Wellington Phoenix coach Darije Kalezic has lamented individual errors for the first three goals in Friday night’s 4-0 loss to Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
The men from the Kiwi capital started brightly but were soon blown away by a rampant Sky Blues side.
Two goals down inside the first 15 minutes – both down to individual errors – and Phoenix were left with a mountain to climb against the runaway league leaders.
Another error in the second half helped Sydney to a third before Sky Blue substitute David Carney iced the cake with a neat fourth.
The display left Kalezic exasperated as his side remain on the bottom of the ladder, two points adrift of the Mariners who play later this weekend.
“That is not a scientist to find out [what went wrong],” he told Fox Sports.
“Everybody sees we make three really silly individual faults for the first three goals. That is the quality difference.
“So I cannot and I don’t want to blame the players for tonight. But it’s obvious we make three silly mistakes … on this level, we cannot do.
“This is also the first time I’ve seen these mistakes. Probably there’ll be a reason for it.
“And in combination with our individual faults… that is the result of tonight.
“But we have to forget as soon as possible and think about next week’s game against Western Sydney.”
What’s more, losing two key players, strikers Roy Krishna and Andrija Kaluderovic, was “too much” for his team, he explained.
Phoenix looked to have turned their season around in recent weeks, despite a loss to Adelaide last week.
With two wins and a draw before the defeat to the Reds, there was some optimism of a late-season run to the finals.
“That feeling I have also, still to today. This is not the measure against Sydney FC because the quality difference is too big,” Kalezic said.
Phoenix next face Wanderers on Sunday, February 11 at ANZ Stadium.
In some better news, Kalezic said the injuries to defender Marco Rossi and midfielder Matt Ridenton weren’t “big injuries”.
He expects the pair to be available for next week’s clash with Josep Gombau’s men.
“We hope next week we’re going to be complete to come back in Sydney and hopefully win the game,” he added.
