Wellington Phoenix self-combust as A-League derby defeats continue

Monday, 10 November 2025

ANALYSIS: Giving away tickets to your fans - meritorious. Giving away goals to your arch-rivals - far less appreciated.

Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano saw his popularity soar then plummet on Saturday, after his side suffered a potentially calamitous 2-1 home loss to Auckland FC in their A-League Men ‘derby’.

Italiano’s troops recovered from conceding the softest of goals in the opening minute, could have trailed by two at the break, had the visitors reduced to nine men and yet still couldn’t grab a point.

The coach was already facing questions over his insistence of employing a high-risk high-line with his defence - which had been partly mitigated by earning a win in two draws in their opening three games.

But when pacy Auckland attacker Jesse Randall twice exposed the tactic in the first half to establish what proved to be a match-winning advantage, Italiano came under heavy fire from Wellington’s most fevered fans - at the ground and on social media.

He likely won’t have curried much favour later, after starting the day by handing out 100 match tickets he’d purchased when offended by a comment from opposing coach Steve Corica about an expected small crowd.

“I was very disappointed. It felt like we actually gave them the two goals,” Italiano said afterwards.

Few who witnessed the visitors win their fourth consecutive derby would have disagreed, but Italiano pointed the finger at his players, and not his tactics.

“Look at this way. If we execute and the line gets beaten because our players are still in sync then that’s on me, but when we don’t execute or the players are going away from what we instruct then it’s more about correcting that.”

Just four games into the 2025/26 season, Italiano is already in some danger of sliding down a path taken by Russell Martin and Ange Postecoglou.

Martin was a highly-regarded young manager who took Southampton into the English Premier League, but refused to change his tactical approach and got the sack after one win in 16 games had the club plummeting to relegation.

Matters got no better at Rangers in the SPL, with another sacking, while Postecoglou has also twice been given the boot in quick succession. The Australian’s insistence on playing a high defensive line at Spurs saw them repeatedly exposed, and while he claimed a tin-pot European trophy, only the most blinkered fans saw that as a sign of success.

Italiano explained after the season-opening draw that he’d seen Barcelona excel with the tactic, despite a youthful defence, but anyone who saw them consistently exposed by Club Brugge in the Champions League mid-week would have expressed genuine concerns that good results would be difficult to sustain if your side doesn’t possess a player of the ilk of Lamine Yamal.

If Italiano won the initial popularity contest, Corica clearly triumphed in the tactical battle, taking just 27 seconds to strike the first blow.

Lanky targetman Sam Cosgrove was never going to be entrusted with bursting the offside trap - but there was nothing stopping him from loitering in an ‘offside’ position when Francis de Vries set Randall through.

Illogical tweaks to the offside rule in recent decades meant Cosgrove was then able to be on hand to tap in Randall’s square pass.

Ifeanyi Eze’s equaliser when capitalising on an Auckland error was a sensational strike, but Randall again broke through with ease to notch a double.

Ironically, Auckland were caught out by their own relatively high defensive set-up early in the second spell, not fully aware of the danger the pace of substitute Corbin Piper possessed, leading to Dan Hall’s red card.

Logan Rogerson’s dismissal with 11 minutes remaining should have been punished on the scoreboard by the hosts, but they looked incapable of breaking down Auckland’s desperate low block.

Instead of moving the ball swiftly and decisively, the Phoenix relied on inaccurate crosses, which were easily soaked up.

It’s tough to peg a stylistic label on Auckland FC - but ‘tough to beat’ would likely satisfy Corica.

Even after only their first loss of the fledgling season, the Phoenix and Italiano now have work to do to avoid being tagged the opposite.