Victory had 20 shots, with 5 on target against the Phoenix at AAMI Park.
But so many of those shots were from long range of controlled positions. Alex Paulsen looked comfortable throughout the Semi-Final first leg. pic.twitter.com/LylMslkfUd
almost 2 years ago· edited almost 2 years ago· History
Chief the Mammone. Actually I think his mum is Peruvian & his dad Italian.
Probably the only ALM head coach living with his mum! I'm sure she cooks a mean lomo saltado my favourite Peruvian dish. Certainly helps with Domey's angle the Nix are a real family club
Nice yarn. Hopefully the Nix do it easily for Luisa's nerves! I'm sure she forgave her little boy Giancarlo being at work Día de la Madre, last Sunday.
Is anyone else concerned that the guy who is in charge of our set piece defending (which has been woeful of late) is now in charge of everything?
Also, he has never held a head coach role in his life.
Mid to bottom table here we come.
Yeh, well if you are the set piece coach and the head coach has two midget FBs and another shrimp in Payne at CB (and frequently pulls that big guy Zawada for those telling end of game corners, so you've got another impossible match up to deal with) what you gonna do, rant at the head coach and put the players on the rack for a few more inches?
I'm betting that he's going to make it a priority to have some tall timber at CB and turn Payne back to a utility back up. Plus make sure he has a taller midfielder at the front post at all times to serve as the cut out. Cause he's going to empathise big time with the next set piece coach.
But we'll see. Point is, he's not been fully in control managing the set piece defence, if that is indeed what he's been doing. So negatively sheeting the team's performance at set piece entirely to him isn't a fair judge, don't you think.
He absolutely is the puppeteer for set pieces. Every game I’ve been at, UT stepped aside and Chief jumped from his seat to gesticulate at the team for every set piece. I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt as head coach, since it is feasible UT may have been the master tactician behind it, but no matter how short your CB is, your 197cm goalkeeper with his metre long arms should be able to get to any ball coming in high before any striker can…. ….if he can get near where it comes down, which may be difficult if your entire team is inside the 6 yard box. IMG_5380.jpeg6.3 MB
wow, is that the corner we conceded from? it's little wonder if so
Adam Griiffiths is in charge of defensive set pieces.
And we've had the best defensive record in the league, conceeding the least goals and most clean sheets. So despite conceeding on that corner the job done has been massive considering how we did last season.
It’s Surman’s mistake, which could be nerves or the crowd or who knows, but again considering how immense he’s been this season we can’t hold it against him. It’s a bit like when Rufs conceded a pen. Get up the other end and score 2 more for the captain!
It’s Surman’s mistake, which could be nerves or the crowd or who knows, but again considering how immense he’s been this season we can’t hold it against him. It’s a bit like when Rufs conceded a pen. Get up the other end and score 2 more for the captain!
Yeah, let's never talk about Rufer and penalties again
Ramming liberal dribble down your throat since 2009 This forum needs less angst and more Kate Bush threads
Article mentions he walked away with some list of guys available for loan from 4-5 J-League clubs. So might be a mid-season option depending on Ball's future/citizenship.
I think we're seriously lucky to have the chief. Seems like a guy that is destined for greater things.
Perhaps he's eyeing up Japan, as his next coaching gig post the Nix. That's often where the more successful ALM coaches have gone, for their first overseas gig. And it certainly reads like he enjoyed his time there he'll need to run it past his mama first.
But be easier to stomach as a Nix fan, than him going to an Aussie club. Wonder if someone told him watching Niigata, there was also a Kiwi alongside Deng.
He spent time with FC Tokyo’s Aussie head coach Peter Cklamovski – Ange Postecoglou’s former right-hand man with Yokohama F.Marinos and the Subway Socceroos.
It was all part of building on an unforgettable season in Wellington; a chance to grow as a coach and network.
“I’ve known Pete since I started my A License (in Australia). He was the second assistant with the Socceroos and he was fast-tracked with Ange Postecoglou for the Asian Cup. We met there,” Italiano told aleagues.com.au.
“He was really accommodating when I went there. It was a matchday minus two and he wanted me to come into the meetings. I got there a bit late because I got lost but I ended up going to training. He allowed me full access into the office. We sat down and went through some of the struggles he had. Watched training and went through the way he operates.
