The rise of the Phoenix
Written off (by some) at the start of the campaign, the Wellington Phoenix have completed their best season yet in the A-League Men. Two leading coaches explain why. Ian Anderson reports.
Asolid base, a dash of youth and a sprinkling of Chiefy’s special spice - that’s been the recipe for the success of the Wellington Phoenix. When those combinations next mix together again in Wellington later this month, it will be in the second leg of their A-League Men semifinal.
Two of New Zealand’s leading football coaches – former Phoenix and New Zealand head coach Ricki Herbert and ex-Nix youth coach Sam Wilkinson – spoke to Stuff about a season which has seen the team that was widely tipped to finish bottom of the table emerge into a title contender.
A SURPRISE SEASON
“Like many others, I thought they were going to be wooden-spooners,” Wilkinson admits.
“Chiefy [head coach Giancarlo Italiano] deserves massive credit, but it’s also almost been the perfect storm really, when everyone writes you off, and young players who have nothing to lose and no expectations – weirdly they’ve almost got the perfect balance with the way they play and the different players.”
Herbert says he’s been pleasantly surprised by the success of his former club.
“I wasn’t one of those across the Tasman that continually writes off the Phoenix every year; I had 5½ years of that.”
THE IMPACT OF YOUTH
Wilkinson and Herbert highlight the emergence of young players – goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, defenders Finn Surman, Sam Sutton and Lukas Kelly-Heald, and attacking midfielders Ben Old and Oskar van Hattum – as a hugely important part of the 2023-24 campaign.
“I was the first to say I didn’t think some of them were ready,” Wilkinson says.
“I thought they might get exposed mid-season when it becomes all about consistency and grinding out performance after performance.”
Herbert, who coached the side from its inaugural campaign in 2007-08 until midway through the 2012-13 season, praises the development of the club.
“I reflect back on day one and walking in there with nothing, starting from scratch.
“Their ability to get a team into the New Zealand competition, having an academy and providing pathways has become evident now. Those boys that have come through a scaled professional system have had appropriate time playing in competitions, training on a daily basis, that propelled them into the team.
“When you go back to the Kingz days and the Knights too – you had a group of 23 players and that’s all you had. You didn’t have a second-team playing somewhere, you didn’t have an academy system, you didn't have a sports science department and a great facility out in the Hutt.
“Those younger players playing in a Central League competition, getting challenged by some of the best players in the country … they’re prepared and they’re ready. That’s a big difference for me.”
Wilkinson helped oversee the development of a number of promising young talents in a brief spell with the academy that was cut short due to financial restraints for the club during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has also had a heavy youth focus in both the United Kingdom (with West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City) and New Zealand (at Melville United and Hamilton Wanderers).
“FinnSurmanisabitofabalanceof old and new school,” he says of the everpresent central defender.
“He heads and kicks and blocks and throws himself in the way – but he can manage the ball too when they play out from the back.
“He’s a great kid, a humble lad and he had to overcome a bad knee dislocation that put him out for about nine months too.
“You can’t underplay how much [Scott] Wootton has fast-tracked his development – it’s almost live, in-game coaching that is so valuable, that’s had a huge impact on him doing so well so quickly.”
Wilkinson has also long seen the potential of attacking wide midfielder Old.
“He was the tiny underdeveloped skilful player that you thought ‘ah, he could be good if he grows physically’.
“He plays in this weird little left-side of a midfield three, but it works ... he picks the ball up and dribbles.”
A CHANGE IN COACH AND TACTICS
In his first season in charge following the departure of Ufuk Talay, Italiano has established his own method on the back of the foundations set by his mentor.
“Chiefy was very much like the little apprentice to Uffie,” Wilkinson says.
“Uffie was very set on that formation, with a four-box-two, where the wide men would come in and everything was built around that, and it was very methodical.
“He’s [Italiano] changed the shape of that. He’s almost created a kind of hybrid shape – sometimes it looks like a diamond in the midfield, sometimes it’s like a flat three with two No 10s.
“The ability to play on the break and counter-attack more, that’s where he’s been really smart. They still try to play out from the back, and sometimes overplay, which is very much Uffie’s style, but they’ve had that variation.”
Herbert, who coached the All Whites to draws against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay at the 2010 World Cup, admires a side which conceded just 26 goals in 27 regular-season games.
