Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert felt his side had taken a backwards step in a 1-0 loss to the Perth Glory on Sunday that leaves the New Zealanders at the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table.
Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert felt his side had taken a backwards step in a 1-0 loss to the Perth Glory on Sunday that leaves the New Zealanders at the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table.
Herbert said the defeat by an under-manned Perth side missing several big names through injury was especially galling after his men produced a determined display in the last round as they held Central Coast to a 0-0 draw.
But the Phoenix boss acknowledged the club would have to put the Perth loss behind it rapidly if it was to stand any chance of challenging the in-form Sydney FC next weekend.
“I think we had the quality to come here and win but we didn’t,” said Herbert following the match.
“Last week was a sign of being there and being competitive and tonight I think we just froze a little bit.”
“For us to come here and get three points, no matter how it looked, it was important to go away with it.”
“We had a couple of half chances that we should have done a hell of a lot better with but we didn’t have the volume of opportunities we would have liked.”
“[It’s a] confidence thing with us now. I think that kind of takes a little bit of a hit and it’s important that everybody’s bright and up for it on Tuesday at training. You can’t look anywhere else, we got what we got and we need to make that better,” Herbert declared.
Despite having earned just two points from the first five matches of the new campaign, Herbert said he didn’t believe his side or the seventh-placed Glory (five points) were at a lower standard in comparison to the rest of the competition.
“For us, we had to make a step up from last year and whether that’s a League improving or we haven’t been able to quite do that yet, it’s disappointing that we haven’t because I think that we can,” Herbert said.
“I think right across the board, I don’t think there’s much difference to be fair.”
“From our point of view, I think we can match anybody in the League anywhere, home or away, but we haven’t showed that in five games.”
