These are murky times for the Wellington Phoenix fellas. Four points from their first two games gave them a rare positive launch but four straight defeats since has condemned them to yet another of their typically haunted slow starts. They were unlucky to lose 2-0 to Western Sydney in a controversial one but were then absolutely mashed 4-0 by Newcastle before losing 2-1 to a Sydney FC team that was desperately out of form and then getting smoked 4-0 by Adelaide who were winless coming into that contest. Ufuk Talay hadn’t lost four A-League games in a row since his first four games in charge and his Nix had never been beaten by more than three goals before. Now it’s happened twice in three matches.

The Adelaide defeat was the most deflating of the lot because watching how desperately slow they started that game made it clear that the confidence of this squad is shot. The habit of losing is setting in. They’re not trusting themselves in possession, they’re defending on the back foot, and there’s a general sense of pervading confusion out there. Not at all what we’re accustomed to seeing from an Ufuk Talay team.

Hence at half-time of that contest, with the Nix lucky to only be 1-0 down, Talay turned to his bench for a genuinely shocking triple substitution. It’s not often that your jaw drops as the fourth official’s board goes up but this time it did...

Callan Elliot was a bit unlucky, the victim of a change of approach more than anything. Alex Rufer had been far too quiet as a defensive midfielder in a game his team was getting bossed in. Jaush Sotirio had been wasteful and his timing lacking despite a few positive movements playing off the last man up top, trying to get in behind the defence as he does. Sotirio was replaced by Oskar van Hattum who was making only his second A-League appearance. Nicholas Pennington surprisingly went to right back, s’pose to get a better ball-player there. And Finn Surman made an A-League debut coming on in central defence with Josh Laws (finally) given a crack in midfield (until he was later replaced by Sam Sutton... also finally given a crack in midfield).

None of it really worked. 1-0 became 4-0 before the final whistle put them out of their misery. But that triple-sub also had a deeper meaning: it signalled that nobody’s spot is safe right now. Talay’s never been shy to swing the axe if needed and if you come in and perform well then he’ll reward you for it – look at how Oli Sail usurped Stefan Marinovic for the keeper’s gloves around this time last season. Well, that’s where we’re at right now... pretty much across the board.

Rufer is the club captain and was subbed at half-time. Laws, Pennington, and Sutton all ended up playing in different positions to where they’ve mostly been used before (albeit more natural positions in the cases of JL & SS). Alex Paulsen was in goal for his first start with Sail out. Ben Old made his third start of the campaign and was arguably the team’s best on the night. Those two only signed their first pro contracts last offseason. Meanwhile Van Hattum and Surman weren’t even with the squad when the season began. Neither was backup backup keeper Henry Gray who was on the bench. Louis Fenton came on at left back. The gaffer is searching for solutions and no underperforming jerry is safe while that’s happening.

You can’t say that Ufuk Talay doesn’t know what his best eleven is. That idea is overrated anyway as any decent team is going to have a deep squad with guys capable of stepping up when needed but nine players have started at least five of these six A-League games and Gary Hooper would have done so too were he available for them all... so the hierarchy is pretty obvious. The issue for Talay, and it’s a rather big one, is that for whatever reason those first choice players aren’t getting it done.

Reinforcements are on the way. Gary Hooper is back available now after leaving briefly for personal reasons. Reno Piscopo will hopefully be available again before long. Gael Sandoval is just awaiting that pesky transfer window to open on January 14 for his deal to be finalised. Uffie’s talking about bringing in an import central defender in that window too which, given how this team has been defending, would be like finding an oasis in the desert. Ignoring the other implications for a second, the A-League’s rush of covid postponements might have come at a convenient time for the Nix if it means those games can be played later on when those guys are all available.

It’s worth reinforcing the point yet again that these struggles weren’t unforetold. This past offseason saw the Phoenix lose their captain and best defender, Steven Taylor, their top goal scorer, Tomer Hemed, and their best player/Johnny Warren Medallist, Ulises Davila, and then only replaced one of them. Cam Devlin’s midfield coverage has been a huge absence too with the Alex Rufer/Clayton Lewis combination still struggling to gel.

Valid reasons for a dip in results... but jeezus not this much of a dip. The Nix may be missing that import goodness on the top of the cake but the rest of the mixture is still there and for once they have some actual continuity through the full squad from season to season. Previously proven A-League performers are not hitting their past standards. Too many of them all at once. And we probably need to start with the midfield pairing.

Not sure what it is with those two as in theory Rufer and Lewis should merge nicely together with one hard tackler and one creative ball-player but right now neither is doing enough of what they’re supposed to be doing. Lewis is spraying his passes, performing like he’s feeling the pressure, while Rufer is overreacting to a poor defence behind him by playing too cautiously. The combined effect is vast empty pastures in the middle when what the team really needs is one (or both) of them to be grabbing games by the scruff of the neck.

Seems that Alex Rufer is being made the scapegoat yet again. The captaincy has a lightning rod effect like that – bear in mind that decision was made by his teammates as well as his coach – but Rufer’s hardly the only dude playing below his level. So, you know, just make sure you keep the same energy for... well, pretty much everyone except the academy lads, funnily enough. Like, for real, who in this team has improved their reputation over the first six A-League matches of this season? In fact let’s play that game now. These are all the blokes to have taken the field for the Nix this season, not including FFA Cup stuff, subjectively arranged into order by their performances...

