around the same time that they decided that Alex Paulsen was ready to be the number one keeper (which he swiftly vindicated in the early weeks of the season) and, as it happens, they went the same way with Finn Surman who’d just bossed it at the U20 World Cup, where he captained the NZ team, and quickly settled into first eleven status for the Nix. Both he and Wootton are strong in the air and brave on the ground. Surman’s a bit more of a front-foot defender yet his distribution needs work. Wootton’s superb on the ball and likes to drop back a little more. They complement each other beautifully within the system that this team plays. You expect that from Wootton with his pedigree... but for Surman to be right there with him at 20 years of age is a remarkable feat.
Surman’s emergence has also allowed Tim Payne to settle into right-back specialist mode again. Payne goes pretty well wherever he plays but it’s at right-back where he has the clearest path towards All Whites caps. Chuck in his tireless engine and wicked crossing ability and he’s not only held things down defensively, he’s also chipped in with four assists – level with Kosta Barbarouses for the most in the squad (Old has 3, while Pennington, Ball, and Kelly-Heald each have 2).
And on the other side it’s either been Lukas Kelly-Heald or Sam Sutton. Sutts has battled injuries but we know what he’s capable of. LKH, on the other hand, only turned 19 a few days ago and was an unknown quantity for many when he started in week one. He’s a freakish talent. With his height you expect an aerial terminator but actually his deepest skills lie with his slick touch and smart passing. Plus we can’t ignore Isaac Hughes, a former reserves captain who has made four magnificent starts so far (as well as a few closer substitute efforts) in which he’s slotted in as a third centre-back and instantly matched the courage and rugged focus of his mates beside him. Like Kelly-Heald, Hughes had never played A-League prior to this season.
The two Alex’s go without saying, but let us say so anyway. Paulsen saves penalties and he also saves everything else. He’s got a wide berth for the best save percentage in the A-League (80.2%... next best is Filip Kurto at 75.7%). Danny Vukovic does now have more clean sheets than AP but he hasn’t even saved a penalty this season so who cares. Plus it’s not like Vuk effortlessly plays through the press with the ball at his feet like Paulsen does. Anyone who watched Paulsen for the reserves back in the day knew that he was special, and his sitting on the bench for all of last season was harsher than Surman’s situation, but having him suddenly pop up as the best keeper in the competition goes beyond all reasonable expectations.
Then there’s the way that Alex Rufer has levelled up, rounding off the edges of his game to evolve into an outstanding A-League midfielder. He sets that shield in front of the defence, winning tackles and roughing things up, plus has also really elevated his possession game. Roof’s always had that sneaky chip over the top which we’ve seen many times this season to great effect, but his short passing game used to be very cautious. Now he’s got the angles all sorted. Constantly dropping in, collecting passes from the defenders, then shifting them onwards to a teammate. Rufer’s been superb. That’s news to nobody.
There must be some kind of ‘rising tide raises all boats’ effect going on here because every single player in those key defensive areas is in the midst of a career-best A-League season. And while Giancarlo Italiano deserves heaps of praise alongside those players, there is someone else whose influence shouldn’t be understated either: assistant coach Adam Griffiths.
A former defender in his playing days, during a career that took him from Newcastle Jets to Oostende to Brentford to Al-Shabab to Hangzhou Greentown amongst plenty of other destinations, Griffiths was capped a couple of times by Australia. His twin brother Joel had a brief stint with the Wellington Phoenix back in 2015. Prior to landing the role as Chiefy’s main assistant, Griffiths had spent a season as Marko Rudan’s assistant at Western Sydney Wanderers, following a few notable years in charge of Manly United in the NPL. He was brought to the Nix very specifically as someone who could raise the bar defensively. The quotes from his initial announcement made that abundantly clear...
Italiano: “I know where my strengths and weaknesses are and Adam has some strengths, especially on the defensive side of the game, that can really benefit our team throughout the season. His experience as a defender and as an ex-pro will help our young defenders and the way we want to play defensively.”
Griffiths: “[Defence is] an area which is one of my strengths. I’m very confident in helping the team improve in that area. My role as the Wanderers assistant coach was to design and implement training sessions and really work closely on defensive structure and organisation.”
That Western Sydney team that Griffiths worked with last season? They conceded the fewest goals in the A-League (finishing fourth but getting beaten 2-1 by Sydney FC in the elimination final), averaging a mere 1.04 goals per game. The previous Wellington Phoenix were tied-seventh allowing 1.69 goals per game. This season Griffiths is at the Nix who are averaging 1.05 goals per game while Western Sydney without him have the seventh-best rate, currently hovering at 1.73 goals per game conceded. How about that?
There’s no shortage of praise to go around for what the Wellington Phoenix have achieved so far – and as they contend for the minor premiership and plot a finals run the buzz is only going to surge into greater areas. So make sure to keep some of that praise handy for the defensive maestro assistant coach who may just have orchestrated the most valuable aspect of this majesty.
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