“He actually gave me some really good ideas in terms of moving forward and how I wanted to deal with staff because he runs it really well.
“He is a really good guy. There wasn’t a barrier. Sometimes, when coaches invite other coaches sometimes they protect their intellectual properties being the coach and that, but he was pretty open.”
FC Tokyo was not the only J1 League side Italiano visited; he also spent two days with high-flying Kashima Antlers, who currently sit fourth in the Japanese top flight.
Across those two stops, there was one big takeaway.
“They (Kashima) have Milan (Miric), who is the assistant coach and Aussie, and Ranko Popovic, who is embedded in the J.League. He is a great coach and coached in Spain too,” Italiano recalled, having also spent time watching J2 and University football.
“They were really nice. I spent some time at Ranko’s house.
“It was funny. I went and watched the game against Thomas Deng’s Albirex Niigata. They drew 1-1 and I met with Ranko afterwards and was thinking, the worst time to meet with a coach is after a game.
“He came over, we enjoyed a bottle of wine and talked about football all night. I spent some time at the training ground. I learnt a lot.
“One of the big things I got out of it was the way they kind of structured (things), ideas-wise we’re very similar, but the way they do things is a little bit different.
“But it was good because it was like, ‘maybe I’m on the right track here’. Even Pete’s environment was different but still the same thinking or methodology behind everything we’re doing.
“That’s what I really wanted to get out of the trip – to see if I’m missing something in terms of the process, not so much the football content because that’s subjective.”
However, Italiano got more than he bargained for abroad.
His trip laid the groundwork for two signings from the J.League – AFC Champions League winner Kazuki Nagawasa and Hideki Ishige from Gamba Osaka.
And there could be more to come.
“The trip (to Japan) was primarily centred around football education and learning, and improving my own environment,” he said.
“As a consequence of that, I was able to network with a lot of agents and clubs.
“Out of this whole exercise, without going into what clubs I interacted with, I was able to get four or five clubs to send me a list of loan players I would never have had at the beginning of last season. Just my network wasn’t big enough to do that. That’s opened up quite a number of doors.
“That’s how I was able to get Kazuki and Hideki. It was more about opening up those relationships and those people connected with the clubs knew of me. The whole process was great.
“I went initially for the football and the recruitment came on the flipside.”
It's a privilege to be a Wellington Phoenix supporter with Italiano/Griffiths as the first team coaches. They are the best A-League coaching team by a country mile. The way Griffiths has the defence organised is a work of art. The way Italiano understands the use of modern footballing formations to allow his players their best performances and to prevent the opposition from performing to their best. Thank goodness that he's not a coach that's fallen backwards 30 years to a rigid 4-4-2.
Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano on imposter syndrome, drive and the power of superstitions
In his first season as head coach of the Wellington Phoenix, Giancarlo Italiano guided the team into last year’s A-League semifinal in dazzling style, yet he’s still coming to terms to actually having the job. He tells Mark Geenty about imposter syndrome, drive and the power of superstitions.
Nearly an hour into a chat with Giancarlo Italiano at his local cafe at Petone, the man they call Chiefy remains disbelieving, borderline incredulous.
Having drained his cup of long black, extra shot with milk on the side and kept his audience of reporter and photographer entertained and engrossed in his remarkable footballing story, Italiano still shakes his head at the thought of being a second-year Wellington Phoenix head coach.
“When I got the job, that was a very, very surreal feeling. Even now, I still think they’re crazy to give me a job. It’s just so unrealistic for me to even get in this situation,” Italiano says. “I’m not an ex-player, I don’t have a profile, I think the last person who’s coached in the A-League with no playing experience was maybe Ernie Merrick [who had the Phoenix reins between 2013-16]…”
And yet here we are, in the city the 46-year-old born-and-raised Sydneysider now calls home, with his mum Luisa (who originally convinced him to cross the Tasman) and dog Barolo, a 4-year-old puggle named after a red wine. Italiano proved an instant hit with Phoenix fans, after taking the helm and guiding the side to the brink of a maiden A-League grandfinal at a packed Sky Stadium back in May.
Not bad for a former goalkeeper who gave up his dream of a pro career as a teenager, studied to be a criminal lawyer and stumbled into coaching at age 30 when there were no other candidates and his team-mates at Five Dock FC “forced me into it”.
