Ernie Merrick’s Wellington was shaping up as title contenders before a late slump, can the Kiwi club bounce back?
Form
The Phoenix stuttered into the finals, picking up just four points in their final five matches to extinguish their hopes of an unprecedented Premiers Plate challenge. Those fixtures included convincing home losses to Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, which does not bode well for their chances of making a maiden A-League grand final.
Before that horror run, though, the Phoenix had powered themselves to the top of the league with some scintillating football, led by Nathan Burns, Michael McGlinchey and Roly Bonevacia. Aided by a defence filled with A-League stalwarts Ben Sigmund, Andrew Durante and Manny Muscat, the Phoenix back four is tough to breach when on song.
It is the midfield that has been the club’s area of surprises. Roly Bonevacia has been one of the signings of the season and uses his impressive stamina to boss the midfield, while Albert Riera continues to pull the strings from in front of the back four. Vince Lia and Alex Rodriguez have rotated through the final spot in midfield with some impressive displays.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly given the potential for shootouts, there is Glen Moss in between the sticks. Moss is another seasoned veteran and is capable of extraordinary saves. Compared to Vedran Janjetovic of Sydney and Lawrence Thomas of Melbourne Victory, Moss is probably a class above.
Key Player – Nathan Burns
When Burns has scored in a match this season, the Nix have not lost. However, despite scoring 13 goals in 23 games this season, the Socceroo has only managed three in his last 12. It is pretty clear that this statistic needs to change.
Burns is nearly unplayable at his best, bamboozling defenders with his footwork before surging past them with impressive speed. He is also capable of amazing finishes, as evidenced in the first half of the season.
The striker has been below-par in recent weeks, a potential side effect of a busy campaign – Burns has not played this many top-level matches in a season for his entire career – but he needs to be back to his best if he wants to lead Ernie Merrick’s side to glory.
Prediction
Facing off against Melbourne City in the first week of the finals at Westpac Stadium, the Phoenix are definitely favourites to progress to the semi-finals. However, given the two sides drew nil-all at AAMI Park in the final rounds of the season it could still be a close match.
If the Nix make it through their home final, they will take on either the Victory or Sydney FC. If they are able to exorcise the demons of the recent losses to both sides, there is a chance of an upset, but much rests on their front three of Burns, Krishna and McGlinchey rediscovering their early form.
As mentioned, they do have an impressive goalkeeper in the form of Glen Moss. If things do come down to penalties, the Phoenix custodian could make the difference. However, given the strength of both squads of the top two, Ernie Merrick’s side are likely to fall one game short of the grand final, as they did in the 2009-10 season.
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