Durante puts on brave face again
You can’t help but admire Andrew Durante.
So often in his nine seasons captaining the Wellington Phoenix has he found himself in this situation. A promising off-season leads to optimism, they show signs of life at some point in the campaign before falling away late on.
That formula would appear to be being followed this season as threestraight losses, with an aggregate score of 11-3, has them five points off the playoffs with seven games to go.
Lesser men may have resigned as captain by now, quoting some lame, cop-out excuse about no longer being able to take the team forward.
Not Durante. He has again taken on the task of putting on his best brave face and trying to revive the squad. He was front and centre at a team meeting before training on Tuesday which started with the coaches present, before he led a players-only section where some home truths were told.
The exact details of what was said will remain, as they should, private, but Durante said yesterday the response had been positive.
‘‘Once they [the coaches] left we had a players’ meeting just to say that it’s unacceptable. You can point fingers at coaches but players, we need to front up, we need to accept things.
‘‘It’s not from a lack of trying, but we need to be a lot more disciplined when we defend, we need to be training a lot harder and making people accountable.
‘‘I think that’s the biggest thing, reviewing the game and pointing out what is going wrong. We’re not sugar-coating it or just brushing over it and saying we should have been two goals up and blah blah blah, but really making people accountable, understanding their roles.’’
Durante had to watch on from the Westpac Stadium stands last Saturday due to suspension as his side lost 5-1 to Melbourne City - that equalled their 2014 record of most goals conceded in a match at home.
The reserve team then lost 7-2 to Hawke’s Bay United on Sunday, with their coach, Andy Hedge, not holding back in his assessment of the professional players who turned out for the team.
Durante said it again came down to accountability.
‘‘There are high expectations, I don’t see a lot of what is happening in the reserve team but if Andy Hedge is seeing players that are stepping down aren’t doing the right things and aren’t being professional and doing the job that they’re meant to do then he has every right to call them out and we need to make people accountable at this football club.
‘‘It’s not acceptable to just go down there and think you can have a kick around, as it’s not acceptable to cough up five goals for the first team.’’
So what needs to change to ensure this season doesn’t turn out like last year’s ninth-placed result, after which Durante admitted he lost a bit of love for the game.
Durante said things won’t improve unless everyone is on the same page.
‘‘Whether we make these playoffs or not, we have to be performing the right way. Yes there are teams above us who might beat us, but at least you show hunger and a bit of grit and determination and go out there fighting.
‘‘Maybe it has been missing, and that’s been the main focus point in the team meetings. We can’t accept as a group that we lost 5-1 and say ‘oh well let’s just get on with it’. There needs to be hurt, there needs to be people down about it and thinking how can I get better and how can I improve the team.
‘‘That unity is what will get us out. If we start picking fights and people don’t want to admit mistakes, that won’t be accepted.’’
The Phoenix take on the Brisbane Roar in Brisbane on Saturday.