“They’ve been super-consistent – hard to beat. I like it, because I wanted my teams to be hard to beat,” Herbert says.
“They drop off, they sit really deep, they’ve found ways to counter-attack and win games 1-0 or score in the 93rd minute. They’ve had games where they’ve dominated and won 3-0, and had games where they’ve hung on by the skin of their teeth and got a point, or a late winner.
“Chiefy has cemented his team – they’re a very very difficult side to play through. I remember watching the Melbourne Victory game at the Cake Tin a number of weeks ago, and they sat so deep that Melbourne ran out of ideas; they just couldn’t find a way to break the line.”
A SIDE WITHOUT STARS
Polish striker Oskar Zawada netted 15 times for the Phoenix last season and was expected to be a major factor in how they fared in 2023-24.
But a complication with a thigh injury he suffered in round seven looked set to rule him out for the rest of the season – only for Zawada to make a surprise return to the bench in mid-April.
Yet despite playing just 535 minutes across 10 appearances before his late revival, the side eventually tallied 42 goals in the regular season on their way to 15 wins and eight draws from 27 outings.
“You go from one year where Zawada is knocking them in left, right and centre and he’s the outlet, he’s the one who’s going to win the game, to him not being there,” Herbert says.
“That was a little bit of a catalyst on Kosta Barbarouses,” he says of the 34-year-old who has netted 13 times this season to date and was named their Player of the Year this week.
“He was given far more time in the team, and I think Kosta’s appreciated that, and in return, he’s delivered a lot of goals. “When you lose somebody like Zawada, it can really galvanise the team. They’ve just got on with it.” Wilkinson feels Zawada’s absences have allowed the side to develop a different tactical approach.
“If you’d said a few games in they’d lose their Number 9 as their main guy, you’d be thinking they’re done.
“Weirdly, though, instead of playing into and off a number 9, they've broken from a bit deeper with Oldie, Kosta and even Tim Payne on the other side, and it’s actually worked really well – a bit like a basketball fast-break.
“[Ulises] Davila, Clayton Lewis, players who have left the club may have had more quality.
“But that collective work aspect, [Bozhidar] Kraev, David Ball has that in spades. [Nicholas] Pennington, even [Alex] Rufer to a degree, they don’t have any outstanding attributes, but knowing where they fit into the team, what their roles is, they’re grafters – there’s something to be said about putting the needs of the team in front of your own.”
“There’s something to be said about putting the needs of the team in front of your own.”
Sam Wilkinson
A DROP IN QUALITY
It’s not just the Phoenix who have contested the A-League this season without obvious headlining drawcards.
Many long-time followers of the competition could make a compelling case that the league doesn’t currently have players with the pulling power – and on-field abilities – of the likes of Carlos Hernandez, Besart Berisha, Archie Thompson, Thomas Broich and Alex Brosque.
For better or worse, there’s also been a distinct lack of big-name imports, in a league which has previously drawn in Alessandro Del Piero, Dwight Yorke, Robbie Fowler, Shinji Ono, Damien Duff and Emile Heskey.
“When we were playing Melbourne Victory, they’d have Archie Thompson, Carlos Hernandez, Kevin Muscat … Brisbane Roar would have current and ex-national team players,” Herbert says.
“The lack of marquee players might be down to the financial struggles of a lot of the teams,” Wilkinson adds.
“At the Mariners, their best player is arguably someone who was playing in the Northern League and National League in New Zealand two years ago (Vanuatu defender Brian Kaltak).
“Tim Payne, probably the best right back in the league, was playing for Eastern Suburbs four years ago. I don’t know if that would have happened 10 years ago.”
FINALS PREDICTION
Wellington’s semifinal opponent won’t be known until late Sunday night.
Sydney FC host Macarthur in the first elimination final tonight, before Melbourne Victory meet derby rivals Melbourne Citytomorrow.
Herbert feels the side’s extended push for the Premiers Plate in the latter stages of the regular season has them wellprepared for the lift in intensity of playoff football.
“The challenge now is what happens over the next two weeks until they play – do you keep repeating what you’ve been doing and find a fixture, and then you’re thinking if it’s not a meaningful fixture, is it an opportunity to bring injuries?”
Wilkinson says he’d hate to write off their chances of winning the competition.
“I've been doing it most of the season and they keep proving me wrong.
“I don’t think they’ll fear anyone. If they went all the way to the final, I now wouldn’t be surprised at all.”