Wellington hard-man Vince Lia has called out Phoenix’s players for not sticking to their tasks in Saturday’s 5-1 thumping by Melbourne City at Westpac Stadium.
Lia labelled his side’s performance “extremely disappointing” as they slumped to their second-worst home defeat in Hyundai A-League history.
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“We’ve got to watch the video. There were five goals there that we didn’t defend well at all,” Lia told Sky Sport NZ.
“We’re going to have to look at them and pick apart the game and figure out why we’re not doing our jobs and why things aren’t going right.”
Wellington missed a chance to go ahead early when Kosta Barbarouses rattled the crossbar from the penalty spot, leaving City to take full control by half-time.
The midfielder pointed to preventable goals as key to the Kiwi side’s downfall.
“I thought our game-plan defensively was going okay until the own goal and then we don’t do our jobs on set pieces,” he said.
“All of a sudden you’re 2-0 down and chasing the game.
“The second half was poor.
“We’ll lick our wounds and regroup for next week.”