Raised by an Italian father, Salvatore, and Peruvian mother – he blames them for his array of superstitions (more on them later) – Italiano’s winding path from Sydney to Wellington was shaped by personal tragedy which had a profound effect on his outlook and coaching philosophy, even before he’d taken charge of a football team.
The sudden death of his best mate Anthony Zaccagnino when both were in their mid-20s, followed by his father’s death two years later, were hugely significant and shaped Italiano over the next two decades.
“My whole life getting to this point now, it was really dictated by those big events, especially my friend, because we were inseparable,” Italiano says, carefully choosing his words amid long pauses.
“So after his death I was in denial for maybe two-three years. It was the first time anything significantly tragic had happened. I reflect on it now, I probably wasn’t prepared for it, I didn’t have any sort of resilience and sort of coping mechanisms. It took a long time for me to adjust.
“And then my father… he was older and had terminal cancer. I don’t want to say that was easier to take, but it was more manageable in the sense that I’ve just been through that big life event and you realise, this is life, right? It ends and there’s no actual blueprint. People suffer, that is part of life.
“I learned a lot about myself over those few years. I learned that if you hide and don’t confront life and its reality, then it will catch up with you regardless and hit you in the face. If you’re prepared for it, you can build some good attributes as a person, like resilience, and I’ve brought that into my coaching.”
The loss of his mate also brought about his nickname. As a joke Zaccagnino dubbed Italiano ‘Chief’ after Paul Harragon, the Australian rugby league hardman and star of The Footy Show. As their friend group gathered in the days after his death, Zaccagnino’s cousin suddenly called him Chief and the name stuck.
“I’ve met so many people that don’t even know my real name and just call me Chief. And then the Kiwis have now changed it into Chiefy. I didn’t like it when I first had the nickname because it was someone else’s, but over a period of time, people saying that nickname is always like a reminder of my mate, which is good, a nice thing.”
As he grieved and “lost my way”, Italiano already knew his playing career would not progress to a higher level. “I didn’t have the right temperament.”
He dabbled in a computer business and studied to be a criminal lawyer, eventually working in law firms while also playing social football.
Then he turned up with his mates at Five Dock FC after they lost a grandfinal the previous year and their coach had moved on.
“And then my friend goes, ‘You should be a coach, you’d be a good coach’. I had no interest, but no one wanted to coach, so I was like ‘all right, I’ll do it’. I’ll coach Sunday and I’ll play with another team on a Saturday. We won the grandfinal that year and then I was like, ‘I don’t mind this, it’s good fun’.”
Tactically Italiano found he was a natural, always looking to switch up and catch their opponents’ unawares, but coaching never loomed as a career. He was a goalkeeping coach in youth leagues then moved up the ranks as technical director, before answering a call from a mate to assist at glamour A-League club Sydney FC and its under-20s team.
That was where he met Ufuk Talay, who called him with a prospect that would change his life: would he move to Wellington to be an analyst for him at the Phoenix?
“I was done, I didn’t want to coach any more because I needed to focus on becoming an adult and making some money, get my practising certificate as a lawyer and then Uffie rang me.
“I wasn’t going to do it… and then my mum and my best mate both said the same thing: why would you do all this work for 12-14 years and not take a role? It’s what you want. Moving to another country, I was very hesitant but I was like, I’m just basically delaying the inevitable.
“I have to become a grown-up at some stage.”
After his first day in Wellington, when he dined with Talay on Cuba St, Italiano was hooked on the city and its scenery and vibe, even if the ferocity of the wind was alarming.
“I love how people are really laid back to deal with. I say, compared to Aussies you are more pragmatic, you know, I think even a little bit better sense of humour. And it’s become home now, you know, I brought my mum here, my dog as well. So that was a big move for me.”
Italiano was officially unveiled as Talay’s successor in April last year, when his former boss returned home to take the Sydney FC job and implored him to apply. Incredibly (to Italiano at least), it was his first professional head coaching role, 15 years or so since he first took the reins of that Sunday social team.
Four interviews and a power point presentation later, he had impressed Phoenix owner and chairman Rob Morrison so much that the job was his. Cue more disbelief.
“I still now feel as though it’s gonna be a rug pulled from under me. That’s a bit of imposter syndrome. I still feel that, which is not a bad thing.”
