Winning Edge Presentations Coach of the Month, Rounds 9-12 - Vitale Ferrante (Pascoe Vale)

Pascoe Vale may have come under criticism from a former A-League coach for its defensive tactics, but that doesn't bother its coach Vitale Ferrante.

The Coach of the Month has had a four-week period to savour, winning all four games, ending Oakleigh's unbeaten run and keeping four clean sheets in the process.

What makes those feats even more remarkable is the fact that Pascoe Vale sat in the relegation zone at the conclusion of Round 8.

FFV's Julian Trantino caught up with a humbled Ferrante, who shared some valuable insights on a range of topics.

JT: Congratulations Vitale. How does it feel to be named the coach of the month across NPL and NPL 1?

VF: It’s an absolute honour considering the calibre of coaches that are coaching at both this level and NPL 1. I’m very humbled by the decision.

Pascoe Vale was in the relegation zone four weeks ago, but now you find yourself in seventh position with a run of four consecutive wins. What’s the secret for the turnaround?

The boys have been continuing to work on what we’ve been working on since pre-season. I was happy with the performances (prior to Round 9) even though results weren’t going our way, but we kept on believing and doing the processes that we thought were going to turn things around.

We didn’t change much, and to the boys’ credit they didn’t drop their confidence. We had a great performance against South Melbourne (1-0 loss, Round 8) and could have got more out of it, and then we backed it up the week later against Oakleigh and things went our way. We kept that clean sheet we’ve been working towards.

We’re not a high-scoring team and know we have to sort of be a bit tighter and compact with the defensive side of things. Teams that do well in leagues all over the world not only score goals but also have to be in that top bracket for goals against, so we made sure that (goals against) was tidied up and the turnaround has all stemmed from there.

You coached Pascoe Vale in the old Victorian Premier League last season, but how are you enjoying guiding the club in the NPL?

I’ve loved it and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I love the different elements of the Player Points System and having a certain amount of players that you can register so therefore decisions have to be based on those factors.

We’re not a highly financially resourced club, so we’ve always had to operate a little outside the box. Doing that at this level has been fantastic. We’ve loved it and it has been a great journey so far.

Pascoe Vale ended Oakleigh’s unbeaten in Round 9, but your counterpart Miron Bleiberg said the “inferior team football-wise and strength-wise” won the match. Did those comments bother you?

No, because that’s the opposition coach who has just lost and his comments are going to be defensive. He (Miron Bleiberg) has to justify to his club and their supporters why they lost, so I’m not going to take any of that at all.

If people were at the game they would have seen that we created another two opportunities and could have beaten them 4-0, and you don’t do that by what’s being claimed as parking the bus.

We’re compact and well-organised when we’re not in possession and immensely dangerous when we have the ball.

I’m happy when coaches have those comments because we’ve clearly had an effect on them. They come here and think oh, they’re Pascoe Vale so the result is ours, but they get a rude shock when they come and play against us.

I know, and people that are watching the game, that we’re also playing a good style of football when we’re in possession. We’ve got some quality players and they’re not just kicking the ball away.

What’s the expectation at Pascoe Vale this season?

Our expectation has been that we want to be in every game we play. Every single game except Round 1 we’ve been in the position of having that chance to win. If things go our way, we could easily be top three, if they don’t then we could be mid-table.

Our expectations are to be mid-table and above, not to avoid relegation. Every time we go out on the park, we want to win. When we start to see wins, we want to be at the top of the table.

What’s it like to coach Davey van’t Schip (NPL Player of the Month) and given that he leaves the club in two weeks and we’re in the transfer window, are you already looking at replacements?

To Davey’s credit, what he is producing after some horrific injuries has been fantastic. We had him last year and he was still trying to overcome these injuries.

He’s had a really solid pre-season and been a bit unlucky in those first four or five games. I haven’t seen a player hit the inside of the post so many times and not go in. He kept on working hard and now he’s being rewarded for it, but he’s got his future to look at which we fully support. Hopefully we’ll see him back sooner rather than later.

We have to look at what we’re going to do from an attacking point of view now. We have registered one boy and it’s Melvin Becket, who was at the Australian Institute of Sport and part of the Melbourne Victory youth team. He’s been in America at college and he’ll be exciting for us. He’s an attacking player so I’m hoping that he hits the ground running and finds his feet in the NPL, but we’ve also got to find someone else, particularly to replace someone of Davey’s calibre.

Speaking of Davey, his dad John is head coach of Melbourne City and watches Pascoe Vale play when he’s in town. Do you get the chance to speak to him and share some coaching knowledge?

It’s more a general chat. I love what he did with Melbourne Heart originally and now he’s come back into the frame and you can see the confidence and belief he’s instilled in the boys.

I’d love to spend a little bit of time with him and pick his brains on those sort of things, but in the environment we’re in, it (chat) has always been after a game. It’s been a little bit hard to discuss football how I’d like to, so I keep it polite and we have our normal social chats because he’s a good guy.

The Coach of the Month is awarded across NPL and NPL 1 and is decided by FFV.