Hail ___ the Chief - Giancarlo Italiano

Who takes over next season when the wheels have completely fall off?

As things stand they are held on with one bolt each with the nut almost off…

BTW I don’t see this as all Chiefys fault. He’s only the mechanic and can only work with the tools at his disposal.

Who takes over next season when the wheels have completely fall off?

As things stand they are held on with one bolt each with the nut almost off…

BTW I don’t see this as all Chiefys fault. He’s only the mechanic and can only work with the tools at his disposal.

It is mostly his fault. He signed Retre and the Japanese boys. He callously disposed of Ball, OVH and al-Taay (who he also signed) when we could have really used them. He made the call the build the team (in his own words) around a player who had not played regularly in quite some time in Rojas. He stubbornly stuck with the same gameplan (and said he was doing so himself) for months when nothing was working instead of trying different things. 

Maybe he wasn't given the tools to win a title, but he absolutely was given enough resources to have a far better season than we did. 

reg22

LG

There is not any tension as such at the practices. The Chiefy tells them what to do and they do it. It's just at practices, they do it 100 times better than on match days.

good to hear mate! do the coaching staff talk?

Yes they do. They all have input. Chiefy has a style he really wants to see work. It does at practices and it's quick as hell. So when I see the stuff on match days, I am often left wondering "Where the F--k did that come from?" (Like, everyone else) and it's very frustrating.

LG

reg22

LG

There is not any tension as such at the practices. The Chiefy tells them what to do and they do it. It's just at practices, they do it 100 times better than on match days.

good to hear mate! do the coaching staff talk?

Yes they do. They all have input. Chiefy has a style he really wants to see work. It does at practices and it's quick as hell. So when I see the stuff on match days, I am often left wondering "Where the F--k did that come from?" (Like, everyone else) and it's very frustrating.

But who are the playing against in training? Shadows?

LG

reg22

LG

There is not any tension as such at the practices. The Chiefy tells them what to do and they do it. It's just at practices, they do it 100 times better than on match days.

good to hear mate! do the coaching staff talk?

Yes they do. They all have input. Chiefy has a style he really wants to see work. It does at practices and it's quick as hell. So when I see the stuff on match days, I am often left wondering "Where the F--k did that come from?" (Like, everyone else) and it's very frustrating.

good to hear mate. cheers

Marto

LG

reg22

LG

There is not any tension as such at the practices. The Chiefy tells them what to do and they do it. It's just at practices, they do it 100 times better than on match days.

good to hear mate! do the coaching staff talk?

Yes they do. They all have input. Chiefy has a style he really wants to see work. It does at practices and it's quick as hell. So when I see the stuff on match days, I am often left wondering "Where the F--k did that come from?" (Like, everyone else) and it's very frustrating.

But who are the playing against in training? Shadows?

No they are divided up evenly defence, midfield, attack. And play against each other.

LG

Marto

LG

reg22

LG

There is not any tension as such at the practices. The Chiefy tells them what to do and they do it. It's just at practices, they do it 100 times better than on match days.

good to hear mate! do the coaching staff talk?

Yes they do. They all have input. Chiefy has a style he really wants to see work. It does at practices and it's quick as hell. So when I see the stuff on match days, I am often left wondering "Where the F--k did that come from?" (Like, everyone else) and it's very frustrating.

But who are the playing against in training? Shadows?

No they are divided up evenly defence, midfield, attack. And play against each other.

when we have more first xi players available it will also help with the quality at training

imanixsupporter

It is mostly his fault. He signed Retre and the Japanese boys. He callously disposed of Ball, OVH and al-Taay (who he also signed) when we could have really used them. He made the call the build the team (in his own words) around a player who had not played regularly in quite some time in Rojas. He stubbornly stuck with the same gameplan (and said he was doing so himself) for months when nothing was working instead of trying different things. 

Maybe he wasn't given the tools to win a title, but he absolutely was given enough resources to have a far better season than we did. 

To clarify, Chiefy did not "callously dispose of Al-Taay".  He did not play Al-Taay, which was surprising. Al-Taay asked to be released for family reasons, and went on to sign with WSW where he came from, with everyone's (seemingly) blessing.

Mainland FC

imanixsupporter

It is mostly his fault. He signed Retre and the Japanese boys. He callously disposed of Ball, OVH and al-Taay (who he also signed) when we could have really used them. He made the call the build the team (in his own words) around a player who had not played regularly in quite some time in Rojas. He stubbornly stuck with the same gameplan (and said he was doing so himself) for months when nothing was working instead of trying different things. 

