Wellington Phoenix Men

Hail ___ the Chief - Giancarlo Italiano

1664 replies · 125,323 views
11 months ago
Procrastinixing
Is his wife from Sydney?  Makes sense I suppose, probably rates Mile more than Chief.  i will wait for the official announcement.  

Was Pierres old account photo of a yellow and black painted house? 


Kosta's wife was a big reason he left in 2017, couldnt adjust to life in Wellington
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/93343545/wellington-phoenix-agree-to-release-star-kosta-barbarouses
that may have changed now though with a kld in tow and Kosta's family being based in Wellington

Queenslander 3x a year.

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Endorsed by Simon B

11 months ago
Two stats that give me the sharkes under Cheif remembering we play with less possession than everyone else.

We have given away the least number of fouls in the comp and last night for example, despite having no possession at 60 mins they had 9 intercept to our 1.

Both stats show a complete lack of intent defensively to win the ball.

Now I'm not a genius, but if you are setting up to play counter attack footy, don't you need to win turn overs??
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Endorsed by AucklandPhoenix, Monto, Southernix, theprof and 1 other

11 months ago
imanixsupporter
Barbarouses to Macarthur? I think this guy might be a troll

I could see it to be honest, played in Sydney for three years and his mate Luke Brattan is their captain who also has a young family.
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Endorsed by Ninja

11 months ago
MetalLegNZ
Two stats that give me the sharkes under Cheif remembering we play with less possession than everyone else.

We have given away the least number of fouls in the comp and last night for example, despite having no possession at 60 mins they had 9 intercept to our 1.

Both stats show a complete lack of intent defensively to win the ball.

Now I'm not a genius, but if you are setting up to play counter attack footy, don't you need to win turn overs??

Not a great stat but I'd would say that I think the amount of second balls we win would be slightly more important in a low block. May be wrong there though. Don't have that stats on those unfortunately.
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11 months ago
Here’s an interesting one. 

What would Corica have done with our squad this season? 

I’ve basically always regarded him as a pantomime villain, from his playing days to the delicious moment when he complained about all the fouls and Joel Griffiths who was interviewing him said ‘yeh, but all the fouls were coming from Sydney FC.’ Him and Alex Brosque! The latter a RoD diver. 

I don’t think he could have achieved such a high energy press, but would he have got us fitter? 

Essentially I’m wondering what would a more experienced and successful coach have done? And how much of AFC’s success is Smith, Pijnaker, Mata, Rogerson, Elliot, Howieson and De Vries and how much is a coach with more experience?

Corica too seems to have cut players loose at times, a l a Chief. Liam Gillion had such a bright start, but has vanished, with the import and Randall, and even Toomey ahead. Is he a disciplinarian? 



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Endorsed by Mainland FC, Simon B

11 months ago
One thing I am heartily sick of hearing from Chiefy is him saying something along the lines of "apart from the goal(s) they scored, their chances weren't really clear cut chances. It was poor defending from us that allowed them to score. Meanwhile, i think we created a few quality chances and had a few moments where we were very close to creating a really good chance, and we just couldn't quite finish them or nail that final pass".

It is always a massive underestimation of the chances the opponents create and a massive overestimation of ours. Nobody ever pushes back against this spin. I wish sometimes the journos/pundits would be a bit less polite and call him out on it. 
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Endorsed by KiwiMancunian, Monto, Ninja, number8 and 3 others

11 months ago
martinb
Here’s an interesting one. 

What would Corica have done with our squad this season? 

I’ve basically always regarded him as a pantomime villain, from his playing days to the delicious moment when he complained about all the fouls and Joel Griffiths who was interviewing him said ‘yeh, but all the fouls were coming from Sydney FC.’ Him and Alex Brosque! The latter a RoD diver. 

I don’t think he could have achieved such a high energy press, but would he have got us fitter? 

Essentially I’m wondering what would a more experienced and successful coach have done? And how much of AFC’s success is Smith, Pijnaker, Mata, Rogerson, Elliot, Howieson and De Vries and how much is a coach with more experience?

Corica too seems to have cut players loose at times, a l a Chief. Liam Gillion had such a bright start, but has vanished, with the import and Randall, and even Toomey ahead. Is he a disciplinarian? 


