WPM R8 vs Newcastle Jets | Sun 14th Dec | 3:00pm | RoF / SS1

372 replies · 9,729 views

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

martinb

Something about that in the news. Having to be redone for not being incorporated or something like that?

Yep, but it’s apparently still on track to start in Feb.

Presumably part of getting approval is demonstrating financial viability, so I guess Welnix must be in a strong enough position to absorb the current losses? Obviously the trust acts as a firewall, but the money still has to be there.

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

martinb

Ninja

We are so cooked honestly. Why can't the board just sack the coach? He's only on a 1 year contract? Are we that poor to pay out half a year's contract salary?

Do they not care about the results? The crowd numbers? The lost interest from the Wellington public?

It's unbelievable really. It's just die-hard tragics like us on this forum left, and even some here are dropping off because it's so dire.

Who do we get?

Also I hope in 3 games we’re 5th and this all seems silly panic! Santa…

Can't see it. More likely we are bottom 3.

We have probably one of the least experienced and least talented phoenix squads I can remember in the last 18 years.

I'm no coach, but if everyone knows exactly how you'll play they can plan to that... we have no plan B.

But I'll be watching again next week .... one day it'll click and turn around!

3 months ago

Italiano will definitely be under performance pressure, and you're right a plan B would not go astray, but it's pretty clear he's gonna stick to his guns.

At the end of the day the players are apparently good enough to play Aleague footy, so age shouldn't make a difference - so questions too have to be asked of them, they arent consistently doing what the coach is asking for.

If things continue as they are then Italiano is gone! Not sure what a new coach would do with the current batch of available players. But also, even if we make the 6 and get into knock out footy, it's going to be an away game and we'll lose it. So why would not just wait the season out and spend time on finding a new coach? The single advantage to having the longest off season is that you have time to replace a coach and players.

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago

Elemenop

martinb

Ninja

Who do we get?

Also I hope in 3 games we’re 5th and this all seems silly panic! Santa…

Sounds like he went to a plan B yesterday by going to a mid block at half time and it resulted in a terrible spell. Bit of a worry

Founder

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360913105/wellington-phoenix-implode-after-conceding-three-goals-quick-succession-against-newcastle-jets

dont recall seeing much of a mid block in the second half? What I saw was defenders sitting high and the goals coming from mistakes with said high line.

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

Feverish

Elemenop

martinb

Ninja

Who do we get?

Also I hope in 3 games we’re 5th and this all seems silly panic! Santa…

Sounds like he went to a plan B yesterday by going to a mid block at half time and it resulted in a terrible spell. Bit of a worry

Well, if you noticed a change at half time, then you are a far better observer and analyst than me. The two differences I noticed was that the change in wind helped the Jets play behind, and the Jets started hitting the target.

3 months ago

Wasnt it the Jets that made the adjustments hence they ripped us apart.

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

3 months ago

theprof

I havent read anything here mainly because I wanted t avoid the gloating a the few anti-team'rs out there - maybe it was down to the fact that there were more people in AFC gear (I counted 10 youths) than there were from the Jets fanbase.
The loss is hard, but we have to be honest we made them lolok good. Could have bneen 3-0 to them in the first 10 minutes if it wasnt for Josh and Jayden. There coach would have been equally thankful for their keeper too, as we squandered a good 2 to 3 chances - Eze himseld had multiple.

But we held out for the first 60 minutes, couldnt put them away and in a weird period of 7 minutes we conceded 3!
With our most inexperienced back line errors were always going to come, high line was beaten, Josh hesitates and and a deflection within the 6 yard box.
All avoidable but that is what happens when your back lines average age is early 20.

James and Huges do not make those errors (generally).

The pressure is on we are 2nd last in the group of 8's. But a win next week potentially puts us up to 5th. So not out of it byu any stretch.

Italiano needs some luck, he cant use the excuses of injuries etc any more

surely you stop using the excuse of injuries when your first team players are back playing?

3 months ago

theprof

he explains it pretty well in the post match interview, which is on yt. I noticed this and commented here, the gap between our def and mid was too large and jets creating chances with cut backs into that space. Chiefy didn't want the mids to press too high and create that space, jets players just quicker in transition, so he was disappointed with some of the goals were due to the mids not dropping instead pressed.

