Phoenix have inside knowledge on opposition
New coach Ufuk Talay believes his inside knowledge of Sydney FC will be crucial as Wellington Phoenix look to bounce back today from their opening defeat to Western United by beating the defending champions.
Prior to joining the Phoenix, Talay worked as an assistant coach at Sydney. He was Steve Corica’s right-hand man during their A-League championship run in 2018-19, but was lured to Wellington by the opportunity to become a head coach.
‘‘No coach does their coaching badges wanting to be an assistant for the rest of their career,’’ Talay said.
‘‘This is a great opportunity that I’ve been given from Wellington Phoenix and I’m proud to be here and very privileged to be here at the same time.
‘‘The opportunity came and I took it so I could stand on my own two feet.’’
While the hotly-anticipated return of Mark Rudan provided a juicy subplot for Wellington’s season opener, Talay is not expecting to receive the same belligerent treatment when he squares off against his former club at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney.
‘‘I left Sydney on good terms,’’ he said. ‘‘I worked with great people and we achieved some great things. I’m expecting a great return and an exciting game.
‘‘They’re a good side, they’ve got some quality players and being there last year and knowing what they do is also an advantage, so we’re going there to get three points.
‘‘We’ll go there with a gameplan and we’ve got an idea of how we want to exploit them. We also have a Plan B and Plan C but it’s going to be a great challenge against last season’s champions, so we’re looking forward to it.’’
Sydney will welcome back Socceroos Rhyan Grant and Andrew Redmayne for today’s clash, while minimal changes are expected from the Phoenix.
New marquee striker Gary Hooper is unavailable and will remain in Wellington ahead of a possible debut against Perth Glory next weekend.
‘‘Gary’s been very busy trying to get his visa work done but today will be his first training session out on the field and I think the boys will be excited to have him out there in order to get him ready for round three.
‘‘But everyone else is fit and available, which is great. At the end of the day we’ll make a decision on what we do with the starting 11. I have faith in my players and I have belief in my players so always give them an opportunity to prove themselves.’’
Unlike the Phoenix, who have undergone a major overhaul in the off-season, Sydney have kept the majority of their championship-winning roster intact.
Their biggest signing is a player very familiar to Phoenix supporters, Wellington-raised All Whites forward Kosta Barbarouses. Barbarouses will link up with Adam Le Fondre, runner-up to Roy Krishna in the Golden Boot race last season, in a potentially lethal strikepartnership.
Sydney opened the season with a 3-2 win over Adelaide United.
‘‘They’ve got some quality players and they had a good core that they have kept from last season, so that helps with consistency moving forward, and it’s the same thing we want to achieve here at Wellington.
‘‘We want to have a core group so at the end of this season we still have 14-15 players signed.’’
After registering only one shot on target in their lacklustre 1-0 defeat to Western, Talay urged his new-look team to be more positive against the Sky Blues.
The two teams played out a goalless draw in pre-season.
‘‘We have the quality, the quality is there, we just need to be more positive and more aggressive going forward.’’