Maybe he wasn't given the tools to win a title, but he absolutely was given enough resources to have a far better season than we did. 

To clarify, Chiefy did not "callously dispose of Al-Taay".  He did not play Al-Taay, which was surprising. Al-Taay asked to be released for family reasons, and went on to sign with WSW where he came from, with everyone's (seemingly) blessing.

That may well be true, but had the player been given as many minutes as he wanted and probably warranted would he have become "home sick". Not necessarily callous but totally down to the manager and not being played. There may well have been other advantages for leaving such as being close to the family etc but if that was the sole driver he would never have come in the first place.

Sorry, Al Taay hardly ever produced performances demanding he start every game, in my opinion.

When Rufer fell ill he would have been a better option than LKH or Sheridan for mine, I reckon he offered mre than Retre.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

Sorry, Al Taay hardly ever produced performances demanding he start every game, in my opinion.

Should that read this year? 
Definitely was what we were short of though- a plan B or C with fitness and professional experience in his position. 
A rotation or impact player who could be trusted. Well, that was definitely what he was first season. 
It’s probably not our business why he returned to Sydney, but he wasn’t the same player second season for whatever reason.

on the pod, Gill basically said a few more of the men's coaching staff will be leaving/have left (beyond those already confirmed), and the process to replace them basically hasn't started yet. will be interesting to see who the new assistants will be in due course

I know their are plenty on this forum who dont want to follow anything that AFC have been doing but for me there are two examples that we could follow. 1, physical conditioning. Smith said their preseason training was tougher than at any other club in his long career. Reports had them at EPL levels. 2, mental conditioning. Quite a few of the imports said they had never experianced AFC levels if mental coaching. 
IMO the Nix had problems mentally with the derbys. They actually dropped considerable number of points after each derby loss. 
Getting super fit and mentally in the right place are two quite easy ways to start the season on the front foot.

https://aleagues.com.au/news/auckland-fc-melbourne-victory-aleague-semi-finals-tickets-information/

The coach in question is Hamish Barton, a Mental Performance Coach who has seemingly become a key component of the Black Knights football department throughout the course of the season.

“I think it’s a little bit of the regular season is done and now, everything is ‘we haven’t got any points,’ said Pijnaker when asked what the focus of the recent sessions has been following the victorious end to the campaign.

“Everyone’s at zero now. So it’s kind of resetting and going again for these games. So yeah, everyone’s really switched on.

He went on to say: “(It’s) mainly team (sessions) so that we’re all on the same page (of) what we can expect and yeah, we’re really looking forward to the games.”

One player who is certainly a fan of the club’s decision to deploy a mindset coach is Belgian midfielder Louis Verstraete.

Recruited from Belgian side Beveren, Verstraete has proven himself to be one of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s best midfielders in season 2024-25 and says it’s been refreshing to work on an aspect of his game that doesn’t involve a ball at his feet.

“I don’t think we work much on our mental strength,” said the 26-year-old when asked about the role Barton plays within the group.

“At this club, we have a mental coach. We do it a bit more often than in my previous teams. So this always helps to reflect and to to let go of the highs when we want it, and then to come back to neutral and work again.

“So it has been beneficial for me as well.”

“It’s to go there and do our job as normal, to approach the game as normal and to win if we can.

Our conditioning (physical) was way off what is was last season when we played the high press, absorb attacks and hit fast on the counter. No idea or comments about what changed.

I keep going on about the mental factor and how I think it's historically been lacking at the Nix

Doloras

I keep going on about the mental factor and how I think it's historically been lacking at the Nix

Yes, we peaked in mental "fitness" when we had Siggie, Manny and Tim Brown.
In addition, I would say it is hard to instill mental loughness if the team is being structured around young players being ripened up for a quick sale season in, season out. And if a young player is also mentally tough already, you would probably want to keep them, not onsell them.   

Mainland FC

Doloras

I keep going on about the mental factor and how I think it's historically been lacking at the Nix

Yes, we peaked in mental "fitness" when we had Siggie, Manny and Tim Brown.
In addition, I would say it is hard to instill mental loughness if the team is being structured around young players being ripened up for a quick sale season in, season out. And if a young player is also mentally tough already, you would probably want to keep them, not onsell them.   