Above Expectations: Ben Old, Finn Surman, Alex Paulsen, Oskar van Hattum

Level With Expectations: Matthew Bozinovski, Tim Payne, Jaushua Sotirio, Nicholas Pennington, Callan Elliot, Ben Waine, Sam Sutton, Oli Sail, Gary Hooper

Below Expectations: James McGarry, David Ball, Reno Piscopo, Alex Rufer, Louis Fenton, Josh Laws, Clayton Lewis

A couple of those even-levels (Pennington and Bozinovski) are only where they are because they haven’t played much. We’re yet to see Luka Prso in an A-League game at all – OVH seems to have overtaken him. The four Aboves had played a combined seven minutes of A-League football prior to this season. Meanwhile a raft of senior players who you’d expect to lead the team through this little chasm have not been able to do that.

Rufer and Lewis, sure. But Josh Laws has not been able to fill the gap adequately at CB. James McGarry has done some good things and some bad things – he was the guy most on the fringes of moving up a category but a few major defensive mistakes and limited end product going forwards have halted him. One of his major problems is that he’s just too left-footed and he gets himself into trouble closing off his options when he receives the ball. Plus he’s aggressive and has a tendency to pounce: see the penalty against Adelaide (after which he was immediately subbed off).

David Ball has been the only import in the line-up for the last two matches and he’s been super quiet. He’s trying to make things happen but he’s simply not a guy to dribble past opponents and spark things individually. He’s constantly getting tackled trying to shape up his marker. Ball is a clever forward who is at his best feeding off the work of others. Put a primary playmaker next to him and watch him go to work. Without that guy in the team... Ball’s slid back into ineffective mode, sadly.

As for Reno Piscopo... all those preseason expectations for him to fill Uli Davila’s boots got off to a decent start as he won a penalty in game one but have been completely ignored ever since. Piscopo’s averaging a team-high 2.81 shots per 90 mins, apparently trying to fill those Davila boots way too literally. Sorry but Reno’s not a ruthless finisher. Four goals in 42 Nix games speaks to that. What he needs to be doing is beating defenders and trying to facilitate, first and foremost. Otherwise I’m just gonna go right on ahead and say the quiet part loud... maybe Ben Old is actually better for this team? (Ponder it. That’s all I ask).

Piscopo’s chock full of footballing quality and there’s still plenty of time for him to step up and have the increased impact that was hoped for. But it won’t happen playing the way he has been. Ben Old, get this, has played only 56% of the Nix’s total minutes this term yet he’s by far their most fouled player - on the end of 17 free kicks. Only Beka Mikeltadze (Newcastle) has been fouled more often (18 occasions) across the entire league. Old’s signature weapon for the WeeNix was his ability to drop in to pick up the ball then turn on his marker and carry it through the line into space. That was by no means a trick guaranteed to translate to this higher level and yet it has. Old is out there looking to facilitate, he’s working extremely hard for the team, and to be honest he’s outplaying dudes with far greater reputations.

Old’s nowhere near the polished product as a footballers and he can’t do the stuff in build up play that the likes of Piscopo and Ball are capable of. But credit where it’s due, right? Oskar van Hattum is out there looking to get involved and be positive too, it’s very refreshing. OVH was in some prime form with the WeeNix after four goals in two games before he shipped off for first team duty and he’s carried on with those vibes.

Highly doubt that Talay is about to change his vaunted 4-2-2-2 formation. It’s already super flexible with the option of pushing the tens out to the wing or having one of the strikers play a bit deeper. No need to mess with the system. But the personnel within the system? Entirely up for grabs. Can’t really see how he persists with the Rufer/Lewis midfield so does Pennington come in for Lewis? Does Josh Laws get a proper run in his favoured position with Rufer dropping to the bench? That’s assuming he wants to keep the 6/8 thing going. He might want two playmakers there and go with Lewis and Pennington. Or even Sam Sutton who has never let him down before.

Having said that, Sutton may be pushing for a fullback spot. Pennington’s RB stint came out of the blue but then so did Tim Payne’s once upon a time. Speaking of Payne, if Laws plays midfield, who partners him at CB? Matt Bozinovski? Finn Surman? Kurtis Mogg? Gary Hooper’s gotta be there but is David Ball undroppable? What about Reno Piscopo? Gael Sandoval will only miss one more ALM game and something’s gonna have to give once he’s available – he’s been hard at work in training so not like they need to ease him in. Where does that leave Ben Old? In turn, where does that leave Ben Waine and Jaushua Sotirio? Let alone Oskar van Hattum. Still haven’t seen Luka Prso feature yet outside of FFA Cup stuff. Kurtis Mogg, George Ott, and Jackson Manuel are also with the team awaiting their A-League debuts.

Just throwing a few ideas out here, don’t read too much into these...

There was something that Uffie said about that HT triple-change in the aftermath of that Adelaide defeat. He said: “I just wanted a change, a bit of energy in the game. I’ve always been a coach that if we’re going to lose, I’m going to lose it my way, and I threw some young bodies out there to give us some energy.” He’s repeatedly reiterated ideas about senior players needing to step up, and about how if you’re not doing your job then he’s not gonna hesitate to chuck the next fella in to see if they can do better.

That’s where we’re at now. Poor form has robbed dudes of the benefits of seniority and now everyone’s on the same level. Meritocracy from here on out. Free chocolate fish and a starting eleven place for anyone who can lift the Nix out of this funkless funk.

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