Coach wants Phoenix to ‘rise from the ashes’ after winless start
Like the mythical creature the football club is named after, coach Ufuk Talay is calling on the winless Wellington Phoenix to ‘‘rise from the ashes’’ and beat A-League leaders Central Coast Mariners.
The Phoenix are the only team in the competition without a win and dropped to last place after Melbourne Victory scored two late goals to stun Perth Glory earlier in the week.
In contrast, the Mariners have made a bright start to the new campaign, winning three of their first four games, including an impressive 2-0 win over Sydney FC last weekend.
Boasting the best defensive record, they will be a tough nut to crack for a Phoenix team who have been wasteful in front of goal but Talay is confident his team can get the job done.
‘‘The Mariners are on a high at the moment, they are top of the table, and we need to be very
disciplined when we have the ball and we need to be very organised, and also disciplined when we don’t have the ball,’’ Talay said. ‘‘This is one of those games where we need to rise from the ashes.
‘‘We have only played three
games and some teams have played six games but for us it is very important that we go to the Central Coast and come back with three points.’’
The Phoenix have been boosted by the return from suspension of key midfielder Alex Rufer, and Talay confirmed further changes would be made to shore up the defence and unlock the Mariners at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford today.
‘‘We are a ball-playing team and we need players in those areas because Central Coast are a compact team and very disciplined team, and get behind the ball and rely on their defensive duties to win games.
‘‘So, for me, we need attributes that can hurt Central Coast when playing in tight areas,’’ he said. ‘‘It is not because of the results we have had, it is about the attributes we need to win this game.’’
The Phoenix looked particularly vulnerable when defending in transition against
Newcastle and conceded two goals on the counter-attack.
However, Talay said the team’s defensive woes were a ‘‘collective’’ issue – a hint centre-backs Luke DeVere and Joshua Laws may avoid the chop.
Matthew Ridenton is expected to make way for Rufer in central midfield, while the more technical Clayton Lewis should return in place of Jaushua Sotirio.
‘‘We always blame the defenders when we concede goals and we blame the strikers when we don’t score goals.
‘‘But it is a collective thing as a team that we need to improve on and you will see the changes on game day.
‘‘We had 65 possession against Newcastle and when you do have a lot of the ball it is when you are most vulnerable so that is something we needed to tweak this week and something we needed to improve on and that was part of the plan moving into the Central Coast game.’’