He may be overly self-deprecating, but Italiano knows what got him to this point. He is in talks with the club about extending his contract beyond this season, and is clear on his coaching philosophy.
“If I could boil it down to two things; one, I have experience in coaching. Even though it’s an amateur or semi-pro environment, a lot of experience with a lot of different people, different skill sets, different scenarios but ultimately the same story playing out, just with different characters.
“Two, because I have experienced it so much I don’t get fazed by much. That doesn’t mean I’m not emotional, because I am, but I don’t necessarily overreact to the noise and that’s a good skill set for your players to see.”
Onto those superstitions, then, for which Italiano became a source of increasing fascination as his team charged to the top of the A-League ladder and the Phoenix’s fan base swelled.
On the morning of home matches he must always hit golf balls at the driving range and take Barolo for a walk along Petone Beach. If he wears a shirt for a loss, he will never wear it again (a new black shirt for the derby match against Auckland FC was immediately retired after their 2-0 defeat). “It can be expensive,” he quips.
Then there’s the stranger ones. Once when he took a warmup session when Talay had Covid, and took off his shirt and had skins on underneath. They won the game so the skins remain (and the one time he didn’t wear them on match day, the team lost).
In the Sydney FC days he was conducting a team talk and someone accidentally turned the light switch off, then on. They won that game 2-0 so every halftime from then on, someone had to come in and turn the light on and off.
“That’s also having a Peruvian mum and an Italian father. They’re the two worst cultures for superstition,” he laughs. “It’s more about preparation, getting you in that mindset of preparing for a game and in a way it’s a good distraction because once you think about the superstition, you think about the game and you get ready for the game, you could almost say an anxiety coping mechanism.”
He may well be an accidental football coach, but it was clearly meant to be.
“So every year, I’ve never gone I’m going to make a career of this. I’ve always genuinely thought, whatever environment I go into, I want to improve people. Then after my second or third year of coaching there was a part of me that goes, ‘I can’t live without this. I’m going to do it regardless’.
“There was a year where I was technical director, I was working – I’m not joking – 50 hours a week. I got paid $2000 for the whole year and I didn’t even get upset. It wasn’t about the money, it was never about the money.
“But you still have to work and make a living, I had law and I was kicking that can down the road and every time I tried to pull out… you know that scene with Pacino in The Godfather, it would pull me back in. That’s exactly me in football.”
Love this little admission by Chief(y), and yeah as someone who has lived in & out of Aussie for over 19 years now - I 100% agree with him.
I'd say he'd be a keen observer of people, watching the nuances of individual players, and managing them each differently.
And I go out on a dangerous limb here, but being a single bloke it seems with mama waiting at home to likely be doing most of that yummy Peruvian cooking - he's most probably got more free time (analyse, analyse, analyse) than most family men juggling the whanau commitments. Controversial perhaps but it must be somewhat easier to selfishly focus on an all consuming job like an in season football coach as a single chap, that's only natural. Ask any parent with young kids.
“I love how people are really laid back to deal with. I say, compared to Aussies you are more pragmatic, you know, I think even a little bit better sense of humour.
about 1 year ago· edited about 1 year ago· History
So Chiefy still hasn't signed an extension right? Out of contract at the end of this season. After this season's start I'm sure we all have much less anxiety about another team grabbing him, but if things continue like this, would we start to consider the possibility that he isn't given one?
So Chiefy still hasn't signed an extension right? Out of contract at the end of this season. After this season's start I'm sure we all have much less anxiety about another team grabbing him, but if things continue like this, would we start to consider the possibility that he isn't given one?
Wouldnt surprise me if the club is playing hardball, like they have with the players around contracts. I'd wager that Cheif wants to extend but it will be down to the $$.
Big takeaway from this interview is that Chiefy is going back to the drawing board. From what he's saying, it seems that Rojas and Cola being injured has seriously thrown a wrench in his gameplan (Rufer being sick too obviously) so he's gonna cook something different up
Big takeaway from this interview is that Chiefy is going back to the drawing board. From what he's saying, it seems that Rojas and Cola being injured has seriously thrown a wrench in his gameplan (Rufer being sick too obviously) so he's gonna cook something different up
Good, not that he has a choice. It has to change. It’s criminal that it’s taken this long.
