The Wellington Phoenix are currently in their worst run of form since head coach Giancarlo Italiano took over from Ufuk Talay at the start of the 2023-24 A-League season.
The Phoenix have lost three games on the bounce for the first time under Italiano following their disappointing 4-1 defeat against Western Sydney Wanderers last weekend.
Italiano said he wants his team to not lose their focus and put greater emphasis on their defensive performance this weekend.
"I'm not going to hide from the fact that we've lost three on the trot, it's not a good feeling but the group is focused and we're very determined to turn it around," said Italiano.
"I think we're 90-minutes short of getting our season back to normal."
The Phoenix conceded two early goals in their loss to Western Sydney, which included a goal conceded inside the first minute.
"We played the result after going 2-0 down instead of sticking with what we've worked on.
"I don't expect them to be perfect, players make errors or have errors of judgement. We just got punished for those mistakes on the weekend but that's the past now."
The Phoenix will host the Newcastle Jets at Sky Stadium tomorrow but will miss two key players due to injury.
Midfielder Marco Rojas missed last week's match and is set to be out for another three to four weeks with an ankle injury.
Fullback Tim Payne is also out for this weekend's match against Newcastle after he picked up a foot injury in training this week.
The Phoenix are already without forward Stefan Colakovski who is sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Luke Brooke-Smith created a piece of Phoenix history as he became the youngest player to feature for the club at 16 years and 199 days old.
Brooke-Smith said his debut match went "really quick" for him.
"I had a memory come up that this time a year ago I was watching the Phoenix play Melbourne City at Go Media Stadium and I was on the sideline asking (Alex) Rufer for a photo. So now to be playing with him and making my dream come true - it's happened so quickly," said Brooke-Smith.
Italiano afforded Brooke-Smith 20 minutes off the bench against Western Sydney.
"I just want to go out there and play football and make it enjoyable for everyone to watch around me... I'm new to all of it so it's still such a buzz."
The Nix dropped out of the top six to ninth place after last weekend's loss and could potentially go all of December without a win.
The Phoenix still haven't won a game at Sky Stadium this season as they have had two losses and a draw at the 'Cake Tin' so far.
Newcastle sit in 11th place and are four points behind the Nix. The match kicks off at 5pm tomorrow.
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