Kaludjerovic injury conundrum for the Phoenix
The Wellington Phoenix were not planning to replace Hamish Watson with another striker, but they might have to in light of Andrija Kaludjerovic’s injury.
The club released Watson to join Team Wellington last week, and as bad luck would have it, their starting striker, Kaludjerovic, picked up a foot injury in the 1-0 loss to Adelaide United at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.
With the January transfer window set to close on Wednesday night, Phoenix coach Darije Kalezic has a bit of a conundrum on his hands as to whether he would need to find another striker, although he said he would least a couple of days before making a decision.
‘‘Now is too early to talk about that immediately after the game. We do not know how serious the injury is. We have to wait a couple of days to see that after the medical research.
‘‘To be honest, we are not busy to sign a striker. Hamish didn’t play [much this season], so there’s no point to sign a striker to replace him, to put somebody else on the bench who doesn’t play.’’
Kaludjerovic injured his foot in the opening minutes of the match. He battled on in obvious discomfort until the 58th minute when he was replaced by Sapreet Singh. He told the medical staff he would get a sharp pain every time he landed on his heel.
The substitution meant midfielder Matjia Ljujic moved into the No 9 role, but Kalezic wasn’t overly keen on him staying there for future games.
‘‘Matija is an option. He played in his previous club also as a striker, but that’s not my favourite choice. The one thing I am looking forward to doing in this club is doing things that I want to do, that I think are the right choices.
‘‘Many times in many situations till now I cannot do that, and also in this case I am not looking to put Matija in as a striker. I want to put him where I think he can be most useful for this club.’’
The other options, should Kaludjerovic’s injury be serious, would be slotting either Roy Krishna or Nathan Burns in up top, but those two players are more effective out wide and the former missed Saturday’s game with ‘‘hamstring tightness’’, Kalezic said.
The only other striker in the squad was 19-year-old Logan Rogerson, but he remains a way off being a legitimate A-league starting proposition.
Either way, you would think signing a backup striker would be a must, otherwise Kalezic would be playing the dangerous game of banking on Kaludjerovic not getting injured in their remaining 10 games of the season.
They produced an ineffective performance in the final third while Kaludjerovic was hobbled and then sitting on the bench, registering just two shots on target and eight in total.
A defensive error cost them the losing goal to George Blackwood, but at least Kalezic has reinforcements on the way in that department, with Marco Rossi back from suspension, and Dylan Fox and Daniel Mullen expected to be back to fitness for Friday’s away game against Sydney FC.