Phoenix season review 2016/17

A few thoughts:

1) Ernie Merrick's departure seemed too quick. He probably could have improved things if he'd carried on. Also, he seemed the most likeable coach we've had (a far cry from his dour image at Victory).

2) Signing Finkler wasn't a good idea as we couldn't figure out how to play him.

3) Greenacre and Buckingham seemed a little hesitant. Ideally we should have more ambition in our coach.

4) West Sydney are our new bogey team. On paper they are not better than us. Our failures against them, particulary at home, probably cost us a place in the finals.

5) How can we get better crowds? They didn't turn up in Wellington or elsewhere in the country.

6) Can we get Tratt back? Our back four played well when we got our best players on the park.

7) Singh looks the goods - sign him to a full contract.

8) Westpac stadium is still not the fortress it was in the early years.

9) Welnix seemed a little quiet this season?

10) Fox Sports really seem to hate us. Kinda sick of that ...

11) Travelling fans love visiting us though

12) "The table doesn't lie". 7th was about what we deserved.

13) Yellow Fever's drum was a nice addition to the matchday atmosphere

14) Team culture needs to change. The team needs to believe they can win (although they did surprise us with 3-0 over Melbourne Victory)

15) International windows suck. We are torn between trying to be the natural home for NZ players; then lose them when the All Whites play - versus bringing in more Aussies so that we don't lose our first team; but lose the connection fans have with kiwi players.

Player ratings for the season (out of 10):

Krishna: 8 - fantastic striker, hard worker.

Kosta: 6 - did OK. A step down from his work at the Victory though. Can't see how he got player of the season.

Finkler: 4 - didn't score enough free kicks. Took too long to gel in a position that Roly already owned.

Roly: 6 (3 on a bad day, 7 on a good one ...) - his worst season for us. Possibly affected by the earthquake?

Tratt: 8 - find of the season for us.

Rossi: 8 - Solid.

Durante: 6 - the odd mistake at a critical moment. Losing speed and agility. Important as a leader though.

Doyle: 7  - maturing into one of the best left-backs in the leage

Vinnie: 7  - fantastic season from Vinnie; probably his best yet. Plays in an under-appreciated position.

Rodriguez: 6  (solid, dependable player. Keep him)

Moss: 8 - solid as ever. We will miss him.

Watson: 5  (the odd good moment; worth giving another season to)

Smeltz: 5   - Past his best; no improvement on Watson

Ridenton: 6 - Decent, maturing player. Deserves more game time.

Parkhouse: 4 - reasonable off the bench but not good enough to start

Italiano: 6 - didn't do too much wrong in his starts, but perhaps wasn't fully tested either. Probably not good enough to be number one next season.

Lowry: 7 - solid

Fox: 6 - decent, still improving.

McGlinchey: 7 - inconsistent, drifts in and out of games.

Others - not enough game time to rate.

Hmm...

Sometimes I'd feel tempted to knock Roly down to a 5 on the basis that he was our star and engine and he went missing. 

Finkler up a little - he was our second top scorer! Without him things would have been much worse...

I'd definitely bump Parkhouse up- I'd say he almost won us the game in Hamilton. Certainly he had a big impact in that game and it wasn't his fault he was played out of position. Ran at defences with pace, combined well and swung in a variety of  dangerous crosses. Should have scored. But I actually like Parky! Wish he'd been the impact sub, not Smeltz because of his pace. 

Smeltz and Watson I'd bump up, at least .5. No way were their contributions two below Lowry's or 1 below Fox's. But yeh, if Smeltz or Watson had scored goals we would have been in the six. That simple, unfortunately. 

Still we're comparing Watson to Matt Simon who is currently 3rd behind two prolific strikers at Sydney FC. Watson is fine as 3rd choice striker at a club at the moment, but isn't up to being a starter. Needs to work on his aerial game in the box. 

I'd bump Italiano down. 

Not sure about Dura. Would I bump him up or not? An accomplished defender and leader of a settled defence, but struggled against McLaren and real pace.

Agree Tratt, Rossi and Krishna were our best. Can be persuaded about Mossy. Don't think it was a vintage season for him though. 

Kosta had lots of endeavour throughout the season. Started to bring the quality at the end of the season. Think he will only improve and could be one of the Phoenix greats. Scored some really nice goals. Needs to be on the same wave length with other attackers. Not always his fault!

Don't think McG played enough for a 7. I'd bump Lowry down too. Deputised very well, but I his last ditch tackling was often to cover pace and positioning, and 7 implies he is the same quality as Doyle. I wouldn't be happy with him as a starter at this stage going into the season. Not quite up to the Manny grade.

A Rod mystifies. Has to show more against the top teams. But- does this mean his team mates have to move into space and play a better short passing game against the big teams? 

Agree Ernie shoulda stayed. It would have turned around with him for sure. Think he was clashing with Roly. Certainly seemed to want him playing deeper. And I think playing with more width helped us. It's hard to say if Ernie would have continued his tactical inflexibility and we would have passed the ball back and forward in front of the opposition's defence with no ideas about how to break through. 

Thought the drum was a fantastic edition for the zone.

I don't get the claim that we got rid of Ernie too soon, because we were terrible last season too. And half a season before that. He'd had almost two years of toothless football with disappointing results when he left, without really trying to change anything fundamental about our tactics. And he wanted to resign anyway. And he's to blame for our unbalanced squad and over-reliance on Krishna's goals.

Where does the idea he was going to turn it around come from?

Erne got rid of himself...

Great summary imo Bevan.

Player ratings spot on too. I might go for a tweak on a couple - Rodriguez probably a 7 for me, Mcginchey a 6, Vinnie an 8, but that's being nitpicky to be honest, I think your summaries on their seasons were all individually pretty spot on. 

Good point this - Des and Greenie's changes to midfield were a real improvement, and it seemed like Ernie was too stuck to his guns there.

i couldnt see a great team, but on paper. we had a strong defence apparantly thats when they showed up. roy has all the goals because it seemed to be illegal to think, shoot for yourself.  des and co made a differance but someone is a shyte sturrer in the camp

why is someone a shyte sturrer

Good season summary Bevan.

Pineys view of the season

http://www.a-league.com.au/article/hyundai-a-league-season-review-wellington-phoenix/18yf0aaq0jke715ok8ivw4gooz

Piney knows what's up.

In that Outlook for 2017/18, there seems to be a sense of danger for the future. "They must get it right", or else..

Meh. Exactly what most were saying at the start of this season.

We were coming up to the cliff this season and now we're dangling off it.