Western Sydney Wanderers head coach Alen Stajcic has labelled comments made by Fahid Ben Khalfallah as ‘cowardly’ after the former A-Leagues player criticised the coach’s treatment of Juan Mata.
Speaking recently on the ‘A-League Off-Air podcast’ Ben Khalfallah, who is now Mata’s representative in Australia, said Stajcic’s decision to give his client limited minutes since his arrival in the Isuzu UTE A-League was ‘disrespectful’.
Speaking on the back of the Wanderers’ 4-2 loss to Sydney FC in the Unite Round Sydney Derby, Stajcic hit back at the comments made by the former Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar forward.
“I don’t understand the premise of the question,” said Stajcic when asked why he opted to leave Mata on the bench for the Derby as opposed to starting him.
“This has all come up because his agent said some stuff in the media last week. His agent doesn’t control the team.
“We’ve got 25 field players in there who I’m concerned about. We’ve got 20 staff members attached to the club. We’ve got 20,000 members. They’re my priority and every single one of those is an equal priority.
“You know, Juan’s come into the team. He’s humble. You know, I’ve got 12 guys who don’t play every game. I don’t get phone calls from every single agent whose players (are) not playing. So, you know, I think he’s got a bit too much oxygen, to be honest.
“Fahid and his comments were out of order.”
Since making his Isuzu UTE A-League debut in Round 1 against Sydney FC, Mata has made one start, in the Round 2 away draw with Western United.
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Following that game, Mata was then substituted at half-time of the Wanderers’ 4-3 home loss to Adelaide United in Round 3 before playing just six minutes in their 4-1 win over Newcastle Jets.
“Obviously, I don’t need to talk to agents when their players aren’t playing. To be honest, I think his comments were out of order,” Stajcic added.
“They were cowardly, and they were cowardly for a number of reasons.
“I’ve only spoken to him (Ben Khalfallah) two or three times in my life, to be honest, and he spoke to me about how so many of his players that he has in Australia (have) been mistreated by coaches.
He continued: “They’ve been vilified or abused, emotionally, physically, whatever, and he’s never opened his mouth to protect his player, and his player, on this occasion, was on the bench, and that’s disrespect, you know, I think his comments were cowardly.
“You know, if he had some courage he would have stood up for his players before last year, when they were in the positions they were in across the world.
“So I don’t like hearing stories like that. And then all of a sudden, he’s got the courage to come out and speak now, without any comeback or write of reply.”
Introduced as a second half substitute in the 58th minute after Sydney FC had taken a 3-1 lead, Mata went on to register an assist soon after when teeing up striker Marcus Antonsson who made it 3-2.
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“Juan came on and had some good moments,” said Stajcic when reflecting on the player’s performance.
“You know, it was obviously a tough game to come into. He controlled the game a little bit. Had some moments where he could have done a little bit better as well.
“But he’s an important player for us at the moment you know, there were moments of the game where we needed him there and he had some good actions. So, you know, it’s up to him to be able to contribute when he does come on.
“He had some good actions today. So we want more of those.”
The Wanderers are next in action on November 30 when they travel away to Melbourne City.