Big takeaway from this interview is that Chiefy is going back to the drawing board. From what he's saying, it seems that Rojas and Cola being injured has seriously thrown a wrench in his gameplan (Rufer being sick too obviously) so he's gonna cook something different up
I really don't think any manager in the league could do much with the squad he has avaliable right now.
However, we're also hamstrung by trying to play the same way as last year with worse players. I don't think we're good enough to do much, but with a different setup I think we at least look like a team who wants to attack..
I still totally support Chiefy. I think he's making the best possible job of a poor hand. The first priority is always to have an organised defence. He's done that well both this season and last. The next thing is to have a creative midfield. There's very little you can do about this as a coach, other than bring in the right players. If you have a very low budget, this will be difficult. The way Retre and Nagasawa are currently playing, they wouldn't get off the bench in a semi pro Italian or English team. Sorry to say it. Unlike Talay, Chiefy is very supportive of his players and doesn't create any unacceptable pressure environment. Therefore, IMO, it's down to the players.
I still totally support Chiefy. I think he's making the best possible job of a poor hand. The first priority is always to have an organised defence. He's done that well both this season and last. The next thing is to have a creative midfield. There's very little you can do about this as a coach, other than bring in the right players. If you have a very low budget, this will be difficult. The way Retre and Nagasawa are currently playing, they wouldn't get off the bench in a semi pro Italian or English team. Sorry to say it. Unlike Talay, Chiefy is very supportive of his players and doesn't create any unacceptable pressure environment. Therefore, IMO, it's down to the players.
Yes and no. I’m totally supportive of him and believe in him to turn this around, but it’s not like it isn’t his team. He did the scouting and signed the players he wanted. Hell, the board even allowed him to sign colokowski despite the lack of funds. His hands are tied somewhat, but the vast majority of the team is his selection. He had a very high (unusually high) success rate with players previously, maybe this is the adjustment? 🤷♂️
I still totally support Chiefy. I think he's making the best possible job of a poor hand. The first priority is always to have an organised defence. He's done that well both this season and last. The next thing is to have a creative midfield. There's very little you can do about this as a coach, other than bring in the right players. If you have a very low budget, this will be difficult. The way Retre and Nagasawa are currently playing, they wouldn't get off the bench in a semi pro Italian or English team. Sorry to say it. Unlike Talay, Chiefy is very supportive of his players and doesn't create any unacceptable pressure environment. Therefore, IMO, it's down to the players.
Yes and no. I’m totally supportive of him and believe in him to turn this around, but it’s not like it isn’t his team. He did the scouting and signed the players he wanted. Hell, the board even allowed him to sign colokowski despite the lack of funds. His hands are tied somewhat, but the vast majority of the team is his selection. He had a very high (unusually high) success rate with players previously, maybe this is the adjustment? 🤷♂️
Could even be argued its even more his team than it probably would normally be given the role he played in recruiting with the previous coach. (Talay) Maybe he needs to back off from his preferred style due to injuries/illness and the players inability to deliver it on the field. Maybe the players arnt as suited to his fluid positional play as he thought they were going to be.
I still totally support Chiefy. I think he's making the best possible job of a poor hand. The first priority is always to have an organised defence. He's done that well both this season and last. The next thing is to have a creative midfield. There's very little you can do about this as a coach, other than bring in the right players. If you have a very low budget, this will be difficult. The way Retre and Nagasawa are currently playing, they wouldn't get off the bench in a semi pro Italian or English team. Sorry to say it. Unlike Talay, Chiefy is very supportive of his players and doesn't create any unacceptable pressure environment. Therefore, IMO, it's down to the players.
Yes and no. I’m totally supportive of him and believe in him to turn this around, but it’s not like it isn’t his team. He did the scouting and signed the players he wanted. Hell, the board even allowed him to sign colokowski despite the lack of funds. His hands are tied somewhat, but the vast majority of the team is his selection. He had a very high (unusually high) success rate with players previously, maybe this is the adjustment? 🤷♂️
I don't think that's entirely fair tbh. Like yeah, he picked them, but you can bet your mortgage that if he had premier league money that this team would look a lot different. He's picked out the best he could with the limited money the club has, a club that isn't even rich by A-league standard.
Not necessarily defending his choices but it feels a bit unfair to phrase it as though he had free will when recruiting when he undoubtably made a lot of compromises when seeking imports.
