Central Coast Mariners are back at Our Paradise for a Sunday afternoon showdown with Wellington Phoenix (4pm kick-off) in Round Four of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Mariners vs Phoenix became a headline A-League fixture last season as the two clubs battled it out for top spot, the Mariners ultimately winning the Premiers Plate race by two points largely thanks to Mikael Doka’s iconic late goal in the last meeting between the two back in April.
🔎 Wellington Phoenix:
It’s been a mixed start for Giancarlo Italiano and his team, who similar to the Mariners, are finding their feet after lots of ins and outs in the off-season.
In Wellington’s first three fixtures this season, they have drawn, won and lost. They opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Western United before defeating Perth 2-0 away. Last time out, they suffered a painful home defeat at the hands of new Kiwi rivals Auckland, who punished a late mistake from Nix keeper, Joshua Oluwayemi.
In the off-season, the Nix might have managed to tie down their top scorer and talisman Kosta Barbarouses to a new 1-year deal, but they lost their next three top scorers in Oskar Zawada, Bohzidar Kraev and Benjamin Old. Old was also the joint-top creator last season with four assists before departing to French Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne.
There have also been big losses at the back for the Nix. Finn Surman earned a move to MLS club Portland Timbers and goalkeeper Alex Paulsen to AFC Bournemouth, although the young stopper has since joined Auckland, partner club of the Cherries.
That duo were linchpins in Italiano’s defence who along with Scott Wootton, played every single minute of the 2023/24 A-League season. Surman and Wootton were two of only three outfield players to achieve that feat, the other being Josh Nisbet.
♟ Key battles on and off the field
Key battles all over the pitch in this fixture may actually be undermined by the one on the touchline, as two of the best tacticians in Australia go head to head in Jacko and Chiefy.
In the two fixtures last season (0-0 at Sky Stadium and 2-1 at Our Paradise) the intense and meticulous tactical battles drew comparisons to a chess match.
Both have expressed their respect for each other in the press this week, with Italiano stating:
“I think they’re a strong team, not only with the playing personnel. I think they have a very good team culture. Jacko has done a great job there. He’s also rebuilding at the moment and they’re showing signs of improving every week.
“I thought they were quite unlucky against Adelaide two weeks ago. They looked very dangerous when he made the substitutions in the second half, and they changed their playing style.
“We go into the game very alert and very respectful of the way they set-up and it’ll be a very hard game.”
🗣 Mark Jackson: “We’re expecting a tough and exciting game”
Our Head Coach returned the compliments for Chiefy: “It’s going to be a tough game against Chiefy’s team, very well organised and well-coached. We respect them enormously,” he said.
“They are probably going through a similar process to ourselves with the turnover of players. I’ve listened to Chiefy talk, he talks a lot of sense, talking about their processes of building and integrating players into the team so I think we’re on the same path.
“What we’re expecting is a really tough and exciting game. We’ve shown in the last two games that we can start fast and I’m going to challenge the boys to do that from now on. I want that to continue.” Jacko said.
Jacko also spoke about the training schedule, improving performances and the positive feeling in the dressing room after our 2-2 draw against Shanghai Shenhua on Tuesday evening. Watch his full presser via the Mariners YouTube channel below.
🗣 Ryan Edmondson: “We are positive and looking forward to it”
Edmo spoke about belief and togetherness within the squad, touching on the performance in Tuesday’s ACLE clash and how they can take positives into Sunday’s match against a top team in Wellington in front of our 12th man at Our Paradise.