1. It's on record that according to the compared data the AFC squad have been at EPL fitness levels right from the start ( I.e c.f Bournemouth,  with whom AFC measure themselves against on a fortnightly basis). 
2. If not a disciplinarian, Corica is certainly what I'd call a pragmatist c.f Chiefy, who is what I'd call a theorist if not a dreamer.

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Endorsed by martinb, Monto, reg22, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
Jessie Merino
martinb
Here’s an interesting one. 

What would Corica have done with our squad this season? 

I’ve basically always regarded him as a pantomime villain, from his playing days to the delicious moment when he complained about all the fouls and Joel Griffiths who was interviewing him said ‘yeh, but all the fouls were coming from Sydney FC.’ Him and Alex Brosque! The latter a RoD diver. 

I don’t think he could have achieved such a high energy press, but would he have got us fitter? 

Essentially I’m wondering what would a more experienced and successful coach have done? And how much of AFC’s success is Smith, Pijnaker, Mata, Rogerson, Elliot, Howieson and De Vries and how much is a coach with more experience?

Corica too seems to have cut players loose at times, a l a Chief. Liam Gillion had such a bright start, but has vanished, with the import and Randall, and even Toomey ahead. Is he a disciplinarian? 


1. It's on record that according to the compared data the AFC squad have been at EPL fitness levels right from the start ( I.e c.f Bournemouth,  with whom AFC measure themselves against on a fortnightly basis). 
2. If not a disciplinarian, Corica is certainly what I'd call a pragmatist c.f Chiefy, who is what I'd call a theorist if not a dreamer.

 
So he might have tried to press in the middle with this squad? He’d have cut Retre imo. 


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Endorsed by Southernix, theprof, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
martinb
Jessie Merino
martinb
Here’s an interesting one. 

What would Corica have done with our squad this season? 

I’ve basically always regarded him as a pantomime villain, from his playing days to the delicious moment when he complained about all the fouls and Joel Griffiths who was interviewing him said ‘yeh, but all the fouls were coming from Sydney FC.’ Him and Alex Brosque! The latter a RoD diver. 

I don’t think he could have achieved such a high energy press, but would he have got us fitter? 

Essentially I’m wondering what would a more experienced and successful coach have done? And how much of AFC’s success is Smith, Pijnaker, Mata, Rogerson, Elliot, Howieson and De Vries and how much is a coach with more experience?

Corica too seems to have cut players loose at times, a l a Chief. Liam Gillion had such a bright start, but has vanished, with the import and Randall, and even Toomey ahead. Is he a disciplinarian? 


1. It's on record that according to the compared data the AFC squad have been at EPL fitness levels right from the start ( I.e c.f Bournemouth,  with whom AFC measure themselves against on a fortnightly basis). 
2. If not a disciplinarian, Corica is certainly what I'd call a pragmatist c.f Chiefy, who is what I'd call a theorist if not a dreamer.

 
So he might have tried to press in the middle with this squad? He’d have cut Retre imo. 

They didn't delay in getting rid of Champness. Found out as a lazy trainer?
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Endorsed by martinb

11 months ago
Jessie Merino
martinb
Jessie Merino
martinb
Here’s an interesting one. 

What would Corica have done with our squad this season? 

I’ve basically always regarded him as a pantomime villain, from his playing days to the delicious moment when he complained about all the fouls and Joel Griffiths who was interviewing him said ‘yeh, but all the fouls were coming from Sydney FC.’ Him and Alex Brosque! The latter a RoD diver. 

I don’t think he could have achieved such a high energy press, but would he have got us fitter? 

Essentially I’m wondering what would a more experienced and successful coach have done? And how much of AFC’s success is Smith, Pijnaker, Mata, Rogerson, Elliot, Howieson and De Vries and how much is a coach with more experience?

Corica too seems to have cut players loose at times, a l a Chief. Liam Gillion had such a bright start, but has vanished, with the import and Randall, and even Toomey ahead. Is he a disciplinarian? 


1. It's on record that according to the compared data the AFC squad have been at EPL fitness levels right from the start ( I.e c.f Bournemouth,  with whom AFC measure themselves against on a fortnightly basis). 
2. If not a disciplinarian, Corica is certainly what I'd call a pragmatist c.f Chiefy, who is what I'd call a theorist if not a dreamer.

 
So he might have tried to press in the middle with this squad? He’d have cut Retre imo. 

