Wellington Phoenix don't have too much to crow about just yet. PHOTO/PHOTOSPORT
MANY fans in New Zealand would love nothing more than to ram a gobstopper in his mouth but I say take a bow Mark Bosnich for saying what many in the Yellow Fever will not have the decency to admit, let alone accept.
The Wellington Phoenix are underachieving and TV sportcaster Bosnich has struck a sensitive nerve with his post-match remarks after they drew 2-all in their away Hyundai A-League encounter against New Castle Jets on Monday.
The reality is the former Socceroos and ex-English Premier League goalkeeper is fair in asserting the Phoenix look like a side who are in the Australian professional league simply to make up the numbers.
When asked as a member of the Fox Sports Australia panel after the game what he wanted to see from the New Zealand franchise, Bosnich replied: "Anything, to be honest. A little bit better, what we saw two seasons ago."
On Monday at Newcastle, the Phoenix went ahead twice but failed to go for the jugular against the Jets.
Frankly, if the Jets had been more clinical at the coalface they would have scored more goals in the opening 20 minutes after dissecting the Phoenix defence at will.
A-League minders Football Federation Australia, amid some robust debate and emotional "Keep Wellington Phoenix" campaigning, extended the Kiwi franchise's lease of life with a 10-year conditional tenure to be reviewed in four years.
Questioning Bosnich's pedigree purely on the grounds that is he an eye patch-wearing Ocker or that the Newcastle Jets are relatively worse off in the A-League are all red herrings.
All that doesn't detract from the fact that the Phoenix "are not making any difference whatsoever and they've very frustrating", to steal Bosnich's words.
It's perhaps a little overstated from the TV commentator, again when compared with strugglers such as Central Coast Mariners, but Wellington were lacking in many facets of the game.
They had yawning gaps in the midfield again, the defence were left high and dry so many times that they were again reduced to blatant fouls from behind or holding during the Boxing Day clash at McDonald Jones Stadium.
"They've got [Kosta] Barbarouses, [Guilherme] Finkler, [Roy] Krishna, players like that and it's basically for me, I want to see a bit of consistency and for them to actually threaten the top four, instead of just struggling around the fringes all the time.
"For me, regardless of the political side of why they are in the A-League, let's put that aside for one minute, they should be up there like they were two seasons ago making a difference," Bosnich correctly surmised.
Phoenix interim co-coaches Chris Greenacre and Des Buckingham may feel they need not respond to Bosnich's diatribe for fear of lending any credence to it but it would be foolish not to take ownership.
You see, romantic notions of keeping the status quo with the remainder of the coaching stable after the sudden, but not surprising, departure of former coach Ernie Merrick is foolish.
It's admirable that Greenacre and Buckingham are soldiering on as the franchise delays in naming a coach, bearing in mind the recent results may suggest they should be confirmed in their positions.
The Phoenix's perch on the eighth rung of the 10-team A-League suggests they are where they should be, considering stalemates against the Jets who are only two points above in fifth place.
Before Boxing Day, they drew 2-all with Western Sydney Wanderers who are a rung above the Phoenix but with similar points to the Jets.
They thumped the Mariners 3-0 on December 10 but Central Coast are only two points below them in ninth position.
The Nix host last-placed Adelaide United this Sunday, an opposition who have won only one game and drawn three times.
The litmus test for the coaching pair begins when the Nix take on the top four of runaway leaders Sydney FC (30 points), Brisbane Roar (21) and the two Melbournes, Victory (23) and City (19).
That won't happen until after the Phoenix face sixth-placed Perth Glory away on Thursday, January 5, who are in the same ship of mediocrity on 13 points, and hosting the Mariners on Saturday, January 14.
Put another way, everything until then will be an aberration on any value Greenacre and Buckingham may have added.
A similar picture emerges on individual players. Roy Krishna is a country mile ahead on seven goals, Finkler and Hamish Watson on two and Barbarouses and Vince Lia on one each.
Interestingly enough, Finkler and Barbarouses took 50-plus touches whereas Krishna took 31 in 90 minutes, with two of them resulting in goals, and, reassuringly the Kiwi striker's first of the season and the easiest tap-in goal the Brazilian will ever score.
Some food for thought over holidays and an impending thank-you card to Bosnich for, let's hope, lighting the fuse.