Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano has afforded himself a pat on the back after watching Japanese winger Hideki Ishige stake an early claim for A-League Goal of the Year, as his team toppled defending champions Central Coast Mariners 3-0 at Gosford.
The result continued a winless run to start the Mariners' title defence, with three draws and two losses now from their five fixtures, but the Phoenix, who finished second behind them on the table last season, have picked up where they left off, nestled inside the top four, despite their disappointing defeat in the first Kiwi derby against Auckland FC.
Livewire newcomer Ishige has proved a catalyst to that solid start, providing the opening goal against Central Coast from a delightful 15th minute free-kick.
"It was fantastic," beamed Italiano. "Watching him at training on set-pieces, he bangs them in every week.
"Jordi Manning, who looks after our attacking set-pieces, just reinforces how good those free-kicks are.
"Honestly, I can't recall the amount of direct free-kicks we've had in the last couple of years, and we've had three or four in the last couple of weeks, so it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy almost."
Manning is the only change to the Phoenix coaching staff this season, brought on as a second assistant and analyst, after similar roles at Buriram United FC in Thailand, Hyderabad FC in India and Brisbane Roar in the A-League.
"He will bring fresh ideas not only from a coaching point of view, but also from an analysis point of view," said Italiano when Manning joined the club.
"I think the analyst role is more important than the assistant coach role, because he’ll be providing insight that is very crucial to the team’s football philosophy."
So far, so good.
After their 2-0 loss to their new Auckland rivals, the Phoenix needed a convincing performance to restore some confidence and the result across the Tasman was just the tonic.
"The group showed that they are very resilient," said Italiano. "There’s a lot of fight in this team.
“They were disappointed last week… and I spoke about maturity during the week and they responded fantastically.
"We changed the pressing structure. We decided about a day and a half ago and, with limited training time, they took the information on board and executed to perfection."
After toppling the champions, the Phoenix have a two-week break, before taking on top-of-the-table Melbourne Victory, who eliminated them from the competition semifinals last season.
"There are no easy games in the A-League," said Italiano. "Victory are top of the table for good reason, they've been playing really well, pressing quite well.
"[Coach Patrick Kisnorbo] has them set up differently, so it will be a hard match to play. We go into every game as a final basically."
SHARE ME