Merrick ready to turn Phoenix round

May 20, 2013 - 1:10 AM New Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick's coaching philosophy has been distilled over the years into one succinct sentence.

"Football's about winning and putting on a show, and the best show is scoring goals," Merrick summed up on Monday.

There was very little winning and precious few goals in the Phoenix's last A-League season, the Ricki Herbert-coached team winning seven games from 27 and scoring just 31 goals to finish last in the 10-team competition.

Merrick is confident of turning that around after signing a two-year deal with an option for a third at Wellington.

The Scotland-born 60-year-old, whose last job was as Hong Kong's coach, steered Melbourne Victory to two A-League titles in a six-year tenure and believes he can do the same for the Phoenix.

First on his to-do list is finding seven players to round out next season's roster, and he has targeted the midfield as a key area.

"Our transition needs to improve out of sight, which is your possession rather than the long ball," he said.

"We need another striker with speed, and ideally I need another high quality defender."

Merrick is impressed with the core strength of the Phoenix, and says although budgets haven't been discussed yet, it's not essential to spend a lot of money to acquire good players.

No signings are expected for at least a couple of weeks, and the role of former assistant coach Chris Greenacre in the club is still to be finalised.

Merrick says there's been encouraging interest from overseas players in coming to the Phoenix, and he believes there is plenty of local talent ripe for developing through the club's youth development academy.

A key part of Merrick's role at the Phoenix will be to ingrain a winning mentality.

"I've often found, unusual as it sounds, that players sometimes aren't comfortable with winning because when you win and have success, there's expectation and pressure," he said.

"That's the next step the Phoenix have to take: not just to get into the finals but once they're there, to be comfortable with success, and the problems and pressures it brings."

Source: AAP