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

I have to put up my hand and say that I also thought our injuries to our experienced players forced Italiano to have a less experienced younger squad (apart from Rufer etc). However, in the sobering light of the morning, I remembered that Newcastle also had a bunch of younger, energetic players on the field that simply made fewer errors (apart from wasteful shooting early in the game when they could have been two up in the first ten minutes) than our guys did.

Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days

3 months ago

Living in Taupo these days have been hard to be a Nix supporter, here there is big support for the other club!!
So, watching that second half was so painful and I will be getting back to work tomorrow anticipating a hell of time, not looking forward to that.
How can this be fixed, with time/ number of games before we are at the foot of the table is the 64-million-dollar question!
Will getting rid of the coach be a quick fix?
Retaining the high defensive line, with mobile defenders that can move at speed?
Injuries are not an excuse, that is why you have a squad to cover for that.
I feel that we do not have enough players for the cover required.
So bloody frustrating.

3 months ago

Bullion

theprof

Ah, so it was all the midfielders fault, he says.
FGS.

3 months ago

Taupoboy

i think maybe people are stuck in big 5 euro league thinking, its not like if Yorke and Cole are out for MU you have Sheringham and Solskjaer next in line. This a salary capped league, and unless you are able to use all the exceptions in the cap you are probably spending 75% of the cap on half your squad and when 8 players out, 6 from the first team and more expensive players, then you are relying on youth who may/may not yet be at the level required.

3 months ago

The salary cap is one of the fundamental reasons that from top to bottom any team can beat anyone else on their day, even City with all it's wealth would struggle with 5 or more injuries.
It's both a blessing and a curse.

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

I think Jets had more than 1 big chance in the first half. Both teams had chances the first 45 mins.

Like Chiefy, but he does tell a few half truths at times, especially after a loss.

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/12/15/we-werent-good-enough-in-crucial-moments-phoenix-coach-giancarlo-italiano/

“They had one big chance in the first half, Jaydo (Jayden Smith) made a top clearance. We had some big chances, should have been in front,” Italiano said.

“We wanted to go a bit more mid-block at halftime. We pressed, got picked off in the first nine minutes and were 2-0 down and chasing our tails. We were very naive in defending.

“Once we got it back to 3-1, there was plenty of opportunity to get back into the game.”

Italiano says the result leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

“If this group is going to do anything, they have to mature very quickly.

“We’re running out of games now, and that was a big three points for us, especially at home.

“We need to start getting our players back as well. Starters are very, very important, and that’ll help us in the long run. There are a lot of learnings from this game.”

3 months ago

Jets had 3 or 4 clear cut chances in the first 15 minutes, Jayden made that crucial stop on the goal line, Josh made a couple of good saves and then there were a few errant shots from them.
We had similar at the other end.

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago

Shark yes they had at least 3 in the first 10 minutes. Think the Jets also adjusted at halftime and they were much more clinical we were lucky it wasnt more.

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

3 months ago

theprof

Yea we could have been 4-0 down in the first 30 minutes.

3 months ago

Chiefs take that Newcastle only had one clear chance in the first half either shows that he is dishonest and is lying to avoid admitting his tactics are a total disaster or he is not paying attention to what is happening in the games. Surely I'm not the only one who is concerned by this.

3 months ago

Ninja

theprof

Yea we could have been 4-0 down in the first 30 minutes.

I think a lot of those chances were offside. They had 5 shots in the first 30min and 2 (at a push 3) were really good chances. We had 6 shots in that time, the best chance iirc was Piper's shot parried almost into Eze.

3 months ago

His read of the events may well be different to what you or I were watching, his opinion of them is not really the concern for me, more the fact they continue to occur.
I have no issues with having a plan A that you want to stick to, but when your down to your reserves you have to adapt the plan to them, not the other way around,

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago

Bullion

Taupoboy

Bang on. I doubt we have ever used all the provisions available to us. 100% of the salary cap.. Marquee, is there still a guest Marquee etc? We haven't even got an injury replacement in for probably one of our top 5 players (Ishige). There are lots of ways that you can make your squad just that much better but it costs $$$.

We have always been one of those teams as you say, just spend 75% and hope we find some gems and amazing youngster. It probably won't win you the league.. as shown by our 18 years.

3 months ago

theprof

It's ironic you use Melbourne City as an example - they had a massive injury crisis last season and were still pretty bloody good.

3 months ago

LT01

theprof

It's ironic you use Melbourne City as an example - they had a massive injury crisis last season and were still pretty bloody good.

