Andrew Durante (Melbourne Victory | A-Leagues)

Andrew Durante has confirmed he has played his last game for NZ. Told the players after Lima. #AllWhites

— Jason Pine (@pineyzb) November 24, 2017

He must be about due to play his last game as a starter now.  Really seems to be getting left behind pace-wise by the other 21 players on the pitch.  Very clearly his last season.

No emotion, just time to move on and forward. Otherwise, bring back Ross Aloisi.

Looks like its #scapegoat for Durante this year.

I know what it's like playing behind a defender who still has one of the best brains in the competition and is tough as old nails, but is a yard off the pace compared to a few years ago. It's a dilemma.

Only a yard? 

Not a laugh, being realistic. Yes, as you get older you can reply on experiences to make up for loss of speed but it is currently becoming obvious that he has lost the pace. From getting to the ball to distributing it, the young guys are starting to catch him out.

Nice guy, great leader in the past, but be honest. He isn't as he once was.

Exactly Keefy, exactly.

No, you are wrong. I meant No Emotion, you have to pick the players on how they are playing. Bad luck, nice try, you are wrong.

Thank you, someone who understands the point I am trying to make. Yay!

Cover others but who cover him - Who covers who and when is our defensive problem 

Right. I misread it. My mistake. My apologies

I Still don't understand this weird argument. Dura shows plenty of emotion and in a well organised defence he still plays a vital role, like with the AWs a couple of weeks ago. Organisation is the key ingredient in any defence and I think it is totally what is missing. Still waiting for Rossi to show any leadership..

Dura will soon take over the A-League record for most appearances. Danny Vukovic got to 278 at end of last season, Dura is currently on 275. Vuka also had 277 starts to Dura who is currently on 269.

So means Dura will take over the record if he plays all the next games against Sydney in Sydney on 2nd February.

http://www.ultimatealeague.com/records.php?type=ap...

Vuka will still have played the most minutes as he currently has 951mins more than Dura. Dura will basically need to play every game for the rest of the season to take that over as well. 12 games left.

Last night, I felt Durante actually had his best game in a long time. Perhaps it was because there was less pressure on him from a crumbling midfield. I have been a harsh critic of him of late but I can stand up and apologise. If he shows this sort of form, it will certainly help with our defence.

Agreed. Apart from the unfortunate slip up for Kosta's goal, Dura had a very good game.  And Kosta's goal was not his fault alone (Doyle and Italiano had a lion's share), plus it was an excellent strike from Kosta.  Can't remember him doing it for us very much.

If you look at the replay from behind the goal, it was definitely meant to be a cross. The ball comes off the side of his boot and spins into the goal. Italiano should have had it covered though.

Yeah, you might be right - but I can't actually figure out if it a brilliant strike from Kosta or a mis-hit cross.  

If it was a misplaced cross then it explains why Italiano did not cover it (he might have read Kosta's body movement correctly but not the mis-hit).

First rule of goal keeper is cover the near post.

He was diving to the right then didn't have time to re-correct enough to cover inside the near post. Was bad keeping either way.

Toe hackers are hard to read

Did Darje just hint that Andrew is retiring at the end of the season?

He said in the interview "He has a personality that the club can use in the future... I'm glad as a coach that I met him this year..."

Anyway, congratulations are in order for Dura, it's a shame that it happened in such a calamatous season.

I heard piney talking to dura on the radio, sounds like its on the cards unless dura can start every match - he doesnt want to be  squaddie or retire injured.

Nice guy with a great achievement but for the last few seasons he has been caught out. Played a few awesome games but generally average with a lot of time arguing with refs and playing the ball across the back line putting our own defense under unnecessary pressure. 

I wonder if he should have retired with siggy abd Boxall and Fox taken over.

What I heard about Durante is that last season he wanted to leave halfway through, but the club wanted him to stay, he also asked the club to hold a testimonial match for him at the point he does leave, and then got annoyed that the club wasn't keen on doing that, which made him even less happy. 

He isn't really interested in being at the club currently according to what he tells people he knows, but given his wages, he doesn't have anything better to walk off to.

If true, why would he retire at the end of this season and not the next etc.  Most testimonials are granted without the player asking.  Sounds like he was a bit greedy and nearly burnt some bridges.

I don't like players getting slagged off on the basis of someone heard something from someone, especially our captain who has had to endure lots of carp and try to hold the team together with the coaching circus last year.

First thing that came to mind

I’m increasingly annoyed and perturbed at the incessant criticism of Andrew Durante by a small minority on what he did or didn’t do for the Phoenix on and off the field over the last few years. In particular what he endured in last year’s A-league season.

Ive never met the man but as a non Wellingtonian and massive supporter of the Pheonix, I have nothing but admiration for his leadership.

Some time ago I was tempted to burst into print about this issue .What I’m very passionate about is leadership,and I trust with this post any lingering doubt about the man’s mana can be put to bed.

Obviously it’s my speculation but the more I think about all of the known events and the actions of the players, the outline I give goes some way to explaining what I believe happened. We will never know I guess totally what went down.

I put forward the following theory and refer back to the dark days prior to last Christmas:

Most professional teams (Im sure the Pheonix had this ) have a group of senior players who provide ideas and suggestions on how the team should perform . I don’t want to guess who the group consisted of, suffice say to Dura and Dario were key leaders in this forum.

I believe that late last year, maybe as early as November, Kalezic became increasingly insecure with the advice he was receiving from the group and Rado’s support of it most of the time. Up until this point, I’d say until late November, we could see a much improved game coming consistently from the team and we thought we are onto a winning and successful formula.

However Kalezic over time got the pricker more and more with Rado because he, Kalezic, wanted to play a completely different game, and with Rado appearing to side with the players, there was also a clash of philosophy. This should have been resolved right at the start of the season. It probably became very personal as well. With Kalezic feeling isolated, he took the step of having Rado fired and with him went Dario.

Also and crucially, out the door went the senior players group, with Kalezic now exercising total control

Burnsie, then the East Europeans before they arrived, pre-Christmas had probably been spun a yarn how progressive the club was and how they would be part of the senior players group. With the departure of Rado, the entire atmosphere of the team changed and if you note at a high level, the performance of these new players, then the less experienced players ,changed dramatically over a few short weeks compared with pre-Christmas. There was no fight, the body language was dreadful, and the attitude was downright poor.

And who kept the ship afloat? My bet is that it was Dura.

He became almost the sole medium of communication between the coach and the players, because the players had lost respect for the coach. He played a critical role in trying to boost morale as high as he could and also tried to concentrate on his football. No wonder he had some pretty average games with that burden of responsibility!

Kalezic made increasingly ill-considered decisions and selections and tried to cover his tracks with very little consistency,chopping players about, and with no overall plan. Remember the excuses?

By the end of the season Dura would have been exhausted. His leadership efforts to keep the team going would have been extremely taxing and it was no wonder he was considering giving it away.

That’s my take on the season. I have no special or inside knowledge but the events, the public statements, and what we saw on TV kind of support my views.

Let’s look forward to a new season with a new broom.

You are entitled to your opinion but for me he is over the hill. Just look at how many goal we conceded last year. Pretty simple. 

His playing ability and whether hes worth a spot  in the squad today  is a totally different  subject.

Right now , I would not play him. He is certainly not going to improve. 

Thought he did well against Peru.

Agreed and still think he's got enough class to play as a limited centre back in the A-league. However we get into trouble too often when he is sucked out of position, probably more often than not trying desperately to cover other areas of the field he sees as problem areas in his role as captain. Didn't need to do this in the AW's and looked a much better player as a result.

Bench player on the field, immensely huge person for the club off the field.