Expectations in check
0By Scott MacLean
The Phoenix Men kick off their A-League campaign this weekend, away to Western Sydney on Sunday afternoon, and expectations of matching last year’s playoff place might have to be tempered.
For starters, there’s a new face in the dugout with previous assistant Giancarlo Italiano taking over from the departed Ufuk Talay. Known to many as “Chiefy” and having had success in Sydney FC’s academy set up prior to joining Talay in Wellington, Italiano seems set likely to continue to use Talay’s base 4-2-2-2 formation but while he has filled in as manager on occasion, this season will be the first time he’s taken charge of a club’s top side at any level.
Italiano will inherit a side he’ll know. Up front the import trio of David Ball, Oskar Zawada, and Bozhidar Kraev are all back along with veteran Kosta Barbarouses, Alex Rufer is back for an 11th season with the club in midfield, and the defensive corps still contains Tim Payne and Englishman Scott Wootton.
But it’s the depth around and behind them that been stripped out. Brazilian Yan Sasse is now in Tunisia and his overseas player berth remains unfilled. Vice-captain Oli Sail is now between the posts for Perth Glory, and Clayton Lewis has followed Ulises Davila in the “influential midfielder moves to Macarthur” career trajectory. Steven Ugarkovic is at Melbourne City, fullbacks Lucas Mauragis and Callan Elliot have returned to Newcastle and are without a club respectively, and central defender Joshua Laws is now with Swiss side Grasshoppers. And before that came the January departure of Ben Waine to English club Plymouth Argyle
In their place recruitment is scant. Iraqi-Australian midfielder Mohamed Al-Taay and goalkeeper Jack Duncan both join from Newcastle as the only new signings, while the other faces have come within the clubs academy structure with defenders Lukas Kelly-Heald and Isaac Hughes and controversial midfielder Fin Conchie – last heard of receiving a 10-game ban for a homophobic slur in a Central League match in early July – stepping up on full contracts and forward Luke Supyk on a scholarship one, moves which have once again led to questions about opportunities for talents from elsewhere in the National Leagues.
Defenders Finn Surman and Sam Sutton, midfielders Nicholas Pennington and Ben Old, forward Oskar van Hattum, and goalkeeper Alex Paulsen are the other holdovers from last season.
That leaves the Nix with a small squad of just 19 players – the league minimum – heading into the campaign. Things are especially thin at fullback with Payne the only recognised right-back (though it is claimed that Al-Taay can play there) and Sutton, who struggled through an injury-plagued 2022-23 season, the only real option on the left and an injury to either would surely force the club’s hand, as would losing either Wootton or Surman for any extended period. It’s also unlikely think that Rufer, Pennington, and Al-Taay will contribute much on the goal front as they have a combined two in a total of 183 A-League matches, leaving the burden on the front four to do much of the heavy lifting in terms of putting the ball in the net.
The Phoenix have made the playoffs the last two years with a negative goal difference, -6 last year and a whopping -15 the year prior (but missed with a +10 differential the season before that). I’d gladly take the same happening this year but just can’t see the team both scoring enough and conceding fewer to make the top six this time around.
With an Auckland side seemingly about to re-enter the league, the Phoenix can’t afford to slip completely off the pace.
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The Women got underway last Sunday, losing 0-1 to Melbourne City and a goal scored by Football Fern and World Cup hero Hannah Wilkinson. Like the men there’s been plenty of turnover, with Paul Temple taking over as coach from Natalie Lawrence and Annalie Longo appointed captain. With the limit on the number of overseas players each team can have the club has recruited from North America and the feelgood story of goalkeeper Rylee Foster – a replacement for injured skipper Lily Alfeld who’ll miss a second complete campaign – adds positivity and quality.
The challenge that faces them will be to avoid another wooden spoon, and that could hinge on how quickly Temple can identify his best XI and, in particular, his best defensive alignment.
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