Phoenix coach uses the M-word over top-6 quiz
CAN the Wellington Phoenix still make the top six and play finals football in the A-League for a third season in a row?
The answer is yes, but they’re getting to the point where coach Ufuk Talay is using the word ‘‘mathematically,’’ and they’re going to have to begin their run from 10th on the ladder without one of their most dangerous players.
As of Monday night’s loss to Melbourne City, defenders Steven Taylor, Liam McGing, and Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, midfielder Matt Ridenton, and forward Reno Piscopo were all nursing injuries of one kind or another.
Talay said yesterday that
Taylor would likely be fit enough to be on the bench today, when they host Western United at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, as would Ridenton, but McGing, HudsonWihongi, and Piscopo were set to remain sidelined.
Piscopo has been one of the Phoenix’s more consistent performers this season, but he could be out for at least three more matches after the one on Sunday, which would be a blow to their hopes of turning their season around.
‘‘The way things are going, he still feels a bit tight in his calf,’’ Talay said. ‘‘We’re not too sure, but we might be looking at the start of May.’’
As things stand, the Phoenix sit 10th, with 15 points from 15 matches, or a point per match, and Western Sydney Wanderers sit in sixth, with 24 points from 16 matches, or 1.5 points per match.
But when you order the teams on a pointsper-match basis, it’s Western United, on 1.54 points per match, they have to catch to make the finals series.
Stuff has previously suggested 38 as the points total Talay and the Phoenix might need to aim for, but Western United are on pace to finish with 40 points at present, and either way, it’s a task that is verging on the impossible.
With 11 matches to play, the Phoenix have 33 points to play for and need 25 of them to get to 40 points – if, indeed, that’s where they need to get to – a tally of 2.3 points per match, which would take a run of seven wins and four draws or better.
Even getting to 38 points would take 2.1 points per match from here, or a run of six wins and five draws or better.
So it wasn’t a surprise that Talay’s answer to the question of whether the top six was a realistic target began with the letter M.
‘‘Mathematically, it’s still possible,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s still
11 games and there’s still points up for grabs and what we need to do is turn these games into results and put points on the board to give ourselves the best chance of making the top six.’’
One M-word leads to another, however, and the Phoenix are clearly now in must-win territory, if they are to make the most of the potential they have not been able to consistently realise this seson.
‘‘If you can’t win games and you can’t put points on the board, it becomes a lot tougher,’’ Talay said.
‘‘Mathematically at the moment it’s still possible and I think we’ve got the squad to make the top six.
‘‘I think we’ve got a good enough team and the football that we play, I think it’s good enough for us to be in the top six, but we’ve got to turn that into results and points. The belief is still there, the work ethic is still there with the players.’’
Today’s match is the
Phoenix’s first this season against Western United, who are led by former Phoenix coach Mark Rudan and have former captain Andrew Durante in their ranks, and have won both their matches in April so far.