They didn't delay in getting rid of Champness. Found out as a lazy trainer?

With his record I wondered why they got him in at all. I think there could be any number of reasons with him. I feel he’s what they call over here ‘my pace’ ie not a team player. 

If we lose Kosta we are stuffed I reckon. I can’t believe rumours he’d go to no fans FC though. Or I don’t wanna.


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Endorsed by Monto, Southernix, theprof, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
If Kosta leaves I cant see why he'd go to the bulls, it'd be leaving a terrible team in his home town where he is loved to a shark team in a dump of a town where noone cares enough to follow the team.

Can't see him leaving and would be super disappointed if he did, after coming here with the plan to win somehting for the club.

Queenslander 3x a year.

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Endorsed by ballane, kwlap, Procrastinixing

11 months ago
Gillion is the obvious example of Corica letting players know they're not delivering. But there's also the interesting case of Finn McKenley, who Coochiee seemed to rate highly. Given his one chance then dumped, hardly ever seen again even on the pine. 
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11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History
Macarthur has a lawsuit against the FA currently talking about how they were misled about what the payments would be from the TV distribution, part of that lawsuit is that they are cash strapped and have millions in loans. 

If I was Kosta I would be avoiding them.
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Endorsed by Mainland FC, Southernix, theprof, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
We also wondered why Wootton and Sutton would consider going to Perth, but here we are.

Gill said the window to talk to Kosta about staying was going to open soon, so does that mean another A-League team could not speak to him before then?  Gill didn't give any impression that Kosta would be leaving but and seemed optimistic.

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Endorsed by brookem, KiwiMancunian, Monto, theprof and 1 other

11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History
The worst thing about Chiefy this season is that he's been arrogant without the results to back it up.

Like I said, we've seen this shark happen before and I'd be absolutely shocked if Kosta stays with us. His body language in the last game was very 'fudge all of these idiots'

Great players generally don't want to stick around with a team of below average imports and kids who barely have their footing in the league, with a manager who lost the dressing room several times over

a.haak

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Endorsed by Monto, Ninja, number8, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
Jessie Merino
Gillion is the obvious example of Corica letting players know they're not delivering. But there's also the interesting case of Finn McKenley, who Coochiee seemed to rate highly. Given his one chance then dumped, hardly ever seen again even on the pine. 

gillion was always going to drop out of the starting team when the late arriving imports settled 

selections in any team will always fluctuate. but i have no doubt that corica is a hard nut. he's had so much professional experience and has played with some incredibly hard nosed players and coaches.

there's no doubt in my mind that corica would make much more of our squad than our coach has. there's also no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have quite a few of them in the squad to begin with 

360footballnews.com

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Endorsed by Ninja

11 months ago
Ryan
Macarthur has a lawsuit against the FA currently talking about how they were misled about what the payments would be from the TV distribution, part of that lawsuit is that they are cash scrapped and have millions in loans. 

If I was Kosta I would be avoiding them.

thanks for this info. i was wondering what the story at macarthur was. i was wondering, since they have lost so many top earners from their squad over the past 2 years, whether they might actually have some spare budget. obviously not!

360footballnews.com

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11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History
MetalLegNZ
Two stats that give me the sharkes under Cheif remembering we play with less possession than everyone else.

We have given away the least number of fouls in the comp and last night for example, despite having no possession at 60 mins they had 9 intercept to our 1.

Both stats show a complete lack of intent defensively to win the ball.

Now I'm not a genius, but if you are setting up to play counter attack footy, don't you need to win turn overs??
either you or I have remembered that incorrectly, but I'm sure the interception stat was in our favour

Yeah, we lead the interception stat
https://www.fotmob.com/matches/brisbane-roar-fc-vs-wellington-phoenix/1qg7aqi#4587774:tab=stats
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Endorsed by martinb, Southernix, Wibblebutt

11 months ago
reg22
Jessie Merino
Gillion is the obvious example of Corica letting players know they're not delivering. But there's also the interesting case of Finn McKenley, who Coochiee seemed to rate highly. Given his one chance then dumped, hardly ever seen again even on the pine. 

gillion was always going to drop out of the starting team when the late arriving imports settled 

selections in any team will always fluctuate. but i have no doubt that corica is a hard nut. he's had so much professional experience and has played with some incredibly hard nosed players and coaches.

there's no doubt in my mind that corica would make much more of our squad than our coach has. there's also no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have quite a few of them in the squad to begin with 

Coirca is known to be very bad at playing youth from his Sydney days the amount of talent they had during his tenure that moved on and developed elsewhere is pretty incredible and looks to be the same at Auckland.
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Endorsed by Bullion

11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History
wilbaker
reg22
Jessie Merino
Gillion is the obvious example of Corica letting players know they're not delivering. But there's also the interesting case of Finn McKenley, who Coochiee seemed to rate highly. Given his one chance then dumped, hardly ever seen again even on the pine. 

gillion was always going to drop out of the starting team when the late arriving imports settled 

selections in any team will always fluctuate. but i have no doubt that corica is a hard nut. he's had so much professional experience and has played with some incredibly hard nosed players and coaches.

there's no doubt in my mind that corica would make much more of our squad than our coach has. there's also no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have quite a few of them in the squad to begin with 

Coirca is known to be very bad at playing youth from his Sydney days the amount of talent they had during his tenure that moved on and developed elsewhere is pretty incredible and looks to be the same at Auckland.
tbf Akl have yet to properly  setup a youth system for Corica to overlook
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Endorsed by Monto, Southernix, theprof

11 months ago
Gillion was also shark. Which probably made Coricas decision pretty easy.
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11 months ago
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
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Endorsed by WanderingSheep

11 months ago
Nommag
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
with your crystal ball can you tell me the lotto numbers for next week
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Endorsed by anaveragestem, Doloras

11 months ago
Bullion
Nommag
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
with your crystal ball can you tell me the lotto numbers for next week
I think I've used all the ball magic up now 😬
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11 months ago
So when you say clean house are you wanting them to cancel contracts and  to pay out those who are contracted for next year and beyond.
Stand to be corrected but if they do that dosnt it get added to the salary cap which from some early reports sounds like it may be reduced.
Sounds good in theory but the practicalities of it dont stack up. Thats before we even start to try and recruit replacements which has proven in the past to be challenging. Not as if we are an attractive destination at the moment for some i would think. 

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

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Endorsed by anaveragestem, Bullion, coochiee, Mainland FC and 5 others

11 months ago · edited 11 months ago · History
I pretty much mean new manager and maybe even GM. The loser/underdog mentality is getting old. Dunno if you have read the rumors, we are having a player clean out. Whether we want to or not.
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Endorsed by LT01, Monto, Nixieboys222

11 months ago
Nommag
Bullion
Nommag
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
with your crystal ball can you tell me the lotto numbers for next week
I think I've used all the ball magic up now 😬
what did you use it on? Afc?
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11 months ago
Nommag
I pretty much mean new manager and maybe even GM. The loser/underdog mentality is getting old. Dunno if you have read the rumors, we are having a player clean out. Whether we want to or not.
Will wait till things are confirmed you would be a basket case if you listened to all the shark posted by those "with inside information"

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

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Endorsed by anaveragestem, Bullion, WanderingSheep

11 months ago
ballane
Nommag
I pretty much mean new manager and maybe even GM. The loser/underdog mentality is getting old. Dunno if you have read the rumors, we are having a player clean out. Whether we want to or not.
Will wait till things are confirmed you would be a basket case if you listened to all the shark posted by those "with inside information"
 don't dismiss my sensationalised panic with logic and reason.
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Endorsed by ballane, Jazzy Jeff, Simon B, Southernix and 1 other

11 months ago
Nommag
I pretty much mean new manager and maybe even GM. The loser/underdog mentality is getting old. Dunno if you have read the rumors, we are having a player clean out. Whether we want to or not.
there are 7 players with contracts expiring or not confirmed for next season: Kosta,Chico,Sutts, Wooton,Boon,Piper, and Cola. 

Any other players will require mutual terminations or payouts which count towards the cap.
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11 months ago
Nommag
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
I like the idea because I like drama. It brings more interest to the game if there is some chatter in the media. No way it will happen though.

Buuuut weren't you one of the guys having a massive whinge about Chief's comments before the second Auckland game? That is exactly the same vibe as what you're proposing. You just know if the club did this and it failed what people on here would be saying 🤣
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Endorsed by LT01, Nelfoos

11 months ago
anaveragestem
Nommag
Imagine if the club cleaned house and said they were gonna rebuild to destroy Auckland, really marketed it. Get the fans and the hunger back, send a message being the shark NZ side isn't good enough. If we are competitive the crowds would return and lots of people would join in because of the Auckland hype. The club would probably turn some good coin. But alas, we get served another season of poo on a plate and a focus on maybe nicking sixth place and developing youth.

When the stadium is empty next season because no one wants to watch AFC violate the nix again and their wallets are empty, it might trigger some brainwaves and we might get a new manager.
I like the idea because I like drama. It brings more interest to the game if there is some chatter in the media. No way it will happen though.

Buuuut weren't you one of the guys having a massive whinge about Chief's comments before the second Auckland game? That is exactly the same vibe as what you're proposing. You just know if the club did this and it failed what people on here would be saying 🤣
I don't remember the comments, but as someone who endured the 2nd game live in the away bay, I stand by them.
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Endorsed by valeo

11 months ago
To be honest, pretty depressing and embarrassing watching AFC kick arse in all areas and we haven’t been able to do that over our history. 
Fact is we haven’t been doing things right.

Founder

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Endorsed by anaveragestem, AucklandPhoenix, ballane, Football Ted and 6 others

11 months ago
I’m sure Dome has a permanent contract.

Performance managed? 

Auckland will rise once more

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Endorsed by austin111

11 months ago
Feverish
To be honest, pretty depressing and embarrassing watching AFC kick arse in all areas and we haven’t been able to do that over our history. 
Fact is we haven’t been doing things right.

It was a rough watch. If it had of taken them a few seasons, it would been less harsh. But they made it look so easy, and did it at the first time of asking and we have made it look like a manned mission to mars.
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Endorsed by Feverish, LT01

11 months ago
If we won last year no one would care

But we fumbled and here we are

a.haak

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Endorsed by WanderingSheep

11 months ago
Nommag
Feverish
To be honest, pretty depressing and embarrassing watching AFC kick arse in all areas and we haven’t been able to do that over our history. 
Fact is we haven’t been doing things right.

It was a rough watch. If it had of taken them a few seasons, it would been less harsh. But they made it look so easy, and did it at the first time of asking and we have made it look like a manned mission to mars.
but history shows teams doing well in their first season or two with the extra cap space and ability to recruit from scratch with that cap space in their planning. It likely becomes harder later on.
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Endorsed by coochiee, Half a Pint, mjp2, Southernix

11 months ago
also wouldn't hurt as much if we believed we had a realistic chance of winning it anytime soon. I think the chances are higher that the league is dissolved before we win it than us winning it before it does, quite frankly.
valeo
If we won last year no one would care

But we fumbled and here we are
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11 months ago
Long-time reader, infrequent poster. Honestly think they needed to cut Italiano loose - the vibe around the club is very negative and some sort of possibility for change would add a bit of intrigue, and frankly, a reason for people to renew season tickets. It might not work - Kalezic stank up the joint - but we were all intrigued when he arrived, and I think the club really needs something at the moment to keep people interested.

The cricket equivalent of changing the bowler because the opponents are 400/2 and you really need something to happen.
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Endorsed by Feverish, LT01, Monto, mykey and 5 others

11 months ago
clowns
Long-time reader, infrequent poster. Honestly think they needed to cut Italiano loose - the vibe around the club is very negative and some sort of possibility for change would add a bit of intrigue, and frankly, a reason for people to renew season tickets. It might not work - Kalezic stank up the joint - but we were all intrigued when he arrived, and I think the club really needs something at the moment to keep people interested.

The cricket equivalent of changing the bowler because the opponents are 400/2 and you really need something to happen.

I agree big time. Feels like we’re at an all time low in all aspects of the club. Even little things like social media content is bang average, didn’t hear much from management all season, game day experience is as bland as usual. Doesn’t help that AFC are showing us up in all
Aspects. 

Chiefy recruited this squad, including 4 imports and completely fluffed it. But full of excuses and needs more time etc etc. is a season not long enough to show some improvement?? 

A new start with a new manager would have been a good way to draw a line under this season and show some ambition. 

However we will keep supporting and the pressure is now already on for first rounds of next season and if it’s not a good start it will be interesting times! 
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Endorsed by LT01, Monto, Ninja, WanderingSheep

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