Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano is taking the glass-half-full approach ahead of the Waitangi Day clash with Melbourne Victory.
Last week’s 2-2 draw with Melbourne City felt like a missed opportunity, with the Phoenix blowing a two goal lead and missing an injury-time penalty.
“There’s two ways to view things that happen in life,” Italiano told media pre-match. “You can be a pessimist, or you can be an optimist, park it and learn from it.
“For us to build success we need to be optimistic, and barring the two goals I thought we were fantastic in the game, it was one of the best games we’ve played for a long time.
“Since January we’ve only lost one game, and were unlucky not to beat Adelaide and City.
“We’re moving in the right direction.”
While Victory have been inconsistent themselves, sitting eighth and just a point ahead of the Nix, the last meeting between the two saw Wellington lose 5-1 at AAMI Park.
But he believes the Phoenix have grown since that matchup.
“Victory are a formidable opponent. Not many teams go there and get points.
“We’ve got a lot of good learnings out of that game. We were able to readdress a lot of issues within the team. We’re a different team now.
“They’re a very good, disciplined attacking threat. They’ve got a lot of dangerous players and we have to respect them.
“We have to stamp our authority on the game, make sure we’re the dominant team and make sure we’re taking the game to Victory.”
The January signings may feature more heavily in this game too, with Bill Tuiloma having played the full match last time out and Sander Kartum pushing for a start.
“He’s very close at the moment, really happy with his progress. He’s a great guy, been working very hard, really nice player.
“I’ve been really happy with the way he’s integrated into the group and how he’s working with the team.
“Hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.”
And Italiano is confident that the team’s style will push them towards a positive result.
“At home, irrespective of who we’re playing, we need to be on the front foot, making sure we’re playing our style of football.
“I like to think now that teams associate us with being an attacking team. On the defensive side we need to shore up a bit, but that’s coming.
“We have a little bit more experience in the backline now, and we’re steadily moving towards placing ourselves as a strong home team.”
The round 16 Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory is scheduled to kick-off at Sky Stadium in Wellington at 7pm Friday and will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sport 1 in New Zealand, and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 29 December 2025 – Melbourne Victory 5 Wellington Phoenix 1
All time A-League head to head: Phoenix 13W, Victory 28W & 14D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted): 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 16. Sander KARTUM, 17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 28. Bill TUILOMA, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk).
Unavailable: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk) (injured), 12. Dan EDWARDS (injured), 19. Nathan WALKER (injured).
Melbourne Victory squad: to be confirmed
Cover photo: Ifeanyi Eze slides to keep the ball in play. Photo credit: Photomac/Cam McIntosh
