Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano is expecting “a reaction” from a wounded Perth Glory in the first distance derby of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
The two sides will square off at HBF Park in Perth on Saturday night, six days after the Glory were humbled 6-1 by Macarthur FC in the opening round.
Italiano expects new Perth coach David Zdrilic will have galvanised his team this week.
“Knowing Zdrila I think he’ll refocus them and I could even potentially see a formation change according to the players that he has,” Italiano told media via zoom from Perth on Friday.
“I can’t see them dropping off or doing anything to contain a result. I’m pretty sure they will continue and probably double down in their pressing, which has been a cornerstone of their whole pre-season.
“But I think primarily there’ll be a reaction from the group, and I expect there will probably be changes to align with players that can do what he needs more consistently.”
He has read little into Perth’s round one performance.
“These things can happen. If teams aren’t switched on and you’re playing a quality team like Macarthur, who have a lot of quality and experienced players, you can get punished.
“Last week is last week. Our focus is on this week and I’m sure they’ll be a different team.”
Giancarlo Italiano has been more concerned with building on the Phoenix’s season opening 1-1 draw with Western United.
“The one thing that was probably frustrating was the lack of defensive discipline in the last 20 minutes that we were accustomed to from last season.
“There were a lot of positives. With the ball I thought we were very good for large parts of that game. Up until the 65th or 68th minute we had close to 65% of the ball and we made a lot of clear chances.
“I’d like to think that we’re one week better, the cohesion of the team is a little bit improved and so on.
“Again, I still think we need time as a group. The make-up of the team compared to last year it’s a relatively new team. We have maybe four/five starters [returning].
“The gel, the cohesion, the chemistry takes a long period of time to build so I like to build on what we did against Western United.”
The Phoenix have been in Perth since Tuesday, giving the players and staff extra time to get over the jetlag.
“There were a couple of reasons why we came in early. One is obviously acclimatisation and getting used to the time difference, which is always a significant factor.
“I’m not sure we’ve hit the right balance in the six years I’ve been here. We’ve tried a week [lead-in], we’ve also tried a shorter lead-in and so on.
“This time I’ve decided to train according to the kick-off time to get the boys acclimatised. We’ll see if that works on Saturday.
“The other reason why we came in early as well was so that the group could spend an extended period of time together, almost like a pre-season camp, which always helps the group and gels the group together.”
Former Perth forward Stefan Colakovski and All Whites fullback Sam Sutton travelled with the extended Phoenix squad on Tuesday after missing the draw with Western due to a lack of match fitness and illness respectively.
“The advantage of the extra week’s training means that he (Colakovski) has more loads in his legs, is less of an injury risk if he’s involved, and that’s something we’re going to manage, but he’s available to be used.
“Sutts’ illness, knock on wood, is all gone. He’s been running freely at training, is very mobile and back to his energetic best.”
The second round Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory is scheduled to kick-off at HBF Park in Perth at 11:45pm (6:45pm AWST) Saturday and will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sport 1 in New Zealand and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 24 February 2024 – Perth Glory 0 Wellington Phoenix 0
All-time A-League head-to-head: Phoenix 20W, Glory 20W & 12D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted on matchday): 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Scott WOOTTON, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 9. Hideki ISHIGE, 11. Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 12. Mo AL-TAAY, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 19. Sam SUTTON, 24. Oskar VAN HATTUM, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 36. Xuan LOKE, 39. Jayden SMITH, 41. Nathan WALKER.
Unavailable: 8. Paulo RETRE (injured), 17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES (injured), 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD (injured), 21. Marco ROJAS (injured).
Perth Glory squad (two to be omitted on matchday): 1. Oli SAIL (gk), 3. Anas HAMZAOUI, 4. Luke BODNAR, 6. Brandon O’NEILL, 9. David WILLIAMS, 11. Hiroaki AOYAMA, 12. Taras GOMULKA, 13. Cameron COOK (gk), 14. Nathanael BLAIR, 15. Zach LISOLAJSKI, 16. Adam BUGARIJA, 17. Jarrod CARLUCCIO, 18. Cristian CAICEDO, 21. Abdul FAISAL, 22. Adam TAGGART (c), 24. Andriano LEBIB, 26. Khoa NGO, 27. Will FRENEY, 28. Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 33. Luis CANGA.
Unavailable: 5. Lachlan BARR (injured), 7. Nicholas PENNINGTON (injured), 8. Mustafa AMINI (injured), 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC (injured), 19. Josh RISDON (injured).
Main image: Cam McIntosh/Photomac.
