Darije Kalezić: We hardly knew ye.

Not sure if this should be in the chants thread or here but going by the latest news article....

"We've got the best playing surface in the league, We've got the best playing surface in the league. We've got the best playing surface in the league......."

That has to be a positive. And rightly so, it has been a good surface for the most part despite the hiding it gets from Rugby they day before our games usually. Well done Grounds Persons!!

Probably got the pity vote

Des off to Stoke City U23 's

Greenie staying on as an Assistant

New GK coach to be announced soon

I'm aiming to be able to pronounce the coach's name correctly by Christmas.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/94...

Seems he has good excuses for failure anyway, also seems like he has the sort of frankness that the club needs. Despite his reputation Merrick was very diplomatic and probably too nice a guy for the role. 

So we've been overspending as a club? crumbs

I think Merrick's main failing was he wasn't a very good coach

I hope one day I'm a bad enough coach to win the A-League multiple times

Merrick certainly wasn't a bad coach - I'm of the opinion that Wellington is the toughest job in the A-League; though Ernie certainly has his failings, I don't think it was all his fault.

I'm a little worried about his track record. I can accept that you might have one really bad experience with an employer and get shown the door or you resign and at a pinch maybe unlucky enough to have it happen again but more than that I can't help thinking that some of the blame might lie with the person getting the axe.

Of course there are a lot of variables in this -  the type of industry you are in, the level of what you are prepared to accept from your employer etc. But Welnix haven't actually shown themselves to be fantastic employers have they? so will he get pissed off with them or vice versa and we are on the look out for a coach again? 

Ernie seemed to have lost the dressing room, and had signed players to play a specific formation and tactic that, except for half a season with Burns on fire, simply didn't work. He basically put all his eggs in one basket and when the bottom fell out of that it was smashed eggs everywhere. I think you can totally blame him for a lot of that - there is no excuse for a recruitment strategy which left us with Lia, A-Rod, WeeMac, Finkler, and Roly - all central midfielders of some kind and all either highly paid or imports or both. That's 5 players trying to fit into at most 4 positions (and only if you play the hard-to-pull-off 4-4-2 diamond or box midfields and cede any attacking width). Meanwhile we had no quality traditional number 9 and no genuine backup for either fullback position.

So Kalezic used to play for Velez. This should be the new pre-season training routine then.

It really isn't surprising that we never really looked like a cohesive team consistently in the last couple of seasons - quite simply, we weren't. We had talent on paper but no way of making it work together.

I hope Kalezic is  very good coach. Or things may get very messy. Considering his record he seems to have quite a high opinion of himself. He and Hudson should get along.

Well he has at least achieved things with his career

Doesn't matter how good a coach he is if he can't get the cattle (and get a mix of players that will work). To that point:

1.  His assistant coach choice is, unquestionably, as good as we could expect, and says something about the guy himself.  He's good enough and respected enough to bring a very good No2 with him.

2.  His first new player recruitment is at least pretty good, in a position that's mostly been a problem area and which hasn't been an exactly easy position to find good Aus/kiwi's for.  He's managed to find a decent non-visa player and kept the two import spots free, so that's a very decent piece of work. Partly that comes from 1, above, but you make good first choices and you can get on a roll.  

3.  Retention of Italiano as our No1 keeper is not great, but not bad either. 

So far, in my book, he's ahead of the game. 

I'm just keen to see what his two import signings are like, and the rest of the squad and coaching staff.  Then we'll start to get a feel for what he may be capable of. 

Goalkeepers: 1 – Vedran Janjetovic 20 – Danny Vukovic    - See the form keeper is not always #1

I think its fair to say that Italiano >>>> Sail and I don't see Sail ever being good enough myself.

Phoenix sign Australia U-17s and U-20s goalkeeping coach

Wellington Phoenix are delighted to announce that former Centre of Excellence, Australia U-20s, U-17s and Brisbane Roar goalkeeping coach Fernando vaz Alves has joined the club on a two-year contract.

During his time with Australian age-group national teams vaz Alves has worked with many of the region’s most talented goalkeepers, helping players such as Mat Ryan, Mitchell Langerak, Mark Birighitti develop into national team players and earn overseas contracts.

For Phoenix General Manager David Dome vaz Alves’ proven track record developing young talent was a key feature.

“Once we had drawn up a shortlist, Fernando was the standout candidate” said Dome, “especially with his record, not just for eight years in the A-League, but also for over a decade in two spells with the CoE

and AIS bringing through Australasia’s best young ‘keepers.”

“His passion, hunger for success, and clear footballing vision resonated well with Darije and Rado, so it was a no-brainer in the end.”

For the Angolan-born, Portugal-raised vaz Alves, it’s a welcome opportunity to get back to coaching week-in, week-out at club level.

“I’m very happy to arrive in Wellington, it’s been a very easy transition with Shaun [Gill, Football Operations Manager] welcoming me perfectly” said vaz Alves.

“When Rado spoke to me about the vision of the club, the potential of the team this year, and the possibility of putting in place a long-term development program, I was very excited.”

“I am passionate about developing young goalkeepers and I’ve already started talking to Paul Gothard [All Whites Goalkeeping Coach] about long-term possibilities in New Zealand.”

“We have two promising ‘keepers at the club, and I look forward to bringing in a third good young player. It’s exciting to work with players that aren’t yet established or closed in their thinking. From my sessions so far with Lewis [Italiano] and Oli [Sail] they are very receptive – I can see clearly [they have] good potential.”

Vaz Alves commenced work this week with discussions to sign the third goalkeeper in process

Kalezic's support staff roster is shaping up nicely

So, does he have two assistants: Vidosic and Greenacre?

Doesn't sound like Greenacre is an assistant. Might be a video analysis + other job?

Interesting that he says that he wants to bring in a 3rd young goalkeeper.

Highly likely's a bit of a stretch. It's incredibly rare both your primaryand secondary keeper get injured. It's definitely worth having a 3rd, but you'd be pressed to point out where the 3rd has been required (frequently) from well known teams.

didn't we have the issue a couple of seasons ago when they got Jacob Spoonley in on loan from Auckland City for a couple of games

usually youth right? sits on the bench at weenix games or has a half each...

(forgets how to quote Boxy!)

Shame our rivers are too full of cows**t to do that ...

We had a great squad on paper too remember

We had good players, but a really unbalanced squad. In my opinion.

Fairly hefty demotion if that's the case. Greenie is obviously a top bloke to still be involved.