Talay hints at staying in Nix job

Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay has given his strongest indication yet that he will be sticking with the club for a third term as contract talks drag on deep into the A-league season.

Although Talay is not in a position to make a definitive call on his coaching future, despite hinting twice in the past two weeks that an announcement was imminent, he may have let the cat out of the bag when discussing player recruitment for next season.

The former Sydney FC assistant spoke of a desire to build a competitive squad that matched his ambition, even though his own contract is due to expire at the end of the current campaign.

Talay revealed two of the 16 off-contract players had already put pen to paper on new deals and confirmed veteran defender Steven Taylor has not been offered a new contract as the Phoenix weigh up who to keep and who to cut for 2021-22.

‘‘For me, I’m very ambitious and we want to make sure that we get the right people in to match that ambition for us to be successful next year,’’ he said.

Talay said there was a reason why some key players, including Taylor, did not have offers on the table yet.

‘‘It’s nice to keep players on their toes as well because they’re playing for a contract at the same time that we’re vying to get into the top six, so it puts a bit more, not pressure, on the player, but they have to go out there to perform.’’

As for his own negotiations with the club, Talay said: ‘‘There’s a couple of little things that need to be sorted and then we’ll be pretty much done.’’

The ninth-placed Phoenix have six games left to claw themselves back into the top six, starting with Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium tonight.

The Phoenix are only three points behind sixth-placed Macarthur but Talay said it had now reached a stage where a defeat could be terminal given there were nine teams vying for just six playoff spots and they have the most ground to make up.

‘‘We look at every game as a grand final now. We need three points. We won’t be going there to be settling for a draw,’’ he said. We will go there with the mindset that we need to win this game and come back with three points. We need to rely on our own results to get to where we want to get to.’’

The Phoenix will be without regulars Cameron Devlin and Louis Fenton but Talay believed there was sufficient cover within the squad to replace the suspended pair.

Vice-captain Alex Rufer is a straight swap for midfielder Devlin while versatile defender Tim Payne is expected to slide out to the right to deputise for Fenton.

Joshua Laws, Liam Mcging and Te Atawhai Hudson-hihongi are all in contention to start alongside Taylor in central defence, but Luke Devere remains a long way off returning from his injury.

The Phoenix edged Adelaide 2-1 in their most recent meeting a fortnight ago courtesy of a dramatic stoppage time penalty from striker Tomer Hemed.