Wellington Phoenix head coach Giancarlo ‘Chiefy’ Italiano believes he may have “touched a nerve” as he responded to criticism from Auckland FC boss Steve Corica following the New Zealand Derby.
Heading into the blockbuster fixture, Italiano felt history-making leaders Auckland were “there for the taking” and “very lucky the past four games”, which prompted a response from Corica in the wake of the Black Knights’ sixth win from six matches.
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‘I PINNED IT UP ON THE WALL’: Auckland coach hits back at Chiefy’s ‘disrespectful’ comments
On this week’s Total A-Leagues, Italiano joined host Sydney Morning Herald reporter Vince Rugari and former A-Leagues striker Daniel McBreen to explain his comments.
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“I don’t make it a personal thing. I was quite surprised he would do that. It obviously got under his skin a little bit,” Italiano told Total A-Leagues.
“For me, I make the point that I made in the press conference that was taken out of context, or maybe in context I don’t really care to be fair.
“I just made the point that when you’re playing five out of six games in New Zealand, you really haven’t had to go through the rigmarole of going through the process of travelling, getting back, getting the players adjusted, how you deal with your x squad which is your players who aren’t playing. How you deal with your wear and tear.
“Whether you call it luck, good scheduling, poor scheduling – my point is nowhere in the world does a team play five out of six games (at home).
“The irony of this for me, I remember a couple of years ago and Terry McFlynn was at Perth Glory. They had eight games away from home and I think they didn’t win a game away. Ironically when they went back home and had a run of six-eight games, they started to pick up results.
“That’s just the point I was trying to illustrate. When you have momentum and win games, there is a belief. But again, until they start going through that then they will start building a bit of credibility around the league.”
Asked if he was a coach who liked to play mind games, Italiano replied: “I don’t think we’re coaching Under-6s or people who need motivation. These are professionals who get paid a lot of money to play the game they love.
“If they need motivation to play a derby. I kind of think you might have the wrong athletes or wrong people at your club.
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“Does it help in terms of refocusing the players? Potentially. Last season we got written off as a team. I made no secret that there were a couple of pundits who wrote us off at the start. I didn’t use it as motivation, I just gave them a clear indication of what people thought. They could make of it what they want.
“… I don’t like getting into other coaches (heads). I actually don’t care about other coaches to be fair. They have their own problems like I do. I would never try to play mind games before a game, that’s not my take. The fact I’m clearing up these statements, I think is a lack of understanding on their part.
“Or, the other way of looking at it, is quite smart on their part using it as motivation for themselves. Again, maybe also I may have touched a nerve.”
‘Let me go and play football’
What does the future hold for Sydney FC’s Max Burgess? According to Isuzu UTE A-League great Daniel McBreen, he believes the majority of the competition will be queuing up to sign the out-of-favour star.
Burgess has made three A-Leagues appearances this season for star-studded Sydney, though he has not made the matchday squad for the past two league fixtures.
In the AFC Champions League Two, the 28-year-old was an unused substitute in the final group-stage game after not making the squad on matchday five.
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Asked about Burgess and what could be next for the former Western United attacker, Total A-Leagues guest McBreen said: “I’m thinking when does the transfer window open.
“I’ll be honest there’s 13 teams, 12 other teams, I think there’d be nine or 10 teams in the competition who would say he’s a quality player, we’d quite happily take him and he would play.
“I’m sure if he’s not in their plans, he’d be sitting down in the next few weeks and saying, look rather than me seeing out my contract here, let me go and play football.”
When it was put to him whether Burgess would “look good in yellow and blue” – suggesting Central Coast Mariners, the former home of McBreen, he replied: “I’d tell you what, Central Coast Mariners would love to have a player of his creativity ability at the moment.
“It’s just up the road, easy. Beautiful place to live, too.”
