Surprise selection explained

Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay believes he got what he wanted out of Jaushua Sotirio after handing him a surprise start over Clayton Lewis in his side’s loss to the Newcastle Jets.

The 2-1 defeat extended the Phoenix’s winless streak in the A-League to eight matches – their worst run since 2016 – and was especially concerning as it came against a team that started their season with four losses and was playing for the third time in eight days.

The Phoenix next face the league-leading Central Coast Mariners on Sunday, then visit defending champions Sydney FC before facing the Mariners for a second time, so things aren’t going to get any easier in a hurry.

And when they take the field on Sunday night in Gosford, there will be plenty of interest in the makeup of their front four, after Talay sprung a surprise on Sunday by opting for the speed of Sotirio over the guile of Lewis – who had started their first two matches – alongside the import trio of David Ball, Ulises Da´vila, and Tomer Hemed.

Sotirio has had his moments since joining the Phoenix last season as one of Talay’s first recruits, making the most of his speed to score four goals in 28 appearances, including a couple of spectacular finishes against the Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers last season, and earning a contract extension until the end of next season.

But there have been many more where it’s been clear his pace is his only weapon, and he is often the weak link when the team is carefully crafting build-up play, something they have excelled at when at their best during Talay’s tenure.

If it’s a given that the team’s three visa players, Ball, Da´vila, and Hemed, will start, Sotirio offers a direct option alongside them while Lewis and fellow midfielder Reno Piscopo – who is injured and yet to feature this season – offer more craft and control.

The tradeoff is that the Phoenix look to play to Sotirio’s strengths when he is on the field and that goes against the strengths of their other attacking players, which can make for a frustrating watch.

Talay said after Sunday’s match that it was a case of ‘‘cat and mouse’’ and that he felt they got some joy from it.

‘‘You sometimes need to play a ball over the top to stretch them, and then we can play through the lines.

‘‘If we become too predictable, and we want to always play through the lines, they can always step up and there’s no space to play through.

‘‘It depends on what the opponent gives you and they had three central defenders that are not as quick as Jaushie and we wanted to utilise his pace.’’

Sotirio did have a few good runs against Jets and finished with four shots to his name – more than everyone bar Da´ vila – though they were mostly speculative efforts.

After Sunday’s defeat, the Phoenix have now won none of their last eight A-League matches (losing five and drawing three), going back to their win over Perth Glory towards the end of last season.

Talay wasn’t too worried about a winless streak that included five matches from last season – ‘‘a long time ago’’ in his view – and was relishing the task ahead.

‘‘I have belief that we’ve got the players to do it, and they showed last season that they could do it, and we’ve maintained that core this year.’’