It’s also a big ask of the young lads to pick themselves up after those brutal derby defeats and keep a “winning mindset” (ugh, forgive the management speak). Speaking from experience (doctor, I have this friend…) it takes many years of humiliating fudge-ups before you learn not to give a damn.

Interesting though that this isn’t a new thing with the club. Can anyone with more historical perspective than me speculate why?

theprof

Our conditioning (physical) was way off what is was last season when we played the high press, absorb attacks and hit fast on the counter. No idea or comments about what changed.

Injuries is fairly obvious answer

Doloras

I keep going on about the mental factor and how I think it's historically been lacking at the Nix

The club does use a performance psychologist - Hughes talked about it after he had a bad run where slips and errors resulted in conceding crucial early goals. There is probably a difference between players in their first few seasons of senior football and more experienced players (of which Akl is entirely made up of). Quite a lot of the "young" players to have break out seasons in the league (Botic, Milanovic, Velupillay, Eli Adams) are like 23-24, LBS can play another 7 to 8  seasons to reach that age.

Bullion

theprof

Our conditioning (physical) was way off what is was last season when we played the high press, absorb attacks and hit fast on the counter. No idea or comments about what changed.

Injuries is fairly obvious answer

According to Gilly we were more injury affected in our premiership challenging season.

I think it’s the obvious. Physical prime iirc is around 27. We had fewer players close to their prime. We had a hollow squad and we failed to plan for injuries to key players. We weren’t covered for Rufer. 
I think we also weren’t really covered for a big injury to Kosta or Wootton or Payne and we were lucky they were in relatively good nick. 

martinb

Bullion

theprof

Our conditioning (physical) was way off what is was last season when we played the high press, absorb attacks and hit fast on the counter. No idea or comments about what changed.

Injuries is fairly obvious answer

According to Gilly we were more injury affected in our premiership challenging season.

I think it’s the obvious. Physical prime iirc is around 27. We had fewer players close to their prime. We had a hollow squad and we failed to plan for injuries to key players. We weren’t covered for Rufer. 
I think we also weren’t really covered for a big injury to Kosta or Wootton or Payne and we were lucky they were in relatively good nick. 

Gill will have a better sense of it, but data from transfermarkt and checking against wikipedia this season a combined 95 games were missed due to injuries/illness compared to 47 last season (which we played 3 more games). Zawada accounted for 31.9% of games missed (15 in total) compared with Cola 22.1% of games missed (21 in total) were the two most in each season. 
12 players last season made an appearance in at least 80% of the games, only 8 this season. Increase that to 90% and the figure doubles from 4 players this season to 8 last season. 
We also used more players this season, with median appearance being 15 games (53.6% of games) this season compared with 20.5 games (66.1% of games) last season.

I should have check whether he was talking about the number of injuries. Or the numbers of games missed through injury. Either figures might not include Rufer's illness either.

Oh my gosh I’m out of my depth with stats. I think he said minutes missed?

Edit:

We also used more players this season, with median appearance being 15 games (53.6% of games) this season compared with 20.5 games (66.1% of games) last season.

I think this is an important point. The question is though, does it show injuries or Chief’s tinkering or a bit of both? For whatever reason it shows a squad that couldn’t do what was asked of it.

Bullion

theprof

Our conditioning (physical) was way off what is was last season when we played the high press, absorb attacks and hit fast on the counter. No idea or comments about what changed.

Injuries is fairly obvious answer

The other question about this is chicken or egg- was a disrupted preseason and players joining late causing poor conditioning and more injuries? 
Or did we get contact injuries and bad luck injuries which meant we weren’t as fit as a unit? 

And again I’d mention as Gilly did, the lack of blokes in their mid 20s, who are generally fitter. Iirc OVH and Mo were usually near the top half on speed and fitness.

I believe with the Budget, Coach, Management with goal for aiming in the top six we never able to win anything. Even with all the lucky stars aligned, like last year, we are 2nd best. I wish the club would totally reset. With guys who strive for excellence AND are actually able to do it.

I've seen people above talk about how the Nix have been mentally weak for a decade or more.

I really can't agree with that statement

The way the club played through COVID while being isolated in Wollongong shows how strong mentally they were only a couple of seasons ago.

I do think the club itself lacks a winning mentality, maybe not the gaffer and players, but certainly the ownership/admin side.