They do also have the best youth academy in the A-League.

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

I recall way back in the thread someone said that only the corporate gate was manned and the general admission was not.

Was this fixed or could anyone walk in for free for the game?

Auckland will rise once more

3 months ago

no, only the members/copr gates were being used to allow entry for everyone. so all gates were "manned"

Queenslander 3x a year.

3 months ago

AucklandPhoenix

I recall way back in the thread someone said that only the corporate gate was manned and the general admission was not.

Was this fixed or could anyone walk in for free for the game?

They meant that only the corporate gate was operating and the others were closed (unless I really missed something). It also felt like fewer of the food and drink stalls were open, almost like they weren’t expecting a big crowd…

3 months ago

Very interesting watching the replay of this game, having been there and at the time criticising the high line defensive ‘blunders’. As it turns out, in the first half the lachie rose chance right at the beginning, the jayden smith goal line clearance, and the eli adams near miss towards half time would all have been ruled out by VAR for offside. None of these were called out by the commentary team. No excuses for the final result, but with some very good chances and excellent goalkeeping, the Phoenix could easily have been 3 or even 4-1 up at the break.

3 months ago

. . . and then in the second half a great chance to Loke was immediately followed up by a deflected goal for the Jets, and a great chance to Eze was immediately followed up by a goal caused by an Oluwyemi hesitation to a through ball.

No excuses but the result of this game could easily have been very different.

3 months ago

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360914411/wellington-phoenix-have-four-wins-2025-crowds-have-hit-record-lows-coach-giancarlo-italiano-worried

3 months ago

coochiee

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360914411/wellington-phoenix-have-four-wins-2025-crowds-have-hit-record-lows-coach-giancarlo-italiano-worried

I heard Andrew in the press conference asking this. Media beat up :P

3 months ago

Alf Tupper

A lot to dissect in this. Or maybe point out we deserved to lose

Founder

3 months ago

Nommag

It's the same delusional ramble every week. Expect nothing to change

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

InsulinMachine

Nommag

It's the same delusional ramble every week. Expect nothing to change

Exactly. The latest stuff.co.nz article has a bunch of quotes from him.

Basically his plan is amazing. And they will be unstoppable and its the players who aren't following it...

Feels arrogant to me.

3 months ago

Chiefy ‘Not paying attention to what is happening’??

an alternative explanation is that he was paying very careful attention to what happened in the first half. All this talk about how the Phoenix could have been several goals down at half time ignores

a) the fact they could feasibly scored at least 3 goals (Eze’s far post miss, Piper’s near miss when nicely played through, brilliant save by the g/k from an Armiento rocket.)

b) as mentioned earlier, three of the ‘jeez the phoenix could have been xxx goals down at half time’ is very harsh. As mentioned earlier three would most likely have been scrubbed by VAR. Watch the replay.

This is not a defence of the current predicament of the Phoenix mounted by a happy clapper. Merely a response to some of the crap that is being spouted about Sunday’s game.

Results over the longer term have been poor and some of the tactics have been incomprehensible to me. However I actually thought that at times the team played some very good football which on another day would have been well rewarded.

InsulinMachine

Nommag

It's the same delusional ramble every week. Expect nothing to change

InsulinMachine

Nommag

It's the same delusional ramble every week. Expect nothing to change

3 months ago

Chiefy's more of an analyst than a head coach. You never lose a game on a whiteboard. It's last season's mistake again: He didn't have the players to execute playing out from the back and create high percentage chances. This season, he doesn't have the players to play a high line. The players aren't being played to their strength, and their roles/positions/formation continues to change game by game, I think this would stifle a young players development. These young players can't focus on excelling at certain areas of their game and instead need to be a jack of all trades with Chiefy on the side line playing real life Football Manager.

3 months ago

Since2007

I wonder why players aren't being played to their strengths and their roles continue to change? I can't put my finger on it, what could it be?

3 months ago · edited 3 months ago · History

It must be tough to be in the marketing dept and have to come up with crap like this each week.

2 for 1 tickets ain't gonna bring in any extra money either but may possibly get this weeks crowd above 3,000

3 months ago

Hate this kind of smartarse 'marketing'.
Tell the reader who, when and where in big letters.
No fly zone isn't the message and it isn't funny.

3 months ago

All the required info is there.
the no fly zone tag line is humourous because of the opposition.

Queenslander 3x a year.