Whilst there is no doubt that this season was a step in the right direction for the Wellington side, there were obvious weaknesses, especially both full back positions, which were able to be band-aided during the home and away season.
However, they became glaring weaknesses when it came to the crunch time of the season, where the top sides learned how to counteract the Wellington team's style of play by playing to their Achilles Heel - both goals in the knockout game against Melbourne City came from the Phoenix right back position.
So Ernie, despite being a canny Scot, will have to go out and spend to strengthen the current squad if he is serious about challenging for major honours. Melbourne Victory's rout of Sydney FC in the final showed the gulf in quality of the overall squad especially when you see the depth of what Kevin Muscat had on the substitutes bench.
I accept there is a huge financial gap and vast supporter base with Melbourne in comparison to Wellington. However Brisbane and Adelaide teams have been winners in the past and they can be compared to the Wellington set-up in most areas.
The key is shrewd buying on the transfer market (e.g. Roly Bonavacia, Paul Ifill), an investment in NZ youth, as we already have the coach who is a proven winner of the A-League.
As previously mentioned the first areas of concern are the full back positions. Louis Fenton struggles to defend and cannot tackle; the lad has an instinctive attacking flair and is good on the ball with a fine first touch, but as a defender he is a liability. Manny Muscat has only one position and that is right back - the position where Fenton has played most of the season. Manny is very right footed and looks uncomfortable playing on the left.
It's the one area where I couldn't agree with Ernie's selections, so a left-sided defender has to be a high priority on the shopping list. A young Tony Lochhead lookalike would fit the bill admirably; a left sided midfielder would not go amiss either. This season's midfield has been a huge improvement on previous seasons with Bonavacia and Riera having stellar seasons, however we are desperate for another central midfielder.
Vinnie Lia has been a loyal servant to the club but is only really a 'squad player' -he cannot command a starting place and more importantly he can't score goals - which we need more of the Wellington midfielders to do. Phoenix also must get support for Nathan Burns up front; he needs someone with experience and a bit of physicality who can share some of the load with him.
To me Roy Krishna is not that player. His blinding pace is not enough and opposition defenders knew how to play him after his first few games, which was evident by his lack of goals in the important playoff matches. At present Krishna's technical ability and reading of the game is not good enough for the A-League. He will have to work on his overall game and improve his close control in the offseason or he will struggle to command a regular first team place.
I don't see it being a quiet offseason for Ernie. However, to his credit the performance of the Phoenix has left the supporters in a far better state of mind than this time last year.
I am confident that come kickoff time for the 2015-2016 season Ernie will have taken positive steps by putting his jigsaw puzzle together and so further increasing the fans' optimism for an exciting and successful season.