Marto

I've seen people above talk about how the Nix have been mentally weak for a decade or more.

I really can't agree with that statement

The way the club played through COVID while being isolated in Wollongong shows how strong mentally they were only a couple of seasons ago.

I do think the club itself lacks a winning mentality, maybe not the gaffer and players, but certainly the ownership/admin side.

With the sole aim of making the top 6 every season, one has to wonder what the Board really want to achieve. Personally, I'd be pissed off if my team did not try and be number 1 every season. Scoring more goals than the opponents in every game. Think positive and reach for the stars. Anything less and it is not professional enough. Fans might not pay for the seasonal budget but if you want fan support and attendance, you have to show your intent and aim for number 1. Fans don't want "Also rans".

number8

I believe with the Budget, Coach, Management with goal for aiming in the top six we never able to win anything. Even with all the lucky stars aligned, like last year, we are 2nd best. I wish the club would totally reset. With guys who strive for excellence AND are actually able to do it.

do you listen to the pod? Dome said the 6 is the minimum and we aim for home semi finals, he also said we spend to the new cap already (the new cap is higher than the old cap)

You have actually quoted him well.

Never did he talk about winning the bloody thing. 

Ryan

number8

I believe with the Budget, Coach, Management with goal for aiming in the top six we never able to win anything. Even with all the lucky stars aligned, like last year, we are 2nd best. I wish the club would totally reset. With guys who strive for excellence AND are actually able to do it.

do you listen to the pod? Dome said the 6 is the minimum and we aim for home semi finals, he also said we spend to the new cap already (the new cap is higher than the old cap)

See, my aim is to win the A-League premiership and championship…

nufc_nz

Ryan

number8

I believe with the Budget, Coach, Management with goal for aiming in the top six we never able to win anything. Even with all the lucky stars aligned, like last year, we are 2nd best. I wish the club would totally reset. With guys who strive for excellence AND are actually able to do it.

do you listen to the pod? Dome said the 6 is the minimum and we aim for home semi finals, he also said we spend to the new cap already (the new cap is higher than the old cap)

See, my aim is to win the A-League premiership and championship…

Excellent! What position do you play? 

(Sorry, weak joke. Kinda bored. Think I’m missing kick off and first half…dammit)

martinb

nufc_nz

Ryan

number8

I believe with the Budget, Coach, Management with goal for aiming in the top six we never able to win anything. Even with all the lucky stars aligned, like last year, we are 2nd best. I wish the club would totally reset. With guys who strive for excellence AND are actually able to do it.

do you listen to the pod? Dome said the 6 is the minimum and we aim for home semi finals, he also said we spend to the new cap already (the new cap is higher than the old cap)

See, my aim is to win the A-League premiership and championship…

Excellent! What position do you play? 

(Sorry, weak joke. Kinda bored. Think I’m missing kick off and first half…dammit)

Off-topic sorry but you reminded me of another joke with the same punchline (possibly from a John Steinbeck novel, but I can't remember where I read that):

Two guys are at a bar and one of them is going on about how much he detests Green Bay, Wisconsin. "The only things to come out of Green Bay are the Packers and ugly hookers" he growls.

"Heyyy", says the other guy, "my wife's from Green Bay!"

"Oh yeah? What position does she play?"

No one said they're not aiming to win the thing, they've just said that 6 is the minimum they aim for and they expect to be top four or top two in the regular season so that they can get the best run for the finals.

But, way to move the goalposts, the discussion was that we aim for top 6 which Dome has said is incorrect, and that we don't spend enough which was also said as incorrect. Hard to have a discussion with people who are disingenuous. 

Yeh that was the impression I got- no finals and there better be some quick talking or someone is losing their job.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/football/wellington-phoenix/wellington-phoenix-giancarlo-italiano-reflects-on-tough-season-lost-myself/URM27HBW2VFJJG6PTWWJ3CUQXA/

Ryan

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/football/wellington-phoenix/wellington-phoenix-giancarlo-italiano-reflects-on-tough-season-lost-myself/URM27HBW2VFJJG6PTWWJ3CUQXA/

Not sure I quite agree with him on the whole what is a success and failure, but plenty of good things said there, so fingers crossed it manifests itself into reality.

Interesting that he admits in it that he probably lost the dressing room by the end of last season.

Seems like he's really put a lot of time into reflecting and tried to use it as a learning experience.

Hopefully we can see some